Montgomery County Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Climate Action Plan

Author:

Emily Turner

Co-Authors:

Institution:

Bucknell University

Abstract

In response to climate change and global warming altering the environment, local governments are responding by seeking to create plans to combat the changes. This independent study with the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment involves working with Montgomery County Consortium of Communities (MCCC) to create their Greenhouse Gas Inventory and an accompanying Local Climate Action Plan (LCAP). As part of a state wide cohort, the Department of Environmental Protection and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability are helping to support local governments in developing LCAPs to assist Pennsylvania in achieving its climate goals. Using data from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, a MCCC greenhouse gas inventory was created and documented on ClearPath. This inventory was then used to inform a LCAP, a process that also included creating a task force within the community to identify hazards, vulnerabilities, projection goals, reduction goals, and strategies. The results exemplified that the greatest emissions of carbon were from commercial energy, transportation and mobile sources, and residential energy. Furthermore, the greatest hazards of the communities were drought and rising temperatures which would impact citizens, infrastructure, and other things. Therefore, MCCC LCAP created a task force of multiple stakeholders to reduce emissions. This LCAP creates a unifying proposal for the coalition of communities to adapt to similar goals and strategies to mitigate climate change. Acknowledging the importance for local governments to lead their own change, MCCC hopes to address sustainability dilemmas by halting emissions and extreme weather impacting local PA communities.