Greenhouse Gas Emissions in King County

Greenhouse Gas Emissions in King County quantifies emissions from the entire King County community including governments, residents and business, presenting results from two different, but complementary, inventories of GHG emissions:

• The Geographic-plus Inventory estimates year 2008 GHG emissions released within King County’s geographic boundary (it is called “plus” because it also includes some emissions outside the boundary, such as those associated with air travel and electricity generation).
• The 2008 Consumption-based Inventory uses a new methodology to quantify the emissions associated with consumption of all goods and services by King County residents and governments (as well as certain business investments). This inventory includes emissions associated with production, transport, sale, use, and disposal of goods and services – no matter where they are produced. Emissions associated with goods and services made in King County but exported out of the region are excluded from the Consumption-based Inventory.

This report also separately quantifies several additional sources and sinks of emissions – which don’t fit neatly into either inventory – including those associated with carbon stored in forests and the emissions benefits of recycling. Finally, it develops and pilots a simplified and streamlined ongoing measurement framework to support King County in its efforts to assess key sources of GHG emissions in years between more comprehensive GHG inventories.

Several next steps for this project are planned for 2012 including:

• Further developing and communicating results of this research;
• Using the data to help inform environmental purchasing efforts – both to support King County’s Environmental Purchasing Policy and other governments efforts and to inform consumer and business choices; and
• Conducting further research into key sources of emissions, including those associated with food.

These reports were prepared by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and in a partnership between King County, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and the City of Seattle, with additional support from the U.S. Department of Energy (external links).

Greenhouse Gas Emissions in King County is offered in Adobe Acrobat format. For help using Acrobat, please visit our Acrobat help page.

Download document here:

• Summary, Greenhouse Gas Emissions in King County (2.5 Mb)
• Summary and All Appendices, Greenhouse Gas Emissions in King County (5.8 Mb)
• Appendix A, Details on Recommended Tracking Framework (805 Kb)
• Appendix B, 2008 Emissions Inventory: "Geographic Plus" Methodology (791 Kb)
• Appendix C, 2008 Emissions Inventory: Supplemental Emissions Calculations (590 Kb)
• Appendix D, 2008 Emissions Inventory: Consumption Methodology (1.1 Mb)

For questions about Greenhouse Gas Emissions in King County, please contact Matt Kuharic, Sr. Climate Change Specialist, DNRP - Policy Unit - Air Quality/Climate Change.