From
http://sustainlane.com/cityindex/citypage.php?name=minneapolis&page=1&;
(link posted by Mark Snyder)
“Minneapolis achieved the pollution reduction necessary to meet the
Kyoto Protocol, one of the first cities in the nation to do so,” said
Mayor Rybak. Most other U.S. cities were waiting until 2010 to
actually try and hit Kyoto targets.
This is such a strange thing to say. I'd like to know what their
baseline was, and what reductions and increases they are counting or
leaving out. There's no explanation of the calculation in the city's
2004 environmental report, nor does ICLEI an explanation of what it use
in its baseline analysis on its web site.
Looking at the March press release:
"Greenhouse gas emissions in Minneapolis have dropped by 2.6 million
tons, or 15 percent in the past decade, saving the City and the private
sector $185 million in energy costs. This exceeds the standards set in
the Kyoto Protocol, which called for a seven percent reduction in the
United States. This does not reflect figures for current vehicle
emissions, which are more difficult to quantify on a city level and
have increased in the last decade."
The U.S. target isn't a 7 percent reduction - it's a 7 percent
reduction below 1990 levels.
Vehicle emissions represent about one-third of CO2 emissions. I
understand it's hard to calculate for a city, but I don't know how one
claims the city has achieved its Kyoto target without making some
attempt to at least include city and major organization fleet vehicles.
Also, I'd be pretty surprised if citywide energy consumption has gone
down. Maybe for city offices, but then it should be clarified to say
"Municipal operations have achieved the pollution reduction
necessary..." but that still wouldn't count municipal vehicles.
I don't really blame the Mayor's office for this - the project working
with ICLEI has been around since 1994. But I'm puzzled...
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