Inventory Generator – A scalable method for building city-scale GHG inventories from national and regional data

Cities are eager to take bold climate action, but creating a baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is often a massive roadblock. Many municipalities need to plan and prioritize long before complete local datasets are available.

This session introduces the Inventory Generator as a scalable approach to bridge this gap, translating macro-level national data into city-scale emission profiles. Rather than waiting for perfect data, the Generator supports an "incremental approach" by producing structured baseline inventories that cities can use immediately and refine over time.

The session will present the methodological logic of geospatial downscaling, discuss key uncertainties and practical considerations, and show how generated inventories can help cities move more quickly into planning, reporting, and follow-up.

It will also highlight the user perspective within Data Portal for Cities, including how such inventories can support onboarding, comparability, and collaboration around improved data, methods, and functions.