To get to zero by 2050, District of Columbia must cut climate pollution by 0.1 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in District of Columbia

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.


CO2 Equivalent Emissions in District of Columbia by Source
🏭 Other: 23%🚗 Transport: 30%🏠 Buildings: 47%

    🏠 Buildings

    47% of emissions in District of Columbia comes from buildings.

    🏭 Other: 23%🚗 Transport: 30%🏠 Buildings: 47%

    Mostly from different types of heating.

    Gas furnace, gas water heater, gas stove

    80% of the pollution of your typical home comes from heating your space, water, and food.

    To stop this pollution, we need to replace our furnaces with electric heat pumps, electrify our water heaters, and cook with induction and electricity instead of gas.

    Electric heat pump, electric water heater, induction stove

    There are 78,000 buildings in District of Columbia and 36% of building systems are already electrified.

    We need to electrify the remaining 49,000 buildings in District of Columbia. That's around 2,000 per year.

    Percent of Building Systems electrifiedA chart showing the share of Building Systems that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.36.42% have been electrified, and the remaining 63.58% are fossil fuel based.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 47% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 23%🚗 Transport: 30%🏠 Buildings: 47%

    🚗 Getting Around

    30% of emissions in District of Columbia comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

    🏭 Other: 23%🚗 Transport: 30%🏠 Buildings: 47%

    Mostly from our cars.

    To cut this pollution, if you have a car, your next one needs to be an electric vehicle (EV).

    Or try going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, or walking if it works for you.

    Gas emitting car being converted to electric car

    There are 210,000 vehicles in District of Columbia and 2,000 are already electric (1.1% of the total).

    We need to electrify the remaining 208,000 vehicles. That's around 7,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.1.1% have been electrified, and the remaining 98.9% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve another 30% of the problem.

    🏭 Other: 23%🚗 Transport: 30%🏠 Buildings: 47%

    🔌 Power Generation

    District of Columbia has absolutely no emissions from making power, it's doing great! 😎

    Check out another state to see how they can cut their power emissions to zero.


    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 23% of emissions in District of Columbia comes other sources

    🏭 Other: 23%🚗 Transport: 30%🏠 Buildings: 47%

    This includes industry, landfills, and farming.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are a lot of great ideas!

    These include:

    • Regenerative agriculture to sequester carbon in soil
    • Composting to reduce landfill methane emissions
    • New techniques for manufacturing CO2 emitting materials, like concrete


Ready to do your part?

Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest

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