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Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Management Plan

This past summer, Conserving Carolina completed a greenhouse gas assessment to better understand our GHG emissions and our impact on climate change.

The inventory looked at emissions in 2019, prior to the global pandemic, versus in 2020, during the pandemic.

Collecting data

The five factors considered in the assessment were:

  • Stationary Combustion (i.e. natural gas for office heating)
  • Purchased Electricity (i.e. electricity purchased from utilities)
  • Mobile Sources (i.e. company vehicles)
  • Business Travel (i.e. work-related travel in personal vehicles)
  • Employee Commuting (i.e. employee travel to and from work in personal vehicles)

    Total green house gas emissions by source in 2019 vs. 2020.

Results

There was a 38% decrease in total GHG emissions from 2019 to 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all sources experienced a decrease in CO2 emissions, including a respective 35%, 45% 38%, and 57% decrease in CO2 emitted from Employee Commuting, Purchased Electricity, Mobile Sources, and Business Travel.

Future Strategies

After completing the assessment, we set targets to continue reducing our emissions to levels that are consistent with the global goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and we developed 5 major strategies for reaching those targets including:

1) Reducing employee commuting

2) Increasing carpooling

3) Transitioning to an electric vehicle fleet

4) Replacing natural gas heating

5) Adding solar energy generation to our office

Our last strategy is currently in motion with solar panels now installed at the office, and the other strategies are in the works. Currently, employee commuting has continued to remain at low numbers as the majority of our employees work from home. Carpooling is also not as necessary due to this factor but is an ongoing goal when applicable.

Our next phase involves installing electric vehicle charging stations in the office parking lot, and then hopefully adding at least one electric vehicle to our fleet in the near future. We also anticipate replacing our gas heating at the office once the unit requires replacing, likely in the next 5 years or so.

Check out the full version of this greenhouse gas inventory and management plan here:

Conserving Carolina GHG Inventory and Management Plan 2019-2020

Solar panels installed on the roof of the Conserving Carolina office building.