County of Sonoma to take inventory of greenhouse gas emissions for all county operations

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today authorized the creation of an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from all county government facilities and operations. The inventory will be used as a baseline to help the county move toward its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, as outlined in the county’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for Climate Action and Resiliency.

Following a competitive bid process, the board today approved the selection of Oakland-based Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc. to perform the greenhouse gas audit with a contract amount of $142,330.

“This board has made the climate crisis a top priority by joining cities, counties, and countries around the world in declaring a climate emergency and making a $10 million commitment to action on adaptation and resiliency strategies,” said James Gore, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “We are already making progress on carbon accounting of internal operations, but we have ambitious goals and more work to do. A baseline understanding of our current impact is essential to meeting the 2030 targets with accuracy and efficiency.”   

The Board of Supervisors previously allocated $500,000 as part of Strategic Plan funding to conduct both an internal municipal greenhouse gas emissions inventory and a study evaluating the potential of carbon sequestration. The carbon sequestration study will be pursued at a later date.

Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc. works with public, corporate, nonprofit, and tribal clients on strategic planning, analysis, and management of projects focused on climate change mitigation and resilience, energy efficiency and renewable energy, recycling and materials management, and resource conservation.

Under the terms of the contract, Cascadia will prepare the emissions inventory using the Local Government Operations Protocol for the Quantification and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories, which is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, considered the world's most widely used corporate accounting and reporting standard for greenhouse gas emissions.

Additional guidance will be drawn from the California Air Resources Board, California Climate Action Registry, Local Governments for Sustainability, International Organization for Standardization, The Climate Registry, and U.S. EPA.

The inventory will use 2019 as the base year to avoid complicating factors associated with the COVID pandemic. It will also include two additional inventory years, trend analysis and a business-as-usual forecast to 2030 with a wedge analysis to support future county planning and emission reduction activities. 

For more information regarding the county’s greenhouse gas inventory, or for general information about the Climate Action and Resiliency Division within county government, please call (707) 565-2431, email Climate@Sonoma-County.org or visit: https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/administrative-support-and-fiscal-services/county-administrators-office/climate-action-and-resiliency  

### 

Media Contact: 
Dan Virkstis 
publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org 
575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403 
(707) 565-3040