Sustainable Syracuse Initiative

In 2010, in partnership with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and the Federal Department of Energy, the City completed an inaugural Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory (GHGI) of municipal and community operations. The inventory estimated the production of 29,493 metric tons of carbon from municipal operations and over 1.5 million metric tons of carbon from community operations. The cubic dimension of one metric ton of carbon is about the size of a single-family home.

This prompted the City to establish a Sustainability Plan in 2012 as part of the Comprehensive Plan 2040. Key achievements include:

• LED Streetlight Conversation
• Installation of Renewable Energy Generation Mechanisms
• Expansion and Improvement of Urban Forestry Initiatives
• Micro-mobility Improvements (Bike Infrastructure, Veo Micromobility Program, Municipal Sidewalk Program)
• Establishment of Open Space Zoning

Over a decade later, the City is committed to continue the pursuit of sustainability. In 2024, the Division of Planning and Sustainability was awarded funding from the NYSDEC Office of Climate Change to complete a consolidated municipal and community GHGI and Climate Action Plan (CAP). Working with C&S Companies, the City will develop a comprehensive and strategic list of actions for the City and Syracuse community to implement around sustainability.

A Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory (GHGI) lists emission sources and quantifies the emissions from each source using standardized calculations. In 2025, the City contracted professional services from C&S Companies to develop a consolidated municipal and community operations GHGI. The inventory analyzes emission sources from the calendar year of 2024 and compares its emissions to GHGI findings the City compiled in 2010.

2024 Report Findings

The findings from the 2010 GHGI provided information the City needed to set emission reduction targets of 40% for municipal operations and 7% for the community by 2020. The 2024 GHGI report found emissions reductions of 67% for municipal operations and 29% for the community compared to the 2010 emissions, exceeding the targets by a wide margin. Below is a summary of the factors contributing to the municipal and community emissions reductions:

•  Municipal Reductions: Conversion to LED streetlights and traffic signals, implementation of a refrigerant management system, procurement of fuel-efficient vehicles, optimization of waste collection routes, and the expansion of the Urban Forestry Program.

• Community Reductions: National Grid sourcing its electricity from renewable energy sources, the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles, the utilization of micro-mobility opportunities emerging within city-limits, and commercial and household investment in green technologies such as LED lightbulbs, heat pumps, and the installation of solar panels.

Consolidated 2024 GHGI Report(PDF, 1MB)

A Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a strategic list of actions a city government, community, or other organizations can take to make meaningful reductions in their carbon footprint and to help mitigate the effects of climate change. A CAP’s core function is to analyze risks (and opportunities!) associated with climate change.

CAP Goals/Outcomes

• Identify core themes and corresponding actions for municipal, community, and organizational efforts.
• Correspond identified themes and goals to existing and developing planning documents such as zoning ordinances, comprehensive plans, and cross-department master plans.
• Support actions with implementation strategies that provide clear designation of roles, responsibilities, and benchmark points.

Why complete a CAP?

Climate change is accelerating, with negative impacts to our daily lives including nuisance flooding, extreme heat, severe weather events, resource depletion and more. With a plan, we can prioritize actions and programs to lessen greenhouse gas emissions, bolster climate resilience, and be better positioned to capitalize on opportunities to improve quality of life and preserve prosperity for future generations.

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) are gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (refrigerants), nitrous oxide, ozone and water vapor that, when released into the atmosphere, trap heat from the sun, causing temperatures to rise. These gases are emitted through everyday activities that use energy (vehicle travel, heating/cooling of buildings, waste processing, etc.).

The amount of GHGs emitted by a person, building, or community demonstrate their total carbon footprint. Carbon footprints are typically calculated into metric carbon tons which is a formula of carbon that encompasses all sources of GHGs.

When calculating a GHGI, there are 3 classifications of GHG emissions that can be analyzed to produce the final estimate of metric tonnage of carbon produced by encompassed operations.

• Scope 1 Emissions: this is a term used in GHG inventories, and it describes the category of emissions that occur on-site (i.e. burning natural gas or oil to heat a building or burning gasoline or diesel in a vehicle). These are typically calculated from figures reported in utility or fuel bills. Scope 1 emissions are a mandatory component of both municipal and community GHGI's.

• Scope 2 Emissions: this term describes the categories of emissions from the power plants that supply electricity to the grid. These are typically calculated based on electricity consumption reported in electric bills, multiplied by the emissions factor (kg of CO₂ equivalent per megawatt hour of electricity) of the power plants which made electricity in a certain region. Scope 2 emissions are a mandatory component of a municipal or community GHGI.

•  Scope 3 Emissions: these are indirect, or lifecycle emissions generated through activity (this is regardless of where these emissions-generating activities occur) such as waste generation, consumption of food and water, the manufacturing of the clothing you wear, and building the buildings you live and work in. Comprehensive Scope 3 emissions are optional for GHGI's today - they are complicated and, in many cases, impossible or impractical to calculate. However, certain categories within Scope 3 such as employee commute can be estimated and are useful to measure certain impacts of government operations on GHG emissions.

Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get. As the climate changes, seasonal weather patterns and events are happening at different times of year or aren’t happening at all. In some cases, weather can be more extreme or will be different from past weather events.

In general, the effects from climate change include things we are already experiencing such as shorter winters, hotter and longer summer temperatures, heatwaves, wildfire smoke (local or regional), and extreme weather events (especially rainfall and wet snowfalls with sudden thaws).

The risks include flooding at any time of year, heat stress/stroke in the summer, damage to public and personal property from weather events, and changes to natural ecosystems.