Charlottesville releases 2020-2021 greenhouse gas emissions data

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Charlottesville is keeping track of greenhouse gas emissions in order to reach its goal of a 45% emissions reduction by 2030.

New numbers show that in the first year of the pandemic, Charlottesville’s metric tons of carbon dioxide dropped by 15%.

“Charlottesville’s 2020 numbers were impacted in the way that we expected them to be,” Climate Program Specialist Emily Irvine said. “Transportation took a big hit. We were all traveling a lot less, commercial energy took a big hit.”

In 2021, that rose by 5%, but was still 10% less than pre-pandemic levels.

For comparison, in 2011, Charlottesville transportation emitted about 130,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. In 2020, that dropped to 74,000 metric tons.

“I want people to remember that about 95% of the emissions come from our community based activities, so all of us have a part to play in reducing our community’s emissions,” Irvine said.

Data is still being collected for 2022, but Irvine says she expects to see another increase in emissions.

“That would be in line with what other communities are seeing and what our in-house municipal data is showing us, but I don’t think it means that we’re off track to meet our goals. I think it underscores the importance of climate action, and I think that the work that the city and the community are doing to reduce our emissions remains timely,” Irvine said.

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