The executive summary of the first [document/event] was released last Friday (11/12). Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (GEE) of the municipality of Contagem, located in Minas Gerais. 

The document reveals the city's GHG emissions profile, identifying its main sources and enabling the development of ambitious strategies to reduce these emissions, as well as to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Rodrigo Corradi, Manager of Institutional Relations and Advocacy at ICLEI South America, believes that, based on the inventory study, the public administration and citizens of Contagem will have the tools to create spaces and public policies with the capacity and efficiency to carry out adaptation and mitigation actions.  

For the preparation of this document, the methodology of the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories (GPC) was adopted, produced with the aim of promoting a clear and robust framework for local governments to estimate and report GHG emissions.

Tércio de Sales, special advisor to the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development of Contagem, states that, with the support of the Climas tool, developed by WayCarbon, the city was able to see the results of the plan's development more efficiently. "From now on, we can think about real public policies to address emissions and the environmental impacts they have on our city.". 

For Igor Albuquerque, Technical Projects Manager at ICLEI South America, the great legacy of this activity was the ability to establish technical capacity within the municipality, strengthening local knowledge so that the city can advance on the climate agenda. 

According to data from the Inventory, collected by the technical teams of the Contagem City Hall, the total GHG emissions in Canoas in 2018 were 1,409,364 tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). 

The main contribution to this amount came from the transport sector, responsible for 47.51 Tbp of emissions, especially from gasoline and diesel consumption. 

Next steps

Following the commitment made to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy in 2018, Contagem should advance in implementing the climate agenda, with the preparation of a Risk and Vulnerability Analysis to determine the nature and extent of the climate hazards faced by the city. This path will lead to the development of a Climate Action Plan, defining targets for reducing GHG emissions and actions for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

“"The inventory is a seed that has been planted, and now we can follow up and intensify these control and monitoring actions to outline air pollution control policies for the municipality," concluded Tércio de Sales. 

Click here The complete report of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for Contagem (MG).