The Department of Sustainability has worked with the Brendle Group, a sustainable engineering and planning firm with extensive experience conducting community-wide greenhouse gas inventories, to complete a detailed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions for all 57 cities and towns within Cuyahoga County.  The inventory includes baseline data from 2010 and yearly data extending through 2020.

Due to the county’s commitment to the Covenant of Mayors, the Global Protocol for Community-Scale GHG Inventories (GPC) was chosen as the basis for the inventory calculations, reporting at the Basic level. Highlights from the completed Cuyahoga County Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory include:

Trends in County Total Emissions from 2010 to 2020

stacked bar chart showing annual greenhouse gas emissions by sector, 2010 and 2015-2020, with a line chart showing per capita emissions for the same time periods

  • A 25% reduction in overall GHG emissions from 26.1 to 19.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT CO2e) from 2010 to 2020
  • A 25% reduction in emissions from stationary energy (electricity and natural gas)
Trends in Vehicle Miles Traveled and Emissions
combo chart showing annual greenhouse gas emissions from road transportation and annual VMT by vehicle type
Annual greenhouse gas emissions from road transportation sources in gray. Annual vehicle miles traveled figures by mode in orange.
  • A slight increase in overall transportation sector emissions (with the exception of 2020)
Cuyahoga County Emissions by Sector

pie chart of 2020 greenhouse gas emissions by sector

  • Energy related emissions (including residential and commercial) accounted for 57% of emissions in 2020.
  • Transportation emissions accounted for 24% of county total emissions in 2020.
  • Industrial emissions accounted for 13% of county total emissions in 2020.

In addition to data on overall county emissions, disaggregated data by each community in the county is also available for each sector for years 2010-2020. These community breakouts can be viewed on our interactive dashboard.

Key Terms

Greenhouse Gas: Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation (heat) in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide

Carbon Dioxide Equivalents (CO2e): A standard unit for measuring carbon footprints that expresses the impact of all gases in the amount of CO2 it would take to create the same warming effect.

Metric Tons CO2e (MT CO2e): Standard units for reporting GHG emissions under international protocol.