Staff Memo_Work Session - Climate Acton Plan
TO:
Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM:
Cori Burbach, Sustainability Coordinator
SUBJECT:
Climate Action Plan City Council Work Session Materials
DATE:
October 28, 2010
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memo is to provide you with information for the November 1 City
Council Work Session on establishing a municipal Climate Action Plan.
BACKGROUND
In 2006, Mayor Roy Buol signed on to the U. S. Conference of Mayors Climate Action
Agreement in support of the Kyoto Protocol to Reduce Global Warming. The signers of
this pledge commit to reducing their emissions by 7% from 1990 levels by 2012. Each
year since, the Mayor and City Council have identified being designated a Sustainable
City as one of their top priorities for our community.
In February 2010, the City Council approved the vision statement formulated by the
Sustainable Dubuque Task Force that, “Dubuque is a viable, livable and equitable
community. We embrace economic prosperity, environmental integrity, and
social/cultural vibrancy to create a sustainable legacy for generations to come.”
As part of its efforts to become more sustainable, the City of Dubuque joined ICLEI-
Local Governments for Sustainability. ICLEI, an international organization of over 1,000
cities, provides guidelines, tools and technical support to facilitate local governments’
efforts to achieve climate protection goals and create more sustainable communities.
ICLEI defines a Five Milestones for Climate Protection process for local governments to
follow.
1. Conduct baseline emissions inventories and forecasts.
2. Adopt an emissions reduction target.
3. Develop a local climate action plan.
4. Implement policies and measures.
5. Monitor and verify results.
At its July 12 regular meeting, staff presented Council with the municipal greenhouse
gas inventory. The recommendation at that time was to set a work session to explore
the establishment of emission reduction targets in a Climate Action Plan.
DISCUSSION
According to the municipal greenhouse gas inventory, Dubuque municipal government
operations generated 80,084 tonnes CO2e in the baseline year of 2003. Based on
2003 and 2007 trends, emissions will increase over 2003 emissions by 13% in 2010,
and by 88% by 2050, if we continue in a “business as usual” pattern.
Council has provided direction to staff that they would like to continue on to the next
step of the ICLEI milestone process, which is to adopt an emission reduction target.
Once that target is set, staff will analyze various options for municipal facilities and
operations that will help us to meet those targets. A variety of measures are already
completed or underway that will have a significant impact, including the conversion of
the Water Pollution Control Plant from incineration to anaerobic digestion, methane
capture at the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency, and conversion of the
public transit fleet to a more efficient fuel source with lower emissions.
At the Council work session, more detailed information will be provided on the following
areas:
1. Discussion of state and national emission reduction targets that Dubuque may
want to consider when setting their own targets for adoption at a later date and
trends in local government response to sustainability and greenhouse gas
emissions.
2. Completed and underway City projects and the impact they will have on
emissions.
3. Staff’s recommendation for next steps, including impact on policy and budget
decisions, to establish emission reduction targets for City facilities and
operations.
Attached is information that will aid in the discussion at the worksession and guide staff
recommendations. This information includes the GHG report for city facilities and
operations and a recent survey of cities conducted by ICMA on sustainability
endeavors.
In summary, the goal of this work session is to discuss in greater detail the effect a
Climate Action Plan will have on City facilities and operations. Council will not be asked
to set emission reduction targets at this meeting. Rather, information will be shared and
staff will then recommend a cost-efficient strategy for moving forward with the
establishment of a Climate Action Plan and a process to measure our progress during
the FY 12 budget process.
Green Dubuque member Raki Gianakouros, who assisted the City in completing the
Greenhouse Gas Inventory as an intern, was also asked to participate in the work
session. Due to a personal conflict, he will be unable to attend. He has expressed
interest in presenting to the City Council in the future about community-wide climate
action issue.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
No action is requested. This memo and the accompanying attachments are for
information purposes only.
cc: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Paul Schultz, Resource Management Coordinator