AMHERST — Greenhouse gas emissions in Amherst dropped by nearly 13% below 2016 levels last year, well short of a 25% goal included in the Climate Action, Adaptation and Resilience Plan adopted by the Town Council five years ago.
But even though a greenhouse gas emissions inventory report provided to the Energy & Climate Action Committee this month shows the town didn’t meet the initial goal — which the Town Council first approved in November 2019 — Sustainability Director Stephanie Ciccarello said Amherst is seeing progress that many similar communities haven’t accomplished.
“We didn’t go up, and that was good,” Ciccarello said, adding that Amherst is doing better than many peer cities and towns in Massachusetts.
The goals formalized in the plan, also known as CAARP, were to get Amherst to 25% below 2016 baseline climate emissions inventory by 2025 and 50% below those emissions levels by 2030, with full carbon neutrality by 2050.
The inventory report was put together this summer by data analyst and fellow James Ordway, a University of New Hampshire master’s student. That report shows a 12.9% reduction in total community emissions, with a larger 17% decrease in municipal emissions below fiscal year 2016.
“Thirteen percent is lower than what we hoped for, but at least it’s going down, and not everyone’s going down,” Ordway said, referring to other communities.
For municipal emissions, the report shows that Amherst dropped from 4,488 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in fiscal year 2016 to 3,732 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in fiscal year 2025.
Ordway observed that 75% of total emissions on the municipal ledger come from stationary energy accounts, which are mostly made up of town buildings. Of the 10 highest emitting buildings, some went up and others went down in total emissions, with an “odd finding,” as Ordway characterized it, of emissions going up 70% at the pumping stations. There is no explanation for this change.
Two of the four top building emitters are Wildwood and Fort River schools, but both of these are going offline with the new net-zero elementary school, Amethyst Brook, opening next week. And in 2027, the renovated and expanded Jones Library will also open. That building is supposed to use less energy as well.
Ordway said Amherst may be closer to reduction targets when considering these ongoing net-zero projects, which he said should be a source of optimism.
“Overall the municipality is doing pretty well, I think,” Ordway said.
Municipal transportation emissions were down 22.3%, with only the Fire Department seeing emissions go up. That is likely due to a continued increase in call volume and a change in policy in dispatching vehicles to fire and medical calls, despite hybrids being part of its fleet.
But the municipality only accounts for less than 2% of community-wide emissions. In addition to what residents produce through their homes and vehicles, other contributors to emissions are the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and Hampshire College.
UMass alone represents about the same amount of emissions as all other community emissions combined.
There is hope to benefit from projects on the two campuses that remain open, with both UMass and Amherst College engaged in geothermal projects. Hampshire College will close at the end of the year.
But the committee members are concerned that UMass is not abandoning its central heating plant and that geothermal benefits there are for new buildings coming online, rather than existing buildings.
Ciccarello said she looks forward to the next milestone and interim report in 2028.
