Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	65.15
Liaison	Emma Blandford
Submission Date	Feb. 29, 2024

STARS v2.2

Georgia Institute of Technology
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	1.67 / 3.00	Emma Blandford Portfolio Manager Office of Sustainability

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory

Has the institution conducted a GHG emissions inventory within the previous three years that includes all Scope 1 and 2 emissions? :

Yes

A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:

Second_Nature_2020.csv

A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:

Georgia Tech uses an Excel based tool developed by Lotus Engineering and Sustainability to calculate the GHG Emissions.

Has the GHG emissions inventory been validated internally by personnel who are independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process and/or verified by an independent, external third party?:

A brief description of the GHG inventory verification process:

---

Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:

OP1_EmissionsInventoryandDisclosure.xlsx

Scope 1 GHG emissions

Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:

	Weight in MTCO2e
Stationary combustion	35,299 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions)	6,193 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:

41,492 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 2 GHG emissions

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):

	Weight in MTCO2e
Imported electricity	103,238 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Imported thermal energy	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:

103,238 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

GHG emissions from biomass combustion

Gross GHG emissions from biogenic sources, performance year:

1,586 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 3 GHG emissions

Does the GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from the following sources?:

	Yes or No	Weight in MTCO2e
Business travel	Yes	7,563 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Commuting	Yes	24,468 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Purchased goods and services	No	---
Capital goods	No	---
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2	Yes	15,367 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Waste generated in operations	Yes	3,157 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources	No	---

Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:

50,555 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:

Georgia Tech uses different methods to evaluate the different categories of scope 3 emissions:

● Business Travel – GT tracks the emissions from flights booked through the campus travel system. Emission factors from EPA (categorizing into short, medium, and long haul) and a Radiative forcing factor of 2.7 are used in this category.

● Commuting - Commute data comes from an annual commute survey conducted by Parking and Transportation (PTS) Georgia Tech. The data is extrapolated based on campus FTE across staff, students, and faculty. EPA emission factors are used in this category.

● Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 – Georgia Tech includes the upstream and downstream emissions related to Natural Gas and Electricity:

● Electricity T&D Losses – The transmission and Distribution Losses are set at 5.7% based on the EIA Annual Electric Power Industry Report for Georgia Power.

● Natural Gas - Upstream leakage is taken from an EDF study which estimates a 2.2% leakage rate from production, distribution, and delivery. This upstream leakage accounts for all leakage before the natural gas reaches Georgia Tech campus. We Assume that the density of natural gas is 0.8 kg per cubic meter and that natural gas is 93.4% methane and 1% carbon dioxide.

● Waste generated in operations – GT uses a improved methodology to better estimate waste emissions on a case by case basis. Waste emissions includes landfill emissions, compost emissions, and recycling transportation.

● Landfill emissions: Total landfill gas produced from Georgia Tech's landfilled waste was calculated using ICLEI's ClearPath tool. Net CH4 capture was calculated by taking the difference between total CH4 produced without landfill gas collection and under a scenario with "typical" landfill gas collection. The net methane capture is then converted to total scf of total landfill gas. Note that ClearPath assumes a typical LFG collection efficiency which may differ from the actual efficiency of the collection system.

● Recycling – Currently only includes the emissions associated with transportation of recycling waste. The avoided emissions from recycling base on the EPA WARM model are calculated as information only and not include in the inventory.

● Composting – Emissions factors from EPA WARM model are used for this section.

● Other Sources – Study Abroad student travel is included in this category. information from the Georgia Tech 2022 Fact book was used to identify the top 10 study abroad countries and the number of students who traveled to each location. It was assumed that upon return, students would take the same route back to Atlanta. Distances were multiplied by two, for round trip distance, and by the total number of students who flew to each destination to get total passenger-miles traveled by flight length category. Emission calculation follows a similar methodology to Business Travel.

Part 2. Air pollutant emissions inventory

Has the institution completed an inventory within the previous three years to quantify its air pollutant emissions?:

Annual weight of emissions for::

	Weight of Emissions
Nitrogen oxides (NOx)	---
Sulfur oxides (SOx)	---
Carbon monoxide (CO)	---
Particulate matter (PM)	---
Ozone (O3)	---
Lead (Pb)	---
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)	---
Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs)	---
Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations	---

Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:

	Yes or No
Major stationary sources	---
Area sources	---
Mobile sources	---
Commuting	---
Off-site electricity production	---

None

A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:

---

Optional Fields

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity (location-based):

---

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :

---

Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:

https://sustain.gatech.edu/georgia-tech-climate-action-plan

Additional documentation to support the submission: