Columbus Emissions Sources

What is contributing to climate change in our city? 

Last updated October 8, 2024

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels, is the cause of global climate change. GHG emissions need to be calculated to understand the types of sources and sectors involved in city scale emissions in order to create solutions that target these sources of emissions.

Drawdown Georgia, a group committed to systematically reducing emissions statewide, created a GHG emission tracker. Within the tracker, emissions sources are divided between the transportation, residential, commercial, industrial, and agriculture sectors for each Georgia county. See the image below for the breakdown of emission sources by sector for Columbus.

Transportation is the highest source of GHG emissions for Columbus. For transportation, emissions are determined by calculating vehicle miles traveled within the county. For Columbus, this includes people traveling to the city for work from outside the city in addition to within the city limits. Data is gathered by the US Department of Transportation for all US counties.

Residential, commercial, and industrial emissions data heavily relies on energy information that comes from the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. The energy used to power our homes and businesses uses a combination of power sources including higher emission sources like natural gas and low to zero emission sources like solar and hydroelectric power.

After transportation and electricity generation, the city landfills are the third highest source of GHG emissions for the city. Columbus has two landfills (Schatulga Road and Pine Grove) that emit methane. These landfills are direct emission sources coming from residential, commercial, and industrial activities within the city. 

Knowing the source of the emissions within the city gives stakeholders, city officials, and citizens the opportunity to discuss solutions that focus on localized information.