Makati takes lead in conducting greenhouse gas inventory

MANILA, Philippines – Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay said on Tuesday the city has become the first local government unit (LGU) in the country to conduct its greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory.

The mayor said that as a result, the city government has started drawing up its GHG Management Plan based on the results of the GHG inventory done by the city at the entity and community levels in 2010 and 2011, respectively, according to the standards set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The GHG inventory results of Makati were presented at the country’s first Greenhouse Gas Summit held on Monday at the New World Hotel in Makati City.

Greenhouse gases are defined as “any of the atmospheric gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation produced by solar warming of the Earth’s surface.”

These include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which at elevated levels have been found to contribute to global warming.

Scientific studies have shown that the elevated levels of these gases are directly related to human activities such as burning of fossil fuels and deforestation of tropical forests.

Makati Department of Environmental Sanitation chief and PLLENRO president Danilo Villas, who presented the city’s GHG inventory at the summit, said that efforts are being made to draw up “a realistic and time-bound action plan that will address and reduce the threat to the city posed by catastrophic weather episodes linked to climate change and its precursor, global warming.”

Villas said the city government, in partnership with USAID-CEnergy, conducted the GHG Entity Level Inventory in 2010, and the GHG Community Level Inventory in 2011.

The first phase of the GHG inventory at the entity level, he said, was done on city government-owned structures, including Makati City Hall, Ospital ng Makati, Makati Acute Care Center, police and fire stations and substations, barangay halls and health centers, public schools, covered courts and recreation areas.

The second phase was done at the community level and accounted for the citywide GHG emission of Makati, he said.

The entity level inventory in 2011 showed a total of 10,738 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, of which 15 percent or 1,667.37 metric tons were direct emissions, while 85 percent or 9,125.51 metric tons were measured from indirect emissions.

On the other hand, the community level inventory registered a total of 1,477,256 metric tons of CO2 emissions. Electricity consumption (indirect emission) accounted for 75 percent of CO2e, or 1,105,888 metric tons CO2e. The rest were made up of mobile energy sources, 18 percent; solid waste, 4 percent; and water waste, 3 percent.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations — the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program, and was later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly. Its mission is to “provide comprehensive scientific assessments of current scientific, technical and socioeconomic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and socioeconomic consequences, and possible options for adapting to these consequences or mitigating the effects.”

Dubbed the “Philippine Green STORE (Strategies, Technologies and Opportunities to Reduce Emission) 2012,” the GHG Summit aimed to raise the awareness of local government units, the private sector and non-government organizations about the value of GHG management in mitigating the impact of climate change. It also featured the sharing of initiatives undertaken by select LGUs in managing their respective GHG emissions.

Aside from Makati, seven other LGUs presented their GHG-related practices, namely, the provinces of Bulacan and Batangas, the city of Sta. Rosa and towns of Kalayaan and Bay of Laguna, and the cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig.

DENR Undersecretary for Field Operations Demetrio Ignacio presented the Metro Manila Top Down GHG Inventory. –Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan, Philippine News Agency