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The Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Program Area includes the latest guidance and information resources to aid Federal facilities in managing greenhouse gas emissions. This encompasses current guidance, policies, and trends related to climate change/global warming, calculation of carbon footprints, and the application of offsets to reduce carbon footprints.
The primary 6 GHGs of concern are: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. The main sources of these gases due to human activity are as follows:
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2): burning of fossil fuels and deforestation;
- Methane (CH4): livestock enteric fermentation (i.e. cows) and manure management, paddy rice farming, land use and wetland changes, pipeline losses, and covered vented landfill emissions;
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs): these items are of concern from the standpoint of global warming and the Kyoto Protocol;
- Perfluorocarbons (PFCs): these are being used in refrigerating units as replacements for CFCs;
- Nitrous Oxide (N2O): this is used for its anesthetic and analgesic effects as well as being used as an oxidizer in rocketry and in motor racing to increase the power output of engines;
- Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6): used in the electrical industry as a gaseous dielectric medium for high-voltage (35 kV and above) circuit breakers, switchgear, and other electrical equipment, often referred to as SF6. SF6 is also employed as a contrast agent for ultrasound imaging. See the DOE Safety Bulletin for more information on SF6.
When future Executive Orders (EOs) and Implementing Instructions for those EOs are released addressing federal facilities the text on this page will be updated.
Please use the links below to quickly jump to the information area needed or scroll down to view all items.
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This act was signed into law on August 8, 2005. The Act contains a multitude of provisions covering energy production, distribution, storage, efficiency, conservation, and research. Title XVI of the act addresses climate change.
Strengthening the Nation's Forests, Communities, and Local Economies
April 27, 2022
This EO directs federal agencies to pursue science-based, sustainable forest and land management; conserve America's mature and old-growth forests on Federal lands; invest in forest health and restoration; support indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and cultural and subsistence practices; honor Tribal treaty rights; and deploy climate-smart forestry practices and other nature-based solutions to improve the resilience of our lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of increasing disturbances and chronic stress arising from climate impacts.
Includes answers to common questions about using the Greenhosue gas reporting tool, guidance on rules and proposals related to GHG reporting , and guidance specific to industrial categories.
New as of 18 March 2021, EPA's Climate Change website will guide the public to a range of information, including greenhouse gas emissions data, climate change impacts, scientific reports, and existing climate programs within EPA and across the federal government.
EPA's National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs) advance the Agency Strategic Plan's objectives to improve air quality, provide for clean and safe water, ensure chemical safety, and improve compliance with our nation's environmental laws while enhancing shared accountability between the EPA and states and tribes with authorized environmental programs.
The U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization is a landmark interagency framework of strategies and actions to remove all emissions from the transportation sector by 2050.
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This standard specifies principles and requirements at the organization level for the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. It includes requirements for the design, development, management, reporting, and verification of an organization's GHG inventory.
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This is a mandatory, market-based effort in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states will cap and then reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector 10% by 2018.
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A newsletter produced quarterly by the International Energy Agency (IEA) Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEA GHG). The newsletter aims to provide general information on new developments in the field of greenhouse gas abatement and mitigation.
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From more extreme weather to rising seas, the climate is changing in ways that pose increasing risks to people and ecosystems. Building on decades of work, the National Academies continue to provide objective advice from top experts to help the nation better understand, prepare for, and limit future climate change.
This annual report is part of the EPA's commitment to providing the public with transparent information about new light-duty vehicle GHG emissions, fuel economy, technology data, and auto manufacturers' performance in meeting the agency's GHG emissions standards. This report includes content previously published in two separate reports, the Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends Report, and the GHG Manufacturer Performance Report.
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ACCO was founded in August 2008 and incorporated in Washington, DC in January 2009 as a 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation. ACCO's mission is advance the knowledge and skills of those dedicated to developing and directing climate change strategies in the public and private sectors, and to establish a flexible and robust forum for collaboration between climate change officers.
A nonprofit collaboration among North American states, provinces, territories and Native Sovereign Nations that sets consistent and transparent standards to calculate, verify and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions into a single registry.
a voluntary program to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by promoting the use of CHP. CHP is an efficient, clean and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single fuel source. The Partnership works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments and other stakeholders to support the development of new projects and promote their energy, environmental and economic benefits.
The GHG Institute is a non-profit organization founded in 2007 to build the GHG management infrastructure of the future, with a focus on training and supporting a global community of qualified professionals to work on GHG measurement, accounting, auditing and management.
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation was created through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to facilitate collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Joint Office will align resources and expertise across the two departments toward leveraged outcomes. The office will be a critical component in the implementation of the BIL, providing support and expertise to a multitude of programs that seek to deploy a network of electric vehicle chargers, zero-emission fueling infrastructure, and zero-emission transit and school buses.
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This report, dated March 2011, presents a series of case studies describing the approaches currently being taken by four water utilities in the United States to assess their vulnerability to climate change. The case studies illustrate different approaches that reflect specific local needs and conditions, existing vulnerabilities, local partnerships, and available information about climate change. Information from these case studies will be useful to water utilities and other members of the water resources community to inform the development of strategies for understanding and responding to climate change. This report was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment's Global Climate Research Staff in the Office of Research and Development.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), completed in November 2018, is a comprehensive and authoritative report on climate change and its impacts in the United States.
This report is the Second National Climate Assessment. It summarizes the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the United States, at present and in the future. It is largely based on results of USGCRP research, and integrates those results with related research from around the world. This report discusses climate-related impacts for various societal and environmental sectors and regions across the nation. It is an authoritative scientific report written in plain language, with the goal of better informing public and private decision making at all levels. The report can be explored interactively at nca2009.globalchange.gov.
This document outlines the necessary steps for cost-effective creation of a bicycle-friendly environment for employees at and visitors to Federal facilities. By taking these steps, agencies can expect increases in active transportation by employees and visitors alike, yielding a multitude of benefits to the Government and the broader community. This document was developed by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive with assistance from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Bicycling and Active Transportation.
The NAM Climate Collaborative Health Care Delivery Working Group developed a shortlist of key actions for hospitals and health systems to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The NAM identified nine actions that can be used by any hospitals or health systems to start their journey to reach decarbonization goals.
This compilation presents best practices and lessons learned that are taken from the CRE annual progress report for the Southeastern US Climate Ready Estuaries in 2014.
In 2010, the EPA released a life-cycle analysis of GHG emissions associated with the production and combustion of corn ethanol. Now 2018 new data allowed USDA to examine the emissions pathway corn-ethanol has actually followed since 2010.
This document, dated March 2011, provides information on transportation control measures that have been implemented across the country for a variety of purposes, including reducing criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases. The document describes the rocesses used to develop and implement the strategies and, where available, their effectiveness.
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This document was designed to provide organizations with a regularly updated and easy-to-use set of default emission factors for organizational greenhouse gas reporting. The document includes updated emission factors collated from both EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and Climate Leaders technical guidance. The most recent version of the Emission Factors Hub (April 2014) includes updates to emission factors for stationary and mobile combustion sources, new electricity emission factors from EPA's Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID), and Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).
This FEMP website reflects Federal energy and water consumption data and includes links to GHG inventory data, energy use and cost, water use consumption data, and Agency progress on metering goals.
EPA develops an annual report called the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (Inventory), that tracks U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and sinks by source, economic sector, and greenhouse gas going back to 1990. EPA has prepared the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks since the early 1990s. This annual report, provides a comprehensive accounting of total greenhouse gas emissions for all man-made sources in the United States, including carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere by "sinks," (e.g., through the uptake of carbon and storage in forests, vegetation, and soils) from management of lands in their current use or as lands are converted to other uses. The gases covered by the Inventory include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride.
Across the United States, many states are developing and publishing state level GHG inventories on a regular basis. This website provides official state ghg inventories where available.
EPA's State Inventory and Projection Tool is an interactive spreadsheet model designed to help states develop greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories and was developed to lessen the time it takes to develop an inventory (collecting data, identifying emission factors, etc.). The tool has two components: the state inventory tool and the projection tool. tool.
This report is a follow-on to the 2019 EPA technical report, Global Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Projections & Mitigation Potential: 2015-2050. This report provides U.S. domestic technical and economic mitigation estimates of non-CO2 GHGs from anthropogenic sources at the state-level. The analysis provides information that can be used to understand sub-national contributions of GHG emissions and mitigation opportunities. This web-based summary is intended to provide analysis of the abatement potential and costs of implementing specific abatement technologies. The analysis and accompanying dataset provides information that can be used by state and local-policymakers to understand mitigation opportunities in areas that may have not received the same attention as electricity generation and transportation.
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The National Academy of Medicine, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Health Care Without Harm, and Practice Greenhealth invited health care leaders, professionals of all disciplines, people working in education and health care, and anyone interested in climate and health care to attend a webinar, Activating Health Professionals to Lead Climate Action.
AirKnowledge is a partnership training program in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS). AirKnowledge develops training material focused on the Clean Air Act program areas managed by OAQPS. This website is intended for use by the public and EPA staff. State, local and tribal air agency users should view training offerings on the learning management system (LMS).
Projects can reduce or avoid GHG emissions that cause climate change. These actions can reduce the overall emissions of an organization to create tradable creates to offsets emissions in order to become carbon neutral. This training course covers basics of GHG accounting for projects.
Offered by the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO), this course will provide participants with an understanding of the value proposition for GHG management, fundamental accounting principles, disclosure, verification and reporting frameworks, and common practices for leveraging GHG data.
This course covers the basics of GHG accounting for organizations. The course materials are based on the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol Corporate Standard while referring to ISO 14064.
Offered by the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO), this course guides participants through the process steps required to establish and implement a GHG reduction goal. The instructors will provide brief case studies highlighting how their respective organizations adapted process elements to meet their business objectives. Key questions that will be addressed include determining objectives, establishing a baseline, establishing a business as usual forecast, setting GHG reduction targets, selling to senior management, and how to devise a viable implementation plan. The instructors will also provide direction on applicable tools and references, and they will lead discussion on how to overcome some of the most challenging obstacles.
This course will train experts in GHG accounting for energy efficiency projects.
The objective of the course is to provide an understanding of the current status of accounting approaches for forest and other land use projects and to go through a process of how GHG accounting for forest and other land use projects is done.
This course provides comprehensive and detailed guidance on developing forest GHG inventories.
This course will train experts in preparing inventories and emission reduction projects for landfill gas methane sites.
This course provides training to individuals who wish to be involved in the implementation of clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in the technical area TA1.2: Energy generation from renewable energy sources. The course focuses on hydropower and wind energy projects.
This course includes: an overview of existing GHG verification approaches; a step by step process for planning, executing, and completing a GHG verification; and reference case studies.
At the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, the US brought home its first-ever gold medal in cross country skiing. A huge milestone in the sport, and now with a new inspired generation of cross country skiers, how can we get them and keep them on the snow? How do we create equity in opportunity for those with barriers to access winter trails? Non-motorized winter trail networks exist throughout the US, and we will take the opportunity to gather the tribe of winter trail specialists for this particular webinar, feature a few expert panelists from different parts of the US, and invite a robust discussion. The content will touch on the universal issues of adapting to climate change and building resiliency in operations, but also consider specific geographic factors such as snow type and regional winter recreation culture. Underlying all of the tactical discussion, we will frame the discussion in the bigger picture of land conservation and stewardship. This webinar is designed for the entire tribe of winter trails professionals, stewards, and program providers of all levels of expertise from novice to expert. The discussion will be centered around groomed winter trails for XC skiers, but will also address the importance of providing opportunities for snowshoeing, fatbiking, winter hiking, and winter trail running.
Recordings of the lower carbon construction materials webinars are now available on the EPA website. The webinars covered topics related to new programs made possible by a $350 million investment from the Inflation Reduction Act such as a new carbon labelling program for construction materials and products, how to improve data on embodied greenhouse gas emissions and new programs to help businesses calculate and report these emissions.
Learn more about EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and viewing published GHG data using EPA's GHGRP resources.
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Jun 18, 2025
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EO 14057 (REVOKED)
