Climate Change: State Department Did Not Track Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Delegation Travel to Meetings 26 and 27 of the United Nations Conference of the Parties

What GAO Found

According to the State Department's official list, 191 people from the Executive Branch traveled to the 26th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) as members of the U.S. delegation. The official list for 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) reported that 259 people from the Executive Branch were in the U.S. delegation.

According to the United Kingdom government's report, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation travel to COP26 were significant in comparison to estimated total emissions from the event. According to this report, approximately 72 percent of the greenhouse gas calculated residual emissions from the event came from international aviation.

State officials told GAO that they did not have a systematic way to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. delegation travel to the United Nation's Conference of the Parties 26 and 27 or any past meetings of the Conference of the Parties. State is developing methods to estimate future travel emissions, according to State officials.

Federal agencies are required by executive order to track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation travel and other sources. Specifically, the December 2021 Executive Order 14057 on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability sets an overall goal for the federal government to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy wide by no later than 2050.

Why GAO Did This Study

Meetings of the United Nation's Conference of the Parties are held to develop and implement multilateral greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals, among other activities. The State Department leads the U.S. delegation to these meetings. The Executive Order 14057 on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability established greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for State and other federal agencies. These goals include greenhouse gas emissions reductions from aviation travel. For State and other federal agencies, the first step in meeting these goals is understanding U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from air travel and other sources, including U.S. delegation air travel to meetings of the United Nation's Conference of the Parties.

This report (1) describes U.S. delegation travel to COP26 in 2021 and COP27 in 2022, (2) describes what is known about greenhouse gas emissions from aviation travel to COP26 and COP27, (3) examines State's efforts to track greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. delegation travel, and (4) describes requirements to limit federal agency greenhouse gas emissions from aviation travel. To examine the greenhouse gases emitted to transport the U.S. delegations to COP26 and COP27, among other things, we conducted a comprehensive literature search to determine what information was publicly available about COP26 and COP27 attendance and travel, and interviewed State officials about COP26 attendance, travel, and their methodology, if any, for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from travel to the conferences.