{
  "id": "community-ghg-emissions",
  "category": "Environment",
  "title": "Community greenhouse gas emissions compared with 2007",
  "geography": "City of Victoria (community-wide emissions)",
  "scope": "city",
  "levels": [
    "Households and businesses (buildings, transport, waste)",
    "Municipal, Provincial and federal climate policy"
  ],
  "plain_question": "How much lower are greenhouse gas emissions from the whole community than in 2007, compared with the City's adopted target?",
  "value": -31,
  "display_value": "−31%",
  "unit": "vs 2007 (City target −50% by 2030)",
  "period": "Inventory year 2023",
  "period_start": "2023-01-01",
  "period_end": "2023-12-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": null,
    "previous_value": null,
    "change_percent": null
  },
  "baseline": {
    "period": "2007",
    "change_percent": -31,
    "target_percent": -50,
    "target_year": 2030
  },
  "since_text": "City target adopted: −50% by 2030 compared with 2007",
  "trend": "context",
  "trend_basis": "The City reports that, as of 2023, community emissions were 31% below 2007. Its adopted target is a 50% cut by 2030.",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "The target is the City's own adopted target and is shown as published. No “better” or “worse” label is given because only one inventory year is read here.",
  "caveats": [
    "Read from the City's climate action web page. Inventory methods are described in the City's Climate Leadership Plan progress reports, published every two years.",
    "Community emissions include buildings, transportation and waste in the City, not only the City's own operations.",
    "The 2050 target is not shown, because City documents differ. The City’s 2024 climate action survey response gives an 80% cut from 2007 by 2050, and the 2024 Climate Leadership Plan progress report says an updated plan will replace that goal with net zero emissions by 2050. The City’s greenhouse gas page names a shift to 100% renewable energy by 2050."
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": -31
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Every two years (progress report)",
  "source": {
    "name": "City of Victoria, Greenhouse Gases (Climate Action)",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/community-culture/climate-action/greenhouse-gases",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/community-culture/climate-action/greenhouse-gases",
    "download_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/community-culture/climate-action/greenhouse-gases",
    "locator": "City Greenhouse Gases page: the sentence on the 2023 inventory",
    "reads": "“As of 2023, emissions have dropped by 31 per cent from 2007”"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, compared to 2007 levels",
    "As of 2023, emissions have dropped by 31 per cent from 2007"
  ],
  "data_published": null,
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-12T01:57:23Z",
  "attribution": "Source: City of Victoria, Greenhouse Gases (Climate Action). Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "licence_type": "public",
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "Shown for context, without a better or worse label.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": null,
    "five_year": null
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "target",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "behind",
    "label": "Behind target",
    "vs": null,
    "cur": "Inventory year 2023",
    "why": "Calculated here: a straight line from the 2007 level to a 50% cut in 2030 gives a cut of about 34.8% by 2023. The 2023 inventory shows a 31% cut, so emissions were 5.8% above that line. Within 5% of the line reads On target. The City does not publish a year-by-year path; this line is a reading of its target, not a target we set.",
    "long_why": "Only one inventory year is read here so far.",
    "arrow": null,
    "year_reading": {
      "label": "No label yet",
      "key": "nolabel",
      "why": "Only one inventory year (2023) is read here. The City compares it with its 2007 baseline. A direction label needs at least two comparable inventory years, so none is shown until a second inventory year can be compared."
    },
    "target_source": [
      "City of Victoria greenhouse gas emissions page",
      "https://www.victoria.ca/community-culture/climate-action/greenhouse-gases"
    ]
  },
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "outcome",
  "better_measure": null,
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 1,
    "rung_name": "Adopted target",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "target",
        "label": "Adopted target",
        "text": "Adopted target: the City has committed to cutting community greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, compared with 2007. No chart is drawn yet, because only one inventory year is shown.",
        "area": "City of Victoria",
        "source": {
          "title": "City of Victoria greenhouse gas emissions page",
          "publisher": "City of Victoria",
          "date": "viewed November 12, 2026",
          "url": "https://www.victoria.ca/community-culture/climate-action/greenhouse-gases",
          "terms": "https://www.victoria.ca/legal-disclaimer",
          "refresh": "Every two years (inventory)",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "ghg_page"
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "rung": 1,
      "kind": "target",
      "label": "Cut community greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, compared with 2007",
      "short": "Target: 50% cut by 2030",
      "unit": "% change from 2007",
      "value": -50,
      "by_date": "2030",
      "baseline_value": 0,
      "baseline_date": "2007",
      "set_by": "COV",
      "instrument": "plan",
      "document": "ghg_page",
      "page": null,
      "area": null,
      "fit": "full",
      "same_area": true,
      "polarity": "lower_is_better",
      "path": false,
      "standing": false,
      "drawn": false,
      "document_url": "https://www.victoria.ca/community-culture/climate-action/greenhouse-gases",
      "applies_here": true,
      "same_measure": true
    }
  ],
  "highest_rung": 1,
  "target_status": {
    "method": "calculated_pace",
    "label": "Behind target",
    "key": "behind",
    "value": -31,
    "target": -50,
    "path_value": -34.8,
    "gap_percent": 5.8,
    "calculated_here": true,
    "baseline_date": "2007",
    "by_date": "2030",
    "text": "Calculated here: a straight line from the 2007 level to a 50% cut in 2030 gives a cut of about 34.8% by 2023. The 2023 inventory shows a 31% cut, so emissions were 5.8% above that line. Within 5% of the line reads On target. The City does not publish a year-by-year path; this line is a reading of its target, not a target we set."
  },
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "COV",
      "name": "City of Victoria Council",
      "decides": "Must set emission targets, with policies to meet them, in its official community plan.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "lga473",
          "label": "Local Government Act, s. 473",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section473"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "BC",
      "name": "Province of B.C.",
      "decides": "Sets B.C.’s emission targets in law.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "ccaa2",
          "label": "Climate Change Accountability Act, s. 2",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/07042_01#section2"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "CAN",
      "name": "Government of Canada and Parliament",
      "decides": "Sets Canada’s national emission targets.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "cnz",
          "label": "Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, s. 6 and 7",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-19.3/FullText.html"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "NONE",
      "name": "No government decides this directly",
      "note": "Households and businesses also decide how they heat buildings and travel."
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "City of Victoria Council",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "behind",
    "label": "Behind target"
  },
  "label_long": null,
  "target_line": {
    "form": 1,
    "text": "Target −50% by 2030 · behind",
    "target": -50.0,
    "gap": "behind",
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": true,
    "note": "Pace calculated here: 5.8% above a straight line to the target."
  }
}