Energy and climate change

Guelph’s Community Race To Zero carbon emissions target is to

• Reduce our community carbon emissions by 63 per cent against the 2018 baseline (or down to 344,048 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) by 2030

Guelph’s 2022 community GHG emissions were 835,014 tonnes of  CO₂e. This equates to 5.71 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per person in Guelph. Past years community GHG emissions were:

• 2018: 902,152 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent)
• 2019: 910,226 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
• 2020: 749,342 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
• 2021: 772,768 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent)
• 2022: 835,014 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent)

To get to Guelph’s Race To Zero, we would have liked community GHG emissions to be:

• 2019: 854,789 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
• 2020: 807,426 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
• 2021: 760,063 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
• 2022: 712,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent

This is how different sector greenhouse gas (GHG)  emissions contribute to the total community GHG emissions:

• Residential buildings (Includes fugitive emissions from oil and natural gas systems): 181,196 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent CO₂e;  21.7%
• Institutional/Commercial buildings (Includes fugitive emissions from oil and natural gas systems): 191,831 tonnes of  CO₂e; 23.0%
• Industrial buildings (Includes fugitive emissions from oil and natural gas systems): 183,911 tonnes of  CO₂e; 22.0%
• Transportation: 261,000 tonnes of CO₂e; 31.3%
• Waste and wastewater: 17,077 tonnes of CO₂e; 2.0%

• In 2018, 23.5% of all the energy used by the City facilities, fleet and operations was from renewable sources.
• In 2019, 24.5% of all the energy used by the City facilities, fleet and operations was from renewable sources.
• In 2020, 25.4% of all the energy used by the City facilities, fleet and operations was from renewable sources.
• In 2021, 24.7% of all the energy used by the City facilities, fleet and operations was from renewable sources.
• In 2022, 24.6% of all the energy used by the City facilities, fleet and operations was from renewable sources.
• In 2023, 20.8% of all the energy used by the City facilities, fleet and operations was from renewable sources.

In 2023, the total corporate GHG emissions were 18,346 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This works out to 0.124 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per person in the community. The composition of the total corporate GHG emissions are:

• Fleet – 62.3% or 11,424 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• Facilities – 37.7% or 6,922 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

In 2018 the total GHG emissions were 19,624 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
In 2019 the total GHG emissions were 19,777 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
In 2020 the total GHG emissions were 17,082 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
In 2021 the total GHG emissions were 17,701 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
In 2022 the total GHG emissions were 19,049 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
In 2023 the total GHG emissions were 18,346 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.