Developed by Dr. Jennie Moore, the ecoCity Footprint Tool supports measurement and action for living within the Earth’s ecological carrying capacity by providing cities with an urban metabolism, territorial and consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions inventories, and ecological footprint assessment. The Tool can also be used to generate GPC Basic, Basic+, and Scope 3 emissions inventories.
Additionally, the Tool is designed to work with the International Ecocity Standards, allowing cities to collect data for the Tool while also populating information needed to measure progress against the Standards and vice-versa.
Whereas most calculators derive consumption estimates based predominantly on regional, state/provincial or global average data, the ecoCity Footprint Tool uses city-specific data.
The ecoCity Footprint Tool is linked with the Lighter Footprint App, which uses output data from the Tool to support individuals interested in learning about how they can reduce their personal carbon and ecological footprints. The ultimate goal is to enable cities and citizens to work together to achieve living within Earth’s carrying capacity, also known as one-planet living.
With this information, cities and their citizens are able to pinpoint changes that will leverage maximum impact for achieving low carbon lifestyles aligned with climate stability goals and ecological carrying capacity.
The ecoCity Footprint Tool has been successfully piloted by cities in BC and around the world.
For more information on the Tool see the EcoCity Footprint Tool Backgrounder [PDF].