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Since 2008, total greenhouse gas emissions in San José have decreased by 36 percent, even as the city population and number of local jobs have increased. The emissions reductions from 2019 to 2021, the most recent inventory years, are encouraging, but are likely partly due to temporary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, further emissions reductions are likely to get more difficult over time, as easy changes are usually made first. While we are on the right track, there is still much work ahead. 

About the Data

Sources

Inventories 

2008 Baseline GHG Emission Inventory for San José (Table 2 on page 8 of document; first published June 2011) 

2014 San José Community-wide Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Update (published October 2016) 

City of San José 2017 Inventory of Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions (published April 2019) 

City of San José 2019 Inventory of Communitywide Greenhouse Gas Emissions (published April 2021) 

City of San José 2021 Inventory of Communitywide Greenhouse Gas Emissions (published July 2023)

Population data 

Population data are January estimates from the California Department of Finance’s Demographics Unit. 

Jobs data 

2008 and 2009 data came from the Monthly Jobs Total spreadsheet on the City of San Jose’s Open Data Portal.  

Data for 2010 to 2019 are from the City of San José Office of Economic Development. Each value is the sum of the number of payroll jobs, received from the California Employment Development Department, and an estimate of the number of self-employed jobs, from the American Community Survey. 

Data for 2020 and 2021 are from the U.S. Census OnTheMap online tool.

Last updated

July 2023