Calculating Regional GHG Emissions Through the Cornerstone Initiative

What is the Cornerstone Initiative?

The Cornerstone Sustainability Data Initiative was co-founded by ERG, Stanford University, and Watershed as an open-source data collaboration to provide high-quality, open-access sustainability data for users everywhere, including state and local governments. Cornerstone is backed by world-class scientists and renowned experts, including the original developers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) US Environmentally-Extended Input Output (USEEIO) and Watershed’s Comprehensive Environmental Data Archive (CEDA). We follow rigorous validation processes and incorporate the latest research into our models.

Cornerstone provides data, models, and technical support services—including development of consumption-based emissions inventories—to state and local governments who are interested in understanding and mitigating their region’s greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint.

Why are consumption-based emissions inventories (CBEIs) important?

Traditionally, states and localities have utilized a GHG inventory approach to estimate their carbon footprint. Conventional GHG inventories quantify the emissions produced when manufacturing products in the region, as well as the emissions associated with consuming those products within the region. While the GHG inventory approach is important, it has several limitations:

  • Imports. Conventional GHG inventories don’t account for the life cycle emissions (i.e., from extraction, manufacture, transportation, distribution, consumption, and disposal—often referred to as “embodied emissions”) of products imported from other regions or countries and consumed within the region.
  • Exports. Because GHG inventories include emissions associated with the manufacture of products that are exported and utilized outside the region, the magnitude of a region’s carbon footprint is greatly influenced by the extent of its manufacturing economy.
  • Services. Conventional GHG inventories only partially account for the carbon footprint of services provided within the region.

To develop effective strategies for reducing their carbon footprint, states and localities need to understand the full range of emissions associated with consuming goods and services within their borders. A CBEI is an essential tool for this purpose.

What is a CBEI?

A CBEI quantifies emissions across the full life cycle—from extraction to disposal—of the products and services consumed within the region no matter where these emissions occurred. Essentially, a CBEI answers the question: What emissions were generated anywhere in the world to provide the goods and services consumed by residents, businesses, and governments in this region?

A CBEI and a GHG inventory are complementary because a full accounting of a region’s GHG emissions requires both perspectives—the consumption-based perspective a CBEI provides plus the region’s carbon footprint attributable to exported products and services that a GHG inventory provides.

How can Cornerstone support state and local governments?

Cornerstone partners provide freely available data and tools to support state and local agencies in quantifying their GHG footprint, as well as technical assistance and project support services for applying Cornerstone data to real-world situations or developing associated tools and models.

Open-Source State-Level CBEIs

Cornerstone team members built the first freely available state-level consumption-based emissions inventories (CBEIs) for all 50 states. With these CBEIs, states can immediately see which goods and services carry large out-of-state emissions burdens; identify emissions hotspots embedded in the state supply chain; and obtain valuable input for developing strategic climate action plans to reduce GHG emissions. To ensure transparency and open access, the Cornerstone team developed these models within the USEEIO tool. Cornerstone actively supports and maintains these state-level models, including updating the models with the latest GHG emissions data.

High-Quality Sustainability Data

Cornerstone provides high-quality, open-source sustainability data for state and local governments, businesses, and researchers. These readily accessible data can be particularly helpful to supplement existing data and fill gaps in source- or state-specific data on emissions, resource consumption, or employment.

Cornerstone Services

ERG, in collaboration with our Cornerstone partners, provides a full spectrum of services to support state and local governments in quantifying, analyzing, and mitigating their region’s carbon footprint. Our services include:

  • Designing, implementing, and interpreting CBEIs.
  • Developing dashboards to visualize and interpret CBEI results.
  • Providing resources and tools to facilitate sustainable procurement in purchasing decisions, including identifying consumption hot spots.
  • Providing insight into local and regional emissions impacts through custom models.
  • Supporting climate action planning.
  • Estimating benefits of policies such as waste reduction and recycling programs.
  • Developing models extending beyond GHGs to other environmental and economic impacts, including jobs, air pollution, and water use.

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