ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the theoretical and practical difficulties experienced when urban areas undertake greenhouse gas emissions inventories. It summarizes mechanisms used to assess greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas, and reviews the findings from several attempts to provide accurate inventories. The chapter focuses on the factors that shape city emission profiles, and the underlying drivers of these. The contribution of cities to global greenhouse gas emissions has become a hotly contested area of debate, as has the allocation of responsibility for climate change. Climate change is caused by the increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and ozone. Urban form and urban spatial organization can have a wide range of implications for a city's greenhouse gas emissions. The chapter concludes by reviewing recent arguments that suggest meaningful long-term mitigation of climate change require addressing patterns of consumption, particularly in middle-income and high-income countries.
