NYU calculates its emissions on an annual basis in order to track progress towards meeting our climate goals. Although each of the initiatives that make up our Climate Goals uses a different methodology, NYU’s overarching GHG inventory is calculated according to standards from the GHG Protocol, one the most widely used and accepted GHG accounting methodologies available.

Under this protocol, emissions are categorized into three main areas, called scopes:

• Scope 1: The University’s direct, onsite emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels. Examples include NYU public safety vehicles use of gasoline, and the cogen plant’s use of natural gas. 
• Scope 2: The University’s indirect emissions from purchased energy, such as emissions from any power plants that supply the University with electricity via the grid.
• Scope 3: The University’s indirect emissions that are a result of University activities but from entities not owned or operated by NYU. An example is the off-campus emissions from producing the food served in NYU’s dining halls. 

These scopes allow NYU to organize its emissions into consistent categories for tracking and comparison.

NYU compiles its emissions according to the scopes and categories above and reports them for its key GHG goals and initiatives.

Initiative	Type	Scope	Associated Goals/targets	Methodology
Climate Leadership Initiative	Public Reporting	Scope 1 & 2	2040 Carbon Neutrality	GHG Protocol
NYC Carbon Challenge	GHG Commitment	Scope 1 & 2: Building-related  > 25,000 sqft	50% reduction by 2025	NYC Carbon Challenge
Cool Food Pledge	GHG Commitment	Scope 3: Purchased Food	25% reduction by 2030	GHG Protocol
NYC Climate Mobilization Act	Compliance	Scope 1 & 2: Building-related	Building-specific GHG Caps	NYC Building Code

 

How is carbon accounting done? 

Our ultimate goal in carbon accounting is to convert our consumption of a commodity (e.g. electricity or gasoline) into the amount of resulting greenhouse gases. This is done by multiplying the consumption of the item in question (e.g. gasoline) by its emissions factor:

Consumption  x  Emissions Factor = GHG Emissions (measured in CO2e)

Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, but there are other gases that cause global warming, including methane, nitrous oxide, and chemicals like CFCs and HFCs used in refrigeration. To account for these gases, we use emissions factors that calculate all of the most important greenhouse gases and then add them together based on their global warming impact in terms of CO2 (called CO2 equivalents or CO2e).

For example, to calculate the impact of burning 1 gallon gasoline in a car:

By using carbon dioxide equivalents, we can summarize the impact of the various greenhouse gases we emit into one number: the amount of CO2 we would need to emit to have the equivalent impact. 

Once we calculate the emissions from each of our actions, we then add them up into different categories so we can see trends and analyze our progress.