Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories

The City of Missoula conducts greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories periodically for municipal operations and the community, to measure our progress towards for our adopted carbon neutrality goal. 

Municipal inventories capture energy consumption data for buildings & facilities, street lights & traffic signals, water & wastewater treatment facilities, fleet/employee vehicle miles traveled (VMT) & fuel consumption, and solid waste facilities.

Community inventories capture energy consumption data from residential/commercial/industrial buildings, transportation & mobile sources, solid waste, water & wastewater, and agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU). 

The City of Missoula Municipal Fiscal Year 2020 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory measures the collective carbon footprint for all city operations. By utilizing the ICLEI ClearPath tool, the carbon emissions were calculated for each sector from raw data that was collected from utility billing and departmental reporting. Updated data accounting for the emissions associated with Northwestern Energy and Missoula Electric Cooperative’s specific mix of energy sources gives us a more accurate look at our emissions output and serves as a baseline for all future inventories.

The City of Missoula municipal carbon footprint is currently 18,562 MT CO2e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) per year, according to the 2020 inventory.

Municipal Emission by Sector

The City of Missoula Community 2019 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory measures the collective carbon footprint for all of Missoula. By utilizing the ICLEI ClearPath tool, the carbon emissions were calculated for each sector from raw data that was collected from utility billing and departmental reporting. Updated data accounting for the emissions associated with Northwestern Energy’s specific mix of energy sources gives us a more accurate look at our emissions output and serves as a baseline for all future inventories.

The total City of Missoula community carbon footprint is currently 1,118,208 MT CO2e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) per year.

Missoula Community GHG Emissions By Source 2019