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Commission reviews new methods to count transportation emissions; staff to add Google EIE data to 2024 inventory
Summary
Presenters told the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability that the city’s current in‑boundary VMT accounting likely undercounts transportation emissions and recommended adding Google Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) data to produce an induced‑traffic, GPC‑aligned estimate; staff said EIE will be added to the 2024 inventory and historical recalculations will be run.
Zach Emerman presented analysis showing Bloomington’s present method of counting vehicle miles traveled (VMT) — which counts only mileage inside city limits — likely undercounts transportation emissions and therefore underrepresents the transportation sector’s share of the city’s greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. He showed comparisons of three approaches (in‑boundary only, full VMT, and an induced‑traffic model aligned with the Global Protocol for Community‑Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions — GPC) and cited peer cities that have switched methods.
"Transportation is currently 28% of our greenhouse gas emissions," Zach said, citing the national baseline to frame the local comparison, and argued that Bloomington’s transportation share (about 14% under current accounting) would…
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