Sustainability goals
The Metro Council set an ambitious target for internal operations to be sustainable within one generation. To this end, the council adopted goals in five key categories to reduce the agency's environmental impact:
- greenhouse gas emissions – reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2008 levels by 2050
- toxics – eliminate the use or emissions of persistent bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs) and other priority toxic and hazardous substances by 2025
- waste – recover all waste for recycling or composting, and reduce overall generation of waste by 2025
- water – reduce water use to 50% below 2008 levels by 2025
- habitat – ensure that Metro's parks, trails and developed properties positively contribute to healthy, functioning ecosystems and watershed health and that Metro's natural areas are healthy, functioning ecosystems.
Metro's comprehensive sustainability plan identifies strategies and nearly 100 actions to achieve the above goals. The goals are slated for completion by 2025 or, in the case of greenhouse gas emissions, 2050. Metro Council adopted this plan by resolution on Oct. 7, 2010.
Greenhouse gas emissions inventory
Metro completed a comprehensive inventory of FY 2016-17 greenhouse gas emissions from internal business operations, following the 2008 (baseline) and 2013 inventories. Overall, non-supply chain greenhouse gas emissions from Metro’s internal operations decreased nearly 45% from 48,301 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MT CO2e) in 2008 to 26,418 MT CO2e in FY 2016-17. The inventory includes both direct and indirect emissions sources.