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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/08/2008, C4 - DATA NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR A GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS INVENTORY FOR THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO council W,..,D.. 1-8-08 j, acEnbA Report umnm CITY O F SAN LUIS O B I S P O FROM: John Mandeville, Community Development Directcofm Prepared By: Kim Murry, Deputy Director, Long Range Planning SUBJECT: DATA NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR A GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS INVENTORY FOR THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Authorize staff to work with an intern to prepare a data needs assessment for a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the City of San Luis Obispo; and 2. Direct staff to schedule for future Council consideration a resolution to join ICLEI (the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) and, if warranted, funding to gather more data in order to conduct the inventory. DISCUSSION Background The Conservation and Open Space Element (COSE) contains policies related to finding ways to develop sustainable practices for both City operations and private development practices. Electricity production and vehicle emissions are the two biggest contributors to green house gas emissions (22% and 41% respectively) and the City's General Plan policies focus on actions that are within the City's purview that impact these emissions. Specifically, policy 4.3.5 indicates that the City will cooperate with Federal, State and local governments and other appropriate entities to accomplish energy conservation objectives throughout the state, and inform employees, its contractors, staff and the general public of the need for and methods of energy conservation. The COSE contains other policies that work together to address sustainability — 4.3.7 addresses the City's form and how it should support energy efficiency and the use of sustainable energy sources; 4.3.4 indicates the City will promote the use of cost-effective, renewable, non-depleting energy sources wherever possible, both in new construction projects and in existing buildings and facilities; 4.4.2 and 4.4.3 reference development of compact, high- density housing and fostering alternative modes of travel. These policies are followed by programs that set out actions for carrying out these policy goals. At the state level, AB 32 promotes greenhouse gas emissions reporting and reductions. While the state Air Resources Board and the local Air Pollution Control District have yet to develop standards to implement this bill, the legislation requires reduction plans to be implemented by January of 2010. In addition to the regulatory framework, caselaw surrounding greenhouse gas emissions indicates that local agencies must address emissions as part of the environmental evaluation associated with updates of general plans and larger projects. With the Land Use and Circulation elements update anticipated to begin in 2009, producing an emissions inventory will be a key component in order to understand the impact of policy choices on emissions strategies. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Page 2 Finally, the City of San Luis Obispo signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, joining what is now a list of nearly.700 cities and counties across the nation. The agreement states: "We urge the federal government and state governments to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the target of reducing global warming pollution levels to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012... "...we will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution by taking actions in our own operations and communities such as: (1) Inventory global warming emissions in City operations and in the communities, set reduction targets and create an action plan; (2) Adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities; (3) Promote transportation options such as bicycle trails, commute trip reduction programs, incentives for car pooling and public transit..." - The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement(2005) To this end, it would behoove the City to understand the setting or baseline of emissions that currently exists. Status On October 19th, Council member Mulholland and Community Development Department staff met with APCD staff and an intern, Geoffrey Chiapella. Mr. Chiapella had written an ambitious prospectus to perform an inventory of the City's Greenhouse gas emissions, and develop an emissions reduction plan for the City of San Luis Obispo as part of his professional project required to complete a masters program at Cal Poly. APCD staff was urging the City to take advantage of Mr. Chiapella's willingness to work on this project and be the first City in the County to perform an inventory._ At the end of the meeting, Council member Mulholland and staff both committed to contacting jurisdictions who have completed their inventories to understand what staff time and resources might be involved in order to understand if this project would require consideration by the Council. The information gathered from the jurisdictions varied widely and ranged between 60 hours of work done by several interns to $40,000 in consultant fees and several months of time. Geoffrey Chiapella met with Community Development Department staff to further "scope" this effort. The discussion included his timeframe, the information he had already compiled, the regulatory framework, his desire to have a product that he could use for his program requirements, and the City's desire to have a completed emissions inventory. Most jurisdictions that have completed their Greenhouse Gas inventories have.joined ICLEI. As members, these jurisdictions are eligible for technical assistance through the Cities for Climate ra Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Page 3 Change initiative. With membership comes access to a computer model that will generate the inventory for a jurisdiction given a range of input fields. ICLEI membership costs $600/year and, when joining, a City is asked to commit to a five step process. The process involves the following milestones: 1. Conduct a baseline emissions inventory and forecast 2. Adopt an emissions reduction target for the forecast year 3. Develop a Local Action Plan 4. Implement policies and measures 5. Monitor and verify results Staff spoke with Susan Ode at the ICLEI offices in Berkeley to understand what level of commitment the City would be required to make when joining ICLEI. Susan indicated that the City determines its own timeframe and level of participation when it agrees to join the organization. ICLEI is not an enforcer but is a resource to assist the City in its efforts to address global climate change within the context of the local reality. In order to join, the City Council would need to adopt a resolution that commits to the five milestones within whatever timeframe seems appropriate for the City. The following tasks reflect the work program associated with Geoffrey's completion of a professional project, a portion of which would be applicable to development of an inventory for the City: Research tasks(80% complete): Review existing local action plans from various jurisdictions to understand: 1. Sources of greenhouse gases were inventoried; 2. Sources of information were used to complete the inventory; and 3. Strategies and actions were recommended or adopted to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. Data collection tasks (10% complete): Review regulatory framework for GHG emissions inventory and reduction plans. Write preliminary draft chapter explaining.this regulatory background, the anticipated responsibilities of the affected state and local agencies, and how the City of San Luis Obispo's efforts fit into this framework. Review the ICLEI model to determine required input fields. Build a spreadsheet to document the required fields; the information needed (along with any conversion factor) to populate the fields; the information currently available(and identify the source and any extrapolation required); and the information that will need to.be developed. The identification of data needs and sources will take the most time to evaluate. Sources of information will need to be fully explored. It may seem intuitive,but some of the inputs may rely on a per-square-foot conversion factor for commercial and/or residential area. Depending on the base year chosen, this will mean finding a way to determine the amount of development that existed for the base year. D � 1 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Page 4 The City of San Luis Obispo may have some of the information but it may require customized programming to obtain the information from permit records or associated GIS data. In addition, any information that is collected at the County level and interpolated for the City's impact will need to be supported with documentation of the method used to distribute the data and impacts fairly between,jurisdictions. GIS and other data source needs must be identified so that City staff can evaluate work-program needs against existing City priorities. Geoffrey's interest goes further than development of the inventory for the City of San Luis Obispo. His intent is to explore emissions reduction strategies and to more fully explore implementation measures. While this may be appropriate for inclusion in his professional project for graduation, time may not allow these recommendations to be fully considered as part of the City's efforts. Next Steps Once Geoffrey has completed the spreadsheet of information needs, a staff stakeholder team will be assembled to review and evaluate areas identified where data is lacking. The stakeholder team will need to determine what resources the City has to offer and what, if any, consultant assistance might be required. At the point where costs and timing are more certain, staff will schedule an item for City Council review for consideration of a resolution to join ICLEI (required for membership) and consideration of funding if required to complete the data needs in order to conduct the inventory. Timing of this review is anticipated in February- March 2008. A Scoping Plan is supposed to be adopted by the Air Pollution Control Board (APCD)by the end of 2008 which will identify the measures and programs that must be undertaken to reduce emissions. Staff will coordinate closely with APCD during development of the plan, Once APCD has finalized the plan, staff will evaluate the programs and review options with the stakeholder team, the community, and the advisory bodies prior to bringing recommendations for policy or program amendments forward to Council. CONCURRENCES Utilities staff is aware of the efforts to produce an inventory and will be active participants on the stakeholder team. FISCAL IMPACT Minimal impacts to staff time to supervise and consult with the student intern are anticipated for the first part of this effort. Once the data needs assessment is completed, the stakeholder team will assemble to review and discuss further cost and staff time implications. Staff anticipates bringing an item for Council consideration in late February or early March 2008 once more information is known. Ultimately, implementation of greenhouse gas reductions programs will have an associated cost, but both the program recommendations and costs are unknown at this time. r Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Page 5 ALTERNATIVES 1. Do not authorize staff to explore this effort at this time. Staff does not recommend this alternative because it is unknown when staff would have time to conduct this effort and the intern who has volunteered his time is only available between now and May 2008. The Council authorized support of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement which indicated that the City would produce an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. 2. Direct staff to bring this back as a proposed major city goal in the 2009-2011 financial plan. Staff does not recommend this alternative because the information provided in the inventory will be key in analyzing proposed land use alternatives in the upcoming Land Use and Circulation elements updates. These updates could be delayed if the Greenhouse Gas emissions inventory is not started until FY 2009. The forecasting of how current policies will impact greenhouse gas emissions will be needed as background information to this effort and having staffing resources to provide this work at no cost to the City meets the current City goal of looking for creative ways to fund the General Plan update effort. 3. Direct staff to bring this item back once standards and expectations for implementation of AB 32 are better defined in order to ensure that the City's efforts are compliant with the regulations. Staff does not recommend this alternative because development of the inventory is solely the data collection phase of the process and will not be impacted by subsequent development of reduction measures. Discussions with APCD staff have indicated that conducting an emissions inventory using ICLEI's model is accepted practice and that the focus of the legislation standards will be on establishing timeframes for implementing emissions reduction measures not on the actual emissions inventory. ATTACHMENT Information regarding ICLEI G:\CD-PLAN\1KMURRY\City Council Reports\GHG Emissions Inventory Staff Report.doc C4- ICLEI Global: About ICLEI Global Page 1 of 1 - AUChffliCnt 1 vloCoLpEal Local Governments for Sustainability ICLEI Global__ tE o 00 Home About ICLEI Members Supporters Programs Sorvices News &Events Contact Us ICLEI About ICLEI Search worldwide member login TC-LE-1 ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association I --- -i— — - --- Local of local governments and national and Search now. about us Gavernnsenta regional local government organizations that �forSustainabiiity have made a commitment to sustainable Ada by Google who we are development.More than 700 cities,towns,counties,and their what we do associations worldwide comprise ICLEI's growing membership. ICLEI works with these and hundreds of other local governments i Briahtworks FAQs through international performance-based,results-oriented Sustainability Advisors campaigns and programs. I LEER,Green Building, Strategy We provide technical consulting,training,and information services www.bdghtwo ks.net to build capacity,share knowledge,and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. I Data nov_Qmance Our basic premise is that locally designed initiatives can provide an i council effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national,and Learn new best global sustainability objectives. I practices 8 a steps for sustainable data ICLEI was founded in 1990 as the International Council for Local governance. Environmental Initiatives.The council was established when more w .siperian.com than 200 local governments from 43 countries convened at our I inaugural conference,the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future,at the United Nations in New York. j I CMdght B,,P Iolo Credits©ICLEI 1995-2007.All rights reserved. Web site by LUCITA N http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=global-about-iclei 12/18/2007 ICLEI Global: climate protectivin Page 1 of 1 Machmert 1 ICLEI Global � ✓ f.a fit.- Home About ICLEI Members Supporters Programs Services News& Events Contact Us --- ---------.._................................--............-..................... ___.._____�_ ICLEI Cities for Climate Protection(CCP) 7 Search worldwide member login The Cities for Climate ProtectionTM(CCP) Campaign assists cities to adopt policies and implement quantifiable measures to reduce local ! Search now! Local Action greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality,and 21 enhance urban livability and sustainability.More d Ado by GOOSIC sustainable than 800 local governments participate in the CCP, integrating climate change mitigation into their decision-making compare carbon cities Offsetters processes. climate ICLEI runs this highly successful and widely recognized campaign i 1 page table. protection either regionally or nationally in Australia,Canada,Europe,Japan, Compares Duality, Latin America,Mexico,New Zealand,South Africa,South Asia, Price,Projects, about CCP Certification. how it works Qu-hL east Asfa,and the United States. �.ecocusieessrmrs.cor CCP The campaign is based on an innovative performance framework i participants structured around five milestones that local governments commit to Give the Gift of Green CCP projects undertake.The milestones allow local governments to understand j Carbon offsets for CCP resources how municipal decisions affect energy friends&family p rgy use and how these decisions easy s nprofit, water can be used to mitigate global climate change while improving NoNoaffdaft, community quality of life.The CCP methodology is compliant with Carbonfund.org biodiversity international standards and provides a simple,standardized way of initiative acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and of monitoring, Local Agenda measuring,and reporting performance. 21 ICLEI reports the actions of local governments to the global management community through international events such as the Conference of instruments Parties-to be held in Indonesia in December 2007. procurement The CCP campaign is continually developing and will include approaches on adaptation to existing climate change; implementation modules on specific topics such as streetlights and purchasing;and a new focus on ambitious targets and carbon ineutral communities. Benefits of Participation Communities that participate in the CCP benefit from the actions I that they take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through: • Financial savings in reduced utility and fuel costs to the local government,households,and businesses. • Improved local air quality,contributing to the general health and well being of the community. • Economic development and new local jobs as investments in locally produced energy products and services keep money circulating in the local economy. In addition,ICLEI provides regionally specific tools and technical assistance to assist local governments in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.For information on the specific resources that ICLEI provides in your region, please check with your regional ICLEI Office. rF h ,P di ©ICLEI 1995.2007.All rights reserved. Web site by C - 9 http://www.iclei.orglindex.php?id=800 12/18/2007 ICLEI US: C.C.P. Page 1 of 2 4o'1. OL-Ecl Local wGovernments £o"'SusLtinabtlit = — u I, U 1 a kO O 8 Home About ICLEI Members Supporters Program`s Services News &Events Contact Us ICLEI Cities for Climate Protection Search worldwide member login How It Works I Participants I Join Us Proiects Resources FAQs ——.................___......._..... Search now! C.C.P. Cities for Climate Protection®(CCP)is ICLEI's flagship campaign. How It Works The program is designed to educate and empower local Participants governments worldwide to take action on climate change.CCP is a Jain Us Performance-oriented campaign that offers a framework for local governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve Projects livability within their municipalities. Resources FAQs ICLEI's CCP Campaign was launched in 1993 when municipal 1 C.R.C. leaders,invited by ICLEI,met at the United Nations in New York and adopted a declaration that called for the establishment of a Communities worldwide movement of local governments to reduce greenhouse ; 21 gas emissions,improve air quality,and enhance urban The Star sustainability.The CCP Campaign achieves these results by linking Community climate change mitigation with actions that improve local air quality, Index reduce local governments'operating costs,and address other I existing municipal concems. The US CCP Campaign seeks to achievesignificant reductions in US domestic greenhouse gas emissions by assisting local governments in taking action to reduce emissions and realize multiple benefits for their communities. I Strategic Approach ICLEI uses the performance-oriented framework and methodology of the CCP Campaign's 5 M!le5- nes to assist US local governments in developing and implementing harmonized local approaches for reducing global warming and air pollution emissions,with the additional benefit of improving community livability. i CCP Funders The Cities for Climate Protection campaign in the US is supported by the following foundations and agencies: • AlameSla_Gounty_W_-a_ste Management Abth" • Bullitt Foundation • Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation • Marin Community Foundation • New York Community Trust • Rockefeller Brothers Fund • Scherman Foundation • US Environmental Protection Agency.State and Local Capacity Building Branch • US Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR • _JI S-Japan Foundation i CCP Partners ICLEI strengthens the service it provides its members and campaign participants through strategic partnerships with the following organizations: e Clean Air-Cool Planet • Intertribal Council On U iT lily Policy(Intertribal COUP) • -Sier_ra C1u4_C_0-d—Eties • The Climate Group http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=1118 12/18/.2007 ICLEI US: C.C.P. Page 2 of 2 • US Environmental Protection Agency. ENERGY STAR Attachment I ICLEI USA PrivaCyYoliey Copyright-&-Rh-qtoCmdits C ICLEI 1996-2007.All rights reserved. Web site by LUCIIA http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=1118 12/18/2007