Evaluating the carbon emissions of the low carbon city: A novel approach for consumer based allocation

This article presents a novel approach to assessing consumer based greenhouse gas emissions on national and municipal levels. In addition to emission assessment, the method provides a way of calculating the cost-effectiveness of alternative climate mitigation methods. Our approach converts National Greenhouse Gas Inventories into input–output matrices, enabling us to assess both production and consumption related climate mitigation efforts at the same time. We illustrate our approach by means of a case study of Finland, giving examples of both national and municipal level allocation. We find that the current emission inventories do not give a comprehensive account of greenhouse gas emissions as they lack the consumer view on emissions. Rather, the current inventories lead to problem shifting particularly in service focused municipalities and nations. With simultaneous assessment of production and consumption related emissions, decision makers can better prioritize cost-effective actions against climate change. We conclude the article with policy recommendations for future greenhouse gas inventories.

► Current greenhouse gas inventories lack the consumer perspective.
► Consumer and producer perspectives need to be combined to justify low carbon cities.
► The new allocation levels out the carbon burden between cities and nations.