Communities such as cities and counties are increasingly interested in understanding how nature-based solutions can help them reach their climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. However, many communities do not know what role their existing forests and trees already play in influencing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because they don’t include them in their inventories.

This supplemental guidance to the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories (GPC) provides detailed methods that communities can follow to estimate both GHG emissions from land-use change and other forest disturbances and carbon dioxide removals by forests and trees growing within their borders. It provides guidance on how to select appropriate data sources, perform calculations, ensure standardized reporting, and use the inventory information to set transparent climate action targets.