Carbon Intensity Map per km2
- 0 - 100 tCO₂e/km² - Residual
- 100 - 200 tCO₂e/km² - Very low
- 200 - 450 tCO₂e/km² - Low
- 450 - 900 tCO₂e/km² - Medium
- 900 - 1250 tCO₂e/km² - Elevated
- > 1250 tCO₂e/km² - Very Elevated
Grading criteria for each axis
1.Carbon Neutrality Strategy/Roadmap: the plans must aim for carbon neutrality and must necessarily include the Energy, Transport, Waste and AFOLU sectors. This document must also contain quantified measures, as well as an up-to-date municipal GHG inventory, a projection of emissions up to the target year, a financing plan and, finally, a monitoring plan to evaluate the implementation of the roadmap.
2.Energy strategy: The Sustainable Energy Action Plans (PAES) and Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (PAESC) defined as part of the municipalities’ adherence to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy were taken into account, as well as Municipal Strategies for the Energy Transition not covered by this Covenant. Only documents in force during 2023 were considered.
3. Adaptation plan: the documents must meet all or most of the following requirements: assess the current and future vulnerabilities of the municipality, identify, evaluate and integrate the adaptation options, analyze the climate vulnerability of the identified housing stock, and assess the economic viability of each of the adaptation options.
4. Municipal Climate Action Plan: A document recommended in the Basic Law on Climate, which should incorporate two components, one for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and the other for adapting to climate change.
Observations
The majority of the information was collected through an individual form sent to each municipality on a weekly basis. The deadline for filling in these forms was between November 2, 2023 and December 31, 2023.
The municipalities were also contacted by individual telephone call between December 5, 2023 and December 22, 2023. All the municipalities were contacted effectively – a contact that resulted in the registration of the request to fill in the form – at least once.
For the municipalities from which it was not possible to obtain information directly through the form, public information provided by the municipality through its official sources or publicly available databases was collected.
The methodology for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the energy and transport sectors in municipalities is based on the use of fuel and electricity consumption data in the year 2022, made available by the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (DGEG) on its official website. This approach follows the guidelines established by the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), ensuring accurate and consistent quantification of municipal emissions.
The calculation process involves the allocation of energy consumption to different sectors of economic activity, after which the consumption data is multiplied by the corresponding emission factors, obtained from the National Inventory of Emissions by Sources and Removal by Sinks of Atmospheric Pollutants (INERPA). The use of emission factors from INERPA ensures consistency with national GHG accounting methodologies and reflects the specificities of the Portuguese context.
The data relating to the municipal population and area of each municipality are sourced from information provided by the National Statistics Institute for the year 2022.
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