DEP Climate Advisory Committee Meets June 30 On Latest PA Greenhouse Gas Inventory Showing Slight Increase In CO2 Emissions In 2017

DEP’s Climate Change Advisory Committee is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting on June 30 to hear presentations on the latest draft PA Greenhouse Gas Inventory and the Local Government Climate Action Plan.

Inventory

The updated draft PA Greenhouse Gas Inventory shows a slight increase in carbon dioxide emissions in 2017 of 770,000 tons to 262.72 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent-- the latest year information is available.  

Emission levels, however, still represent a nearly 19 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions since 2005 in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania's largest emitting sectors remain industry, electricity production and transportation.

The relative change for each of these sectors between 2005 and 2017 was a decrease of 8.32 MMTCO2e (11.5 percent) for the transportation sector, an increase of 3.16 MMTCO2e (4.0 percent) for the industrial sector, and a decrease of 45.81 MMTCO2e (37.9 percent) for the electricity production sector. 

Together, these three sectors annually account for approximately 84 percent of Pennsylvania’s gross GHG emissions.

The residential, and commercial sectors also experienced declines in GHG emissions during the time period from 2005 to 2017. The residential and commercial sectors had decreases in GHG emissions of 5.38, and 2.00 MMTCO2e (22.5 and 15.4 percent), respectively, during this time period. GHG emissions from the agricultural sector have increased slightly, 0.68 MMTCO2e (8.2 percent), between 2005 and 2017.

GHG emissions from the waste management sector experienced a 0.80 MMTCO2e (15.7 percent) decrease from 2005 to 2017.

Click Here for a copy of the draft Inventory update.

Local Govt. Action Plan

DEP will also discuss the Local Government Action Plan which so far has helped 20 municipalities develop plans to manage the risks of climate change impacts on their communities.  Read more here.

GreenGov Council

The Department of General Services will provide an update on the activities of the GreenGov Council re-created by Gov. Wolf in January of 2019.

In May, the Council reported its accomplishments over the last year, including a 2.9 percent reduction in energy conservation compared to FY 2017-18 saving over $1 million and state renewable energy purchases offsetting 40 percent of the state’s energy load.  Read more here.

DEP will also provide the latest information on activities related to the next update of Pennsylvania’s Climate Action Plan.

The virtual meeting will start at 10:00 a.m.  Instructions for joining the meeting online or via conference call are available on the Committee’s webpage.

For more information and available handouts, visit the DEP Climate Change Advisory Committee webpage.  Questions should be directed to Lindsay Bryon, lbryon@pa.gov, 717-772-8951.

Related Articles:

-- Senate Virtual Hearing Covers Familiar Ground On Proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Program For Power Plants; DEP Expects No Delay In Implementation With Extension 

-- Gov. Wolf Gives DEP Until September To Submit Carbon Pollution Emissions Reduction Plan For Power Plants To EQB 

-- Solar Power Deal Accelerates University Of Pittsburgh’s Sustainability Progress

-- Op-Ed: Energy Conservation Is Conservative - PA Conservative Energy Forum

[Posted: June 25, 2020]  PA Environment Digest