Defining A Carbon Footprint - A Who Don It?

Surely, defining a carbon footprint isn't difficult, right?  There are various on-line tools available to allow anyone to do just that.

This is an issue I've been investigating.  My reason for doing so arises from a concern that policy analysis and decision-making is as solid as the data are upon which they rest.  Recently, I came across a passage in a report titled Carbon Emissions – a Northwest Perspective that summed up the challenge, "There are multiple ways to tabulate a carbon footprint and this report’s approach will differ from others.  If carbon regulations are passed on the state or regional level then agreeing on a methodology for defining a carbon footprint will be critical."  This excerpt zeros in on the issue of using data that are consistent in their development.

To date, my review of methods in California, Oregon, and Washington indicate that each state uses somewhat different approaches to develop the raw data used to define carbon footprint.  My interest in this issue arose from reading a report by the Oregon Global Warming Commission (OGWC) to the Oregon legislature that included several graphs depicting a dramatic drop in CO2 emissions by two of the largest utilities in the state, PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric.  In that report, the OGWC incorrectly state that a bill (SB1547) signed into law in March 2016 banned coal-fired electricity from being delivered to retail customers in Oregon after January 1, 2030.  Even if that law contained such a prohibition, it would be unenforceable since all electricity on the West-wide system is just one big stew of electrons irrespective of fuel used in their generation.  That led me to wonder how could the OGWC claim Oregon has reduced its CO2 emissions when there is no way for it to have cut actual CO2 emissions from coal-fired generating plants located outside its borders.  My focus turned to examining how the three West Coast states (and the Feds) go about compiling CO2 emissions data.

Not only are state bragging rights established, that is its greenness, it also affects local politics.  On the local level, what are we to make of the assertion on pg. 7 of the 2017 Progress Report to the 2015 Climate Action Plan that "Since 1990, Portland has welcomed 33 percent more people and 24 percent more jobs while carbon emissions have fallen 41 percent on a per person basis. This trajectory demonstrates that it is possible to achieve significant carbon emission reductions while growing the economy and population."

More to follow.

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