ICLEI’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocols provide authoritative guidance for communities to account for carbon pollution accurately and consistently.
What are the GHG Protocols?
Developed through extensive stakeholder consultation and partnership with other leading GHG emissions experts, ICLEI’s GHG Protocols are the national standards for local-scale accounting of emissions that contribute to climate change. ICLEI has developed four protocols for different emissions areas and needs:
- The U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions provides detailed, cutting-edge guidance on completing a GHG emissions inventory at the community scale in the United States — including emissions from businesses, residents, and transportation.
- The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Emissions (GPC) is the global counterpart to the US Community Protocol. While the US Community Protocol provides more detailed methodology tailored to US communities, those communities that want to report to international registries such as carbonn Climate Registry should also consult the GPC.
- The Local Government Operations Protocol (LGO Protocol) provides detailed guidance on accounting for emissions from the buildings, facilities and vehicles operated by a local government.
- The Recycling and Composting Emissions Protocol provides guidance on accounting for the GHG emissions benefits of recycling and composting of community-generated waste.
Learn More and Download the GHG Protocols
- U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Global Protocol for Community-scale GHG Emissions (GPC)
- Local Government Operations (LGO) Protocol
- Recycling and Composting Emissions Protocol
Your ICLEI Support
You don’t have to become a protocol expert in order to create protocol-compliant inventories. ICLEI’s ClearPath tool was built to allow local government staff to easily complete GHG inventories following the US Community Protocol, GPC, and LGO Protocol. In addition, members receive access to ICLEI’s team of emissions management experts so ICLEI members can have their protocol questions directly answered by the protocols’ authors themselves.