To live within planetary boundaries, cities need to measure not only what is produced, but also what is consumed.
Consumption-based emissions can be more difficult to measure than emissions from production – it is challenging for a city or region to track imported products and their associated emissions.
However, consumption can be much bigger than production, and the two together provide a much more complete picture of a city or region's 'footprint'. Check out Metabolic's article from 2020 to learn more.