Carbon Disclosure Project CDPTHE CITY OF ~ Dubuque
DUB E a~
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
2007
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Carbon Disclosure Project and ICLEI partnership
DATE: June 11, 2008
Assistant City Manager Cindy Steinhauser is recommending that the City accept an
invitation to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) through the International
Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). This is a program that originated in
Europe that is considered the gold standard for reporting corporate greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions and climate change related risk. The Carbon Disclosure Project
currently has over 385 institutional investors and 1,300 of the world's largest publicly
traded companies who have committed to measuring GHG emissions through this
program.
Recently ICLEI announced a partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project to launch
this program in the U.S. and to identify 30 communities to serve as pilot communities for
this project. The city of Dubuque has been selected as one of the 30 communities to
serve in the pilot program. The aim of the pilot program will be to develop learning for
ICLEI and the CDP while also enabling cities to understand their own operations more
in depth and the impact on Green House Gas Emissions. The analysis portion of the
pilot program will take place July-October 2008 and will conclude in December 2008
with a report on the findings developed by the 30 pilot communities.
ICLEI requests a $1,000 donation to defray the costs of the program, and sufficient
funds are available.
The City's participation will further the City Council's focus on sustainability.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
(~ /2~
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Mic ael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/Iw
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
zoos
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager ,,
SUBJECT: Carbon Disclosure Project and ICLEI partnershi
DATE: June 10, 2008
Introduction
The purpose of this memorandum is to request City Council approval for the city of
Dubuque to participate in a pilot Carbon Disclosure Project.
Discussion
As part of the city of Dubuque membership with the International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) I attended their conference to learn ways in which
sustainable initiatives could be incorporated into the city of Dubuque's sustainability
efforts. As part of this conference, I attended a presentation by Tom Carnac from the
Cities and Towns Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) located in London, United Kingdom.
also had the opportunity to visit with Mr. Carnac about this project. This is a program
that originated in Europe that is considered the gold standard for reporting corporate
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change related risk. The Carbon
Disclosure Project currently has over 385 institutional investors and 1,300 of the world's
largest publicly traded companies who have committed to measuring GHG emissions
through this program. Attached is information on the CDP.
Recently ICLEI announced a partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project to launch
this program in the U.S. and to identify 30 communities to serve as pilot communities
for this project. The city of Dubuque has been selected as one of the 30 communities to
serve in the pilot program. The aim of the pilot program will be to develop learning for
ICLEI and the CDP while also enabling cities to understand their own operations more
in depth and the impact on Green House Gas Emissions. The analysis portion of the
pilot program will take place July -October 2008 and will conclude in December 2008
with a report on the findings developed by the 30 pilot communities. Based upon the
results of the pilot U.S. program, ICLEI and CDP will be expanding the program to all
U.S. ICLEI members in 2009. While there is no cost to participate as a pilot community,
CDP is anot-for-profit entity and as such are asking each of the pilot communities to
consider contributing $1,000 to help defray costs for developing the U.S. model. I have
reviewed this request with Budget Director Jenny Larson and she has indicated that
there are sufficient funds in the City Manager's budget to cover the $1,000 contribution.
Request
The requested action is for City Council to approve the participation of the city of
Dubuque in the U.S. ICLEI Carbon Disclosure Project pilot program.
Cc: Jenny Larson, Budget Director
Cities and Towns Disclosure Project
Introduction
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is the gold standard for reporting
corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change related risk.
CDP represents investors with combined assets of $57 trillion and on their
behalf approaches the world's corporations for disclosure. The website
www.cdproject.net hosts the largest registry of corporate GHG data in
existence.
This process has been highly valuable for investors seeking to assess climate
change related risks and also for companies as a tool to evaluate their internal
processes.
Cities and Towns Disclosure Project
Using the experience of working in the private sector since 2000, CDP has
now developed a parallel program to assist cities and towns in disclosing their
GHG emissions and climate change associated risk.
CDP is pleased to be working on this project in partnership with ICLEI USA
whose leadership and experience in this area greatly strengthen the project
team
Disclosure Request Content
The Cities and Towns Disclosure request will contain questions relating to the
following areas, which are analogous to the investor CDP process.
1. Analysis of the risks and opportunities from climate change including
regulation, physical risks from extreme weather events, changes in
technology and shifts in consumer attitude and demand
2. Strategy to respond to the risks and opportunities that climate change
represents.
3. GHG emissions accounting
4. GHG emissions management, reduction and cost implications
5. Climate change governance
Methodology
Cities and Towns will be asked to complete the disclosure request using the
ICLEI GHG Protocol. This will enable the tools that have been developed by
ICLEI to be used in calculating emissions. In the UK, cities and towns that
have already calculated their emissions using tools supplied by DEFRA to
meet their National Indicator commitments can submit this data along with a
clear indication of how it was calculated.
Boundaries
2. Publication of Disclosure Submission
CDP has established itself as the platform on which investors and
corporations can dialogue on issues related to climate change. Cities and
towns can now also use this platform to communicate to these groups and
more widely their approach to climate change. Climate change is a
permanently disruptive phenomenon that will change the way that humans
use energy on the planet. Cities and towns that become involved early and
communicate to companies, investors and the media that they have
understood risk and are developing or have developed strategy will be in a
strong position to establish competitive advantage in a low carbon future.
"The Carbon Disclosure Project is vital. We have to get everyone to
participate in it and they can't be afraid"
Bill Clinton, September 2007
Timeline
June 2008 Establishment of total pilot project membership
July Online response system log-ins issued to
participants
July to October Response period
31St October Deadline for responses
December Report produced on findings
1St February 2009 Expansion to all ICLEI USA members and other
cities worldwide
Funding
CDP is a registered charity in the UK and USA. In line with charitable aims of
furthering understanding and action in the response to climate change, CDP
is offering this project with no formal fee structure. However, there will be
costs. for running the project and participants are invited to consider making a
voluntary donation to CDP. The costs for running the project are approximate
to a fee of US$1,000 per participant.
There are also opportunities for cities and towns to become Lead Sponsors to
the project. This includes various high profile options including sponsoring the
report and hosting the launch. Previous CDP launches have been addressed
by high profile figures including Bill Clinton, Rupert Murdoch, AI Gore and
Angela Merkel.
Contact
Tom Carnac
Programme Director -Cities and Towns Disclosure Project
tom.carnacCc~cdproject. net
Office: +44 (0)207 415 7109
Mobile: +44 (0)782 3770689