Climate and Energy Progress Dashboard

The regional GHG emission reduction goals include 10% below business-as-usual projections by 2012 (back down to 2005 levels), 20% below 2005 levels by 2020, 50% by 2030, and 80% by 2050. COG’s greenhouse gas inventories show that the region exceeded its 2012 and 2020 goals, despite a 20% growth in population. Expedited and concerted actions will be needed throughout the region to achieve future goals.

The inventories measure GHG-emitting activities undertaken by residents, businesses, industry, and government located in metropolitan Washington, as well as emissions from visitors. Approximately 90% of metropolitan Washington’s GHG emissions come from building energy consumption and transportation. The remainder of emissions comes from other activities and sources including waste, land use (agriculture, forests and trees), and fugitive emissions. In 2020, forests and trees offset more than 3 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

The metropolitan Washington GHG Contribution Analysis results shows what has driven increases and decreases in emissions between inventory years 2005 and 2020. The main drivers increasing emissions (red bars) include growth in population, commercial space, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Driving down emissions (blue bars) is mainly a cleaner grid, reduced vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per person, and decreased commercial energy intensity.

Energy consumption is the leading contributor to metropolitan Washington’s GHG emissions, accounting for 52% of the total emissions as of 2020. Sustained reductions in energy consumption is an important component of meeting the region’s GHG emission reduction goals. Weather and population growth impact energy consumption trends.

The region has surpassed the 2020 goal of 30,000 grid-connected renewable energy systems in the region. Distributed renewable energy deployment has grown at a tremendous rate from less than 500 systems in 2009 to more than 72,000 systems in 2022 and more than 807 MW of capacity.

GHG emission reduction is supported by development that prioritizes energy efficiency. Buildings with a higher level of environmental performance are verified through programs such as LEED, ENERGY STAR, EarthCraft, and Passive House. The region met the goal of 5,000 certified high-performance buildings by 2020. As of the end of 2021, there are more than 5,300. 

Passenger cars and trucks account for approximately 67% of on-road GHG emissions. Improving fuel economy will help reduce GHG emissions from passenger cars and trucks. The region increased all battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) ownership from 33,175 in 2020 to 11,705 in 2023. The total electric and hybrid vehicle ownership in 2023 is 335,945 vehicles, which accounts for 8.6% of all light duty vehicles.

Owners of plug-in and all electric vehicles need to be supported with a robust network of charging stations. Total electric vehicle charging station locations in metropolitan Washington have increased from 124 in 2012 to more than 1,200 in 2021, surpassing the expected 1,000 charging station locations by 2020.

Thirty-one percent of total GHG emissions in metropolitan Washington comes from on-road mobile transportation. Reducing the miles of automobile travel on the roads supports GHG reduction. Transit, carpooling, flexible work schedules, teleworking, supporting growth in regional activity centers and high-capacity transit areas are all strategies that can help reduce the growth in vehicle miles traveled (VMT). While population has grown more than 20% from 2005 to 2020, VMT per person has declined 28%.

Enhancing commute options and telework for employees can reduce the number of vehicle trips and vehicle miles traveled, lessen congestion, and reduce GHG emissions. In metropolitan Washington, the proportion of commuters who teleworked occasionally or regularly nearly tripled between 2004 to 2019 to a total of 1,073,000 in 2019. From 2019 to 2022 teleworking levels doubled to about 2.3 million.

Zero Waste is a visionary goal that calls for society to use fewer resources as well as increase resource recovery, recycling, and composting. Zero waste strategies reduce emissions, saves energy, and extends landfill capacity. The regional recycling rate, one indicator to track progress towards zero waste, has increased from approximately 33% in 2005 to 47% in 2016. Expanding regional composting capacity and organics collection will be important to meeting and exceeding a 50% recycling rate.