Project snapshot. More details below.
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Products
(Project Number)
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Impact on Practice
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Product Status
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Greenhouse Gas Analysis Guide (C09)
Guidebook, website, and step]by]step procedures for considering, estimating, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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With these systematic procedures, an agency can anticipate strategies to answer public and regulatory issues related to GHG emissions, improve environmental outcomes, and benefit from time-saving protocols.
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The practitioner’s guide and final report are available at
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Staff Responsibility: Stephen J. Andrle
Most climate scientists agree that humans are accelerating a change in Earth’s climate through the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). In response, governments and organizations in the United States at the state, regional, and local levels have been enacting policies aimed at reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions. These policies typically include an overall emissions reduction target for a city, a state, or an agency. To meet reduction targets, some agencies and organizations are developing plans and strategies that itemize emissions sources. Transportation, surface transportation in particular, is one of the most significant sources of GHG emissions.
This project had four objectives: (1) develop a strategy or strategies for GHG emissions at relevant key decision points in the collaborative decision-making framework (CDMF), (2) identify relevant material already produced by the normal planning process and the gaps that exist for GHG analysis, (3) prepare materials and methods to address the gaps and integrate them into the CDMF, and (4) prepare a freestanding practitioner’s guide.
This project synthesized information for practitioners on how GHG emissions can be incorporated into transportation planning and decision making. This included describing background information on the role of the transportation sector in GHG emissions, as well as the different trends and factors that will influence future GHG emissions from this sector. The project also identified different GHG emissions reduction strategies and information on cost effectiveness and other means of evaluating the feasibility of such strategies. The project developed technical framework that provides information on the models, data sources, and methods that can be used to conduct GHG emissions analysis. The project developed case studies to illustrate different scales and institutional contexts for GHG analyses. The project also created a pracitioner's guide that presents information to practitioners on how GHG emissions can be incorporated into transportation planning and decision making. The guide describes four decision contexts—long-range planning, programming, corridor planning, and NEPA permitting—and questions that analysts should ask if interested in incorporating GHG emissions into key decision points in each process. The guide also presents a technical framework that provides information on models, data sources, and methods that can be used to conduct GHG emissions analysis.
Project Status:The project is complete.
Product Availability: The Practitioner’s Guide to Incorporating Greenhouse Gas Emissions into the Collaborative Decision-Making Framework, SHRP 2 Report S2-C09-RW-2, was published in January 2013. It is available as an Adobe PDF.
Incorporating Greenhouse Gas Emissions into the Collaborative Decision-Making Framework, SHRP 2 Report S2-C09-RR-1, is available as an Adobe PDF. A printed version is available through the TRB bookstore. An e-book version of this report is available for purchase at Google, iTunes, and Amazon.
A fact sheet and project brief are also available.
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This page was last modifed on March 27, 2014.
