Assessing Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions in European Medium and Large Cities: Methodological Considerations

Abstract

Policymakers need clear, consistent, and reliable information about the location of greenhouse gases and drivers of emitting activity in order to design appropriate mitigating strategies. At the urban scale, there have been challenges in developing consistent and reliable emissions inventories. This chapter examines selected methods to determine greenhouse gas emissions at the urban scale. We describe the various criteria considered when constructing an urban greenhouse gas protocol including the definition of urban, the gasses that are measured, the source they come from, the scope of analysis and how the measurements are undertaken. We then present results for European medium and large sized cities derived from alternative methodologies to demonstrate the range of results. Finally, we briefly discuss the policy implications of the various approaches.

A Vector Map of Carbon Emission Based on Point-Line-Area Carbon Emission Classified Allocation Method

“…Second, according to the weight of the road length, the carbon emissions of each grade of the road are allocated to each segment. The mathematical formula for line emissions allocation is shown in Equation (2). Road grade classification is divided into national road, provincial road, county road, township road, village road, and urban road according to relevant Chinese standards.…”

“…Urban planning plays an increasingly significant role in reducing carbon emissions, the most important factor for climate change mitigation. Many studies have illustrated that carbon emissions are highly influenced by land use and urban morphology [1][2][3]. Urban planning can help mitigate carbon emissions through the rational allocation of land use to improve energy efficiency and through optimization of the urban form to reduce traffic demand [4][5][6][7].…”