City of Novato, CA
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The City of Novato is committed to protecting the well-being and quality of life for both current and future residents. This includes ensuring access to clean energy, air, and water, reducing waste, and preserving a healthy natural environment, while at the same time preparing our city and community to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
This Sustainability Dashboard has been developed to measure progress toward achieving our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals, monitor trends, and track the City's ongoing sustainability efforts.
Progress Toward Achieving Novato’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goal
Novato's GHG emissions reduction goal aligns with the State of California’s target of reducing emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, as established by the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), and by 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2045.
As of 2022, the most recent year with available data, our community has successfully reduced GHG emissions by 18% compared to 1990 levels. The chart below illustrates Novato’s progress in reducing GHG emissions, comparing it to the State’s 2030 and 2045 climate goals.
Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Novato
In collaboration with the Marin Climate & Energy Partnership (MCEP), the City conducts annual inventories of communitywide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These inventories use a sector-based approach to measure emissions from activities occurring within the City’s boundaries.
While Novato’s GHG inventories focus on sector-based emissions, a significant portion of emissions is also associated with the goods and services purchased and consumed by residents and businesses. Known as consumption-based emissions, these result from processes such as material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and disposal—many of which occur outside Novato’s boundaries.
According to Novato’s 2022 communitywide GHG emissions inventory, 92% of local emissions stem from two primary sources: exhaust from gas-powered vehicles (64%) and natural gas used in homes and businesses for heating, cooling, and hot water (28%). Achieving the City’s 2030 emissions reduction goal will require significant efforts to cut emissions from these two key sectors.
In addition to communitywide inventories, the City periodically prepares estimates of emissions from municipal (government) operations. The most recent municipal inventory for Novato, completed in 2016, revealed that emissions from municipal operations accounted for less than 1% of the city’s total communitywide emissions.
This Dashboard focuses on the three sectors responsible for the majority of emissions in Novato: Transportation, Energy, and Waste. It also includes information on City buildings and operations. As more data becomes available, the Dashboard will be updated accordingly.