Council committee adopts CAO report, aligns municipal GHG inventory with local government protocol and sets March 1 inventory deadline

A Los Angeles City committee voted to adopt a City Administrative Officer (CAO) report that reconciles differences in the municipal greenhouse-gas (GHG) inventory methodology and to amend the reporting deadline so inventories are finalized and presented to the council by March 1 each year.

The change aligns the city's municipal inventory with the Local Government Operations Protocol (LGOP), focusing reporting on emissions under the city's operational control rather than combining owned in-basin generation with purchased power. Daniel Grama, an environmental specialist with LA Sanitation, told the committee that the revised method “only includes in-basin power generation,” and that reconciling the methodology required conversations with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

Why it matters: The methodology change reduces the power generation component of the municipal inventory compared with the city's prior reporting. Under the previous approach (which included both owned and purchased power), the report showed a 62% reduction from baseline for power-generation emissions; using only in-basin generation reduces that component to a 41% reduction from baseline. The distinction affects how close the city appears to be to municipal targets cited in prior policy work such as the Green New Deal (the committee cited a 2025 municipal target of 55% reduction).

The committee also approved an amendment to the underlying motion to move the annual inventory finalization date to March 1. The amended language modifies a prior instruction (motion dated Nov. 9, 2022, in council file 22-14o2) so “the inventory should be finalized and presented to the council by March 1 of each year and used to inform the subsequent year's budget process.” The amendment was seconded in the meeting and was included in the final motion, which passed on a roll-call vote of five in favor and none opposed.

CAO and department roles: Zena Chang of the Office of the CAO said the CAO's August 2024 report identified the discrepancy and that CAO, LA Sanitation and LADWP worked together to resolve it. Don Tran of the climate action team told the committee that “the emissions inventory will serve as a baseline of information so that consultants can understand the emissions that occur within the boundary of the city of LA as well as in the operations of the city itself.” The staff said future annual reports will use the LGOP-based totals as the official municipal totals while continuing to publish the previously used combined totals for informational comparison.

Discussion highlights and follow-up: Dr. Pickle, identified in the record as a ratepayer advocate, recommended that the city track an internal dollars-per-ton metric for greenhouse-gas reductions to help compare program cost-effectiveness; he cited historical examples and the variability of cost estimates for utility decarbonization. Committee members asked staff to provide more information about fleet electrification feasibility for high-use vehicles (for example, fire and police apparatus) and to coordinate with LAFD and LAPD on technical constraints. CAO staff and department representatives said they would provide additional detail in future reports and work with relevant departments on fleet benchmarks.

Budget process linkage: CAO staff said the inventory and its identification of the city's largest operational emission sources (notably power generation and fleet/mobility) will inform budget analysis and that the mayor's budget release (noted in the meeting as April 20) would include climate impact considerations for departmental budget requests. The office also reported that an RFP to select a consultant to update the city cap/capacity framework (cap update) was released in January, with bids due at the end of the month; the consultant selection is intended to establish interim targets and a framework to guide future budget and investment decisions.

Vote and formal action: The committee adopted the CAO report as amended. The clerk recorded the vote as five ayes (Council member Nazeri; Council member Yaroslavsky; Council member Geraldo; Council member Raman; Council member Padilla) and no dissenting votes.

Next steps: Staff said upcoming annual reports will include clearer language about what is included in municipal power-generation accounting, publish both the LGOP-based operational totals and the combined owned-plus-purchased totals for comparison, and adjust reporting timelines to allow broader departmental review. Committee members requested a future report addressing fleet-electrification feasibility for the departments listed in the inventory (LA Sanitation, Fire, Police and LADOT) and suggested departmental representatives join future briefings to answer technical fleet questions.