Linking greenhouse gas emissions to greenhouse gas reduction policies at the local government level in Florida

Greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories have emerged in the last decade as a key policy and management tool for local governments to address global warming. Yet, it is evident that there are many different methodologies available to local government staff involved with developing a measure of emissions for their communities. A review of methodologies utilized by state and local governments in Florida indicates that there are highly variable approaches used to calculate inventories from different emission categories. In addition, the procedures that are used may not be appropriate for the scale of a local jurisdiction due to problems associated with generalizing or averaging emissions data. It is suggested that a more standardized approach be developed and that a clearinghouse for GHG data be established. Such an effort would help to develop clear methodologies for assessing and measuring GHG emissions at different levels of government with the goal of tracking the effectiveness of specific GHG policies. This article provides a background and comparative analysis of GHG methodologies; a summary of national, state, and local government GHG policy in Florida; an analysis for issues with linking GHG emissions to policy; and, recommendations to improve these methodologies and data collection.