D.C. has greatly reduced greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions between 2006 and 2011. In 2006, for example, the city emitted 10.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, or 18 tons per person. This compares with 8.9 million tons of CO2e, or 14.5 tons per person. All told, this represents a 12.5 percent drop in six years and helps reduce human-caused climate change. The citywide GHG emissions from electricity consumption, vehicle use and other direct sources are below the Environmental Protection Agency’s national average of 19.7 tons per person. D.C. government operations, a subset of the city’s total GHG emissions, also fell by 23 percent—from 686,000 to 527,000 tons of CO2e. What’s more, the drop occurred despite an increase of more than 40,000 city residents, the addition of tens of thousands of jobs, and millions of square feet of new office and residential buildings.
D.C. is a national leader in green building practices, alternative transportation, green roofs, renewable energy development, and tree plantings. The city is working to finalize and implement its Sustainable DC and climate-action plans to meet both local and global challenges.
In 2007, former Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, an initiative by the U.S. Council of Mayors to meet the Kyoto Protocol goals at the local level. Today, D.C. also participates in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives’ Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, which helps cities adopt policies that will have a measurable impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Last month, Mayor Vincent Gray announced the city has joined the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a leading global organization and network of 59 cities committed to reducing GHG emissions and climate risks. All of these actions bode well for D.C., which is working to cut GHG emissions and become one of the world’s most sustainable cities.