Cap Metro conducts partial audit of methods for tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working toward a goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Last fall, Capital Metro partnered with University of Texas graduate students on an audit of its current methods for tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions.

The project team included UT interns Vanessa Li and Avery Smitheal as well as Capital Metro staffers Robert Borowski and Terry Follmer. The team reviewed and completed a partial audit of the organization’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions.

Scope 1 emissions are direct greenhouse gas emissions that occur from sources that are owned or controlled by Capital Metro, such as when burning fossil fuels in its buses. Scope 2 emissions are indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with generation of purchased electricity, natural gas, fuel and refrigerants. The team also evaluated methods for starting to implement similar tracking of Scope 3 emissions, which include waste generation and treatment, business travel and employee commuting.

Borowski presented the results to the Finance, Audit and Administration Committee of the Capital Metro Board of Directors at its meeting on Wednesday.

“The scope was to focus on Scope 1 and 2 emissions from one of our facilities, (Capital Metro headquarters at 2910 E. Fifth), and to create a roadmap for getting to those next emissions,” Borowski said.

For the audit, Capital Metro used a framework from the Climate Registry, an international nonprofit organization that provides services for measuring and reducing carbon emissions. The Climate Registry provides the framework for the audit, trains the auditors and offers personal reporting support.

The students looked at the emissions of Capital Metro headquarters and completed a partial audit. Initial findings suggest that Capital Metro’s process is consistent with the Climate Registry’s protocols, but the students recommend Capital Metro enlist the services of a professional certified organization to complete a full, independent audit.

“Scope 1 and 2 emissions accounted for the majority of our greenhouse gas emissions – that we think. We don’t have a complete handle on Scope 3, but we think it’s a much smaller component of it,” Borowski said. “And we will continue to expand our data collection around that.”

The student auditors compared Capital Metro’s current practices with the Climate Registry’s best practices and determined that Capital Metro is currently aligned with the group’s Silver Level recognition.

“We’re in the middle” of the ranking system, Borowski said. “Our practices are in line with that they’re doing. We’re not using a third-party auditor, which is best practice just like in financial. That would bring us up to the higher rating.”

Board Member Dianne Bangle asked, “Is it primarily the turnover of the bus fleet to electric? Or what else are we focused on to get there?”

“It’s our energy choice,” Borowski said. “So by purchasing green energy, wind energy, zero-emission energy – that’s one place. Changing our fuel in our current vehicles, which is either electrification, or you get a minor reduction in things like renewable diesel. And there are some other things that we’ll be looking at. But our buses and our rail system is probably the primary contributor, and then the energy that we use to heat and cool our buildings is the second major contributor.”

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