Greenbelt Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory provides estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from the Greenbelt, mirroring the provincial Greenhouse Gases (GHG) report format. It considers land-use emissions from agricultural practices, natural systems, and traditional emission sectors like transportation and buildings. In total, it is estimated that 4.9 MtCO2e (Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) result from activities taking place within the Greenbelt, which represents approximately 3% of the provincial total.
These findings highlight the importance of the transportation sector for meeting GHG reduction targets and raise questions for how Greenbelt communities can contribute to those reductions. "
Key findings include:
- Over half of the Greenbelt emissions result from road passenger trips based on the number of households in the Greenbelt. The next highest categories are household energy use, followed by agriculture, which emit 0.68 and 0.61 MtCO2e respectively.
- The Greenbelt's natural assets sequester 0.55 MtCO2E per year, meaning the net emissions from the Greenbelt are 4.35 MtCO2e/year. Greenbelt natural assets store 261 MtCO2e.
- Forests and wetlands sequester carbon each year, while agricultural soils are net carbon emitters based on current management practices. However, agricultural soils have the potential to reverse this trend to become carbon sinks.
These findings highlight the importance of the transportation sector for meeting GHG reduction targets and raise questions for how Greenbelt communities can contribute to those reductions. It also highlights that agriculture, as the predominant land use in the Greenbelt, will play a critical role in efforts to reduce emissions. The significant different between what the Greenbelt stores and what is emitted emphasizes the critical need to protect carbon sinks, such as farmland and forests, as they play an important role in combating climate change.
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