A team of researchers from the Development Office analyzed and compared selected carbon inventories of cities and regions. In recent years city associations, energy agencies and research institutes have developed different software tools to create greenhouse gas inventories for cities. The purpose of the project was to understand how the methodologies underlying the tools differ and to what extent results obtained with different tools may be comparable. The results show that the methodologies underlying the inventories differ in some important points such as the calculation of CO2 equivalents and the boundaries of the measurement or the greenhouse gases covered. Inventories are therefore often not comparable. The study has highlighted the main points where differences stem from as well as ways towards greater comparability. Institut Veolia Environement co-funded the project and cooperated closely with the research team of the College of Europe.

• Final study report