Summary

This report provides estimates of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from activities in Englewood as a whole in 2021. The data found within this report is meant to equip city decision makers as well as residents with the knowledge they need to take the best steps forward. Steps taken to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions will also help accomplish other city goals, such as the energy reduction goals set in place in 2017 via Englewood’s Energy Action Plan. Seeing the reductions needed will be a community effort.

View the Greenhouse Gas Report Here

Community-Wide Key Findings

The graphs below show communitywide emissions by sector for 2019 and 2021. In 2021, the largest contributor is the Commercial Sector with 38% of emissions. The next largest contributors are Transportation and Mobile Sources (25%) and Residential Energy (20%). Actions to reduce emissions in all of these sectors will be key to achieving city-wide carbon emission reductions. Solid Waste, Water and Wastewater, and Process and Fugitive Emissions were responsible for the remaining (less than 17%) of emissions.

 View the Greenhouse Gas Report Here

Community-Wide Q&A

Q: How have residential and commercial energy emissions dropped from 2019 to 2021?

A: Energy consumption encompasses both electricity use and natural gas use. Electricity has increased from 2019 to 2021; however, the percentage of renewable energy used by Xcel Energy has increased, resulting in reduced overall emissions. This trend will likely continue, with Xcel Energy aiming to provide carbon-free electricity by 2050. Learn more about Xcel's Carbon Reduction Plan here. Please note: carbon-free electricity does not encompass natural gas.

Q: How have we reduced transportation emissions from 2019 to 2021?

A: Cities across the world have largely seen declines in their transportation emissions due to COVID-19 drastically reducing vehicle miles travelled (VMT). Unfortunately, Englewood and other towns and cities are quickly catching up to pre-COVID levels, with 2021 showing a 16% increase in emissions over 2020 levels (this excludes public transport emissions). View the Environmental Insights Explorer here.

Q: Are we on track for emissions reductions?

A: While on a decline with emissions, we are not on track to reach our Science-Based Target of a 62.9% reduction by 2030 over 2021 numbers. A Science-Based Target is defined as “[a target that] is in line with the scale of reductions required to keep global temperature increase below 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures.” This target was provided to the city by ICLEI* analysts and is made in accordance with the Paris Agreement. See forecasting image to see Englewood’s forecasted emissions through 2050 based on a business-as-usual scenario.

City of Englewood CO2e** Emissions from 2021-2050 based on a Business-As-Usual Scenario

Are we on track for emissions reductions

Q: How was this data collected?

A: Please reference the Greenhouse Gas Inventory report.

Municipal Key Findings

The graphs below show the City of Englewood's municipal emissions for 2021. In 2021, the largest contributor Water and Wastewater Treatment Facilities with 71.76% of emissions. The next largest contributor is the city’s building and energy use (13.51%), city fleet (5.64%), employee commute (4.84%), streetlights (2.52%), solid waste (1.42%) and the Englewood trolley (.32%).

* The South Platte Renew (SPR) Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) project saved 3,500 CO2e from being emitted in 2021! You can learn more about it here.

Municipal Q&A

Q: Why is Englewood's Water and Wastewater Facilities emissions so high?

A: The City of Englewood owns and operates several water treatment and water conveyance facilities. The City’s Charles Allen Water Treatment Plant provides clean drinking water to Englewood customers. Englewood also operates the South Platte Renew facility, which is a joint venture with the City of Littleton. South Platte Renew serves a population of 300,000 in the south metro area. Even though Englewood and its connector sanitation districts only account for 54% of the wastewater treated at South Platte Renew, all associated emissions are reported for Englewood, as the facility is within the city boundaries. This is considered Scope 1 Emissions, or emissions that physically occur within city boundaries. For cities like Littleton that also utilize South Platte Renew, associated emissions from their use are considered Scope 3, or emissions that occur outside the city boundary as a result of activities taking place within the city boundary.

While water and wastewater emissions are the largeset portions for Englewood municipality greenhouse gass emissions, if you reference Englewood community-wide, water and wastewater emissions make up an exceedingly small amount comparatively. South Platte Renew has shown incredible leadership in sustainability, being the first to implement a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) pipeline injection project in the state. The RNG facility offsets an annual 3500 Metric Tons (MT) of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2eq) relative to flaring biogas, the standard disposal method of anaerobic digester biogas; however, given the carbon credits are used by the purchaser of the renewable credits, the official carbon footprint only includes carbon emissions from electricity and natural gas usage. If you converted that 3,500 MT of CO2e saved to vehicle miles driven, it would be 8.7 Millon!

Q: What is the city currently doing to address greenhouse gas emissions associated with the municipality?

A: The City of Englewood is undergoing many efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions associated with the municipality, such as: I) working on an Energy Audit with the Colorado Department of Energy that will provide a full audit of all Englewood municipal buildings on energy use, water use, and renewable energy potential; II) setting aside $200,000 of ARPA funds to go towards a sustainable, energy efficient project. This will be scoped out after the energy audit is complete; III) working on an Electric Vehicle Action Plan which will partially look at strategies for converting the city's fleet over to electric vehicles when feasible and cost-effective; IV) the hiring of a Sustainability Coordinator in 2022 to help oversee and implement sustainability projects and initiatives, which includes helping to address the city's GHG emissions, both at a municipal level and community-wide; V) South Platte Renew is underoing an Energy Management Plan that will look at the feasibility of short term energy reduction and long term renewable energy production projects, which will inherently reduce SPR's carbon footprint; VI) transitioning the city's Keep Englewood Beautiful (KEB) commission to the Sustainability Commission to better align with the city's increased focus on sustainability; VII) updating of the city sustainability plan in April of 2022 and adding additional projects around GHG reductions, such as creating an energy efficiency outreach plan for low-income residents, becoming SolSmart designated, and more.

Q: I have a recommendation involving addressing GHG emissions at Englewood (either at the city level or community-wide), who should I contact?

A: Ideas and suggestions are always welcome! If you are an employee, please fill out the sustainability suggestion e-form that you can find on the e-hub. For residents, feel free to fill out the community sustainability survey found here or email Mel Englund, Englewood's Sustainability Coordinator, directly at menglund@englewoodco.gov.

Glossary

*ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability: is a global network of more than 2500 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. 

**CO2e: This refers to carbon dioxide emissions equivalent. This is a metric measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases on the basis of their global-warming potential (GWP), by converting amounts of other gases to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide with the same global warming potential.