Agenda Packet 2-11-19 Joint Work Session

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M E M O R A N D U M EUGENE WATER & ELECTRIC BOARD TO: EWEB Commissioners, Mayor and City Council FROM: Frank Lawson, General Manager DATE: January 31, 2019 SUBJECT: EWEB Climate Change Policy Introduction OBJECTIVE: Information Only Issue This memo is a summary of EWEB’s Climate Change Policy and the role of electrification for discussion at the February 11, 2019 joint meeting of the EWEB Commissioners and City Council. Background As a community-owned municipal utility, EWEB recognizes the importance of local governance and appreciates that our products and services need to reflect the values of our community partners and customer- owners. Our strategic plan 1 focuses EWEB’s near -term efforts on resiliency (including emergency preparedness and recovery) and the reassembly of our power generating portfolio over the next decade. The execution of this strategy will not sacrifice our “core values”, which provide the fundamental basis for guiding, testing, and/or overruling our policies, actions, behavior, and decisions. These values are unique and sacrosanct; they cannot be compromised for convenience or short-term gain. As reiterated in the strategic plan, we value the prudent and sustainable stewardship of our customers’ financial and natural resources, including our impact on affordability and role in reducing the greenhouse gases (GHGs) contributing to Climate Change. EWEB Board Policy recognizes that climate change presents ongoing environmental, economic and social risk, and that each community, organization, and segment of the population is impacted uniquely. The primary potential direct impacts to EWEB operations from climate change include changes in streamflow – quantity and timi ng- affecting hydroelectric generation, impacts to water quality and watershed health, changes in consumption patterns, and increasing threats from weather events. The Board recognizes that EWEB, as a water and electric utility, impacts our climate through electric generation resource choices, business practices and the operation and maintenance of our lands, buildings and transportation fleet. Discussion Limiting warming to 2°C or less, an objective agreed upon by the international community, will require that global net GHG emissions approach zero by the second half of the 21st century. This necessity will require a reduction in U.S. GHG emissions by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 and 40% below 1990 levels by 20352, a target commonly referred to as “deep decarbonization”. Most comprehensive plans for deep decarbonization include foundational improvements in energy efficiency and conservation, low-carbon electricity, electrification, and low-carbon fuels. As an electric utility, EWEB is involved in all of these aspects of deep decarbonization, which provides the basis for our Climate Change 1 EWEB 2017-2020 Strategic Plan, Adopted August 10, 2017, Amended July 10, 2018. 2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 5th Assessment Report, http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/ ATTACHMENT B February 11, 2019, Joint Work Session - Item 1