Item A: Sustainability Commission Recommendations

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over three quarters (76%) of respondents selected 4 or 5 (on a scale where 5 is very important and 1 is not important). However only 43% selected 4 or 5 (on a scale where 5 is excellent and 1 is poor) when asked to rate the City performance employing such practices. In short, while there is much for Eugene to be proud of and celebrate related to our sustainability efforts to-date, many of the challenges we face require a radical and immediate departure from our current methods of operation and decision- making. Immediate Action Subcommittee On May 21, 2008, the Sustainability Commission created a subcommittee tasked with developing a set of recommendations to present to the council as soon as possible. Specifically, the commission directed the subcommittee to (1) review the Sustainable Business Initiative Task Force (SBI) Report, the Portland Peak Oil Task Force Report “Descending the Peak: Navigating the Transition from Oil and Natural Gas” (PPOR) and requests for action brought before the commission by the public, and (2) prepare a package of recommendations for the commission to forward to the council for consideration. In addition to reviewing the documents and information described above, the subcommittee also received staff briefings on the City’s sustainable procurement policy (related to SBI Recommendations 5 and 6) and the City’s waste assessment and reduction efforts (related to SBI Recommendation 7). The full commission received a staff briefing on the community greenhouse gas inventory, completed in July 2007. The subcommittee met four times over a six-week period. Recommendations The Immediate Action Subcommittee identified seven recommendations and numerous individual example actions that the council could consider. The commission identified the recommendations below as being the highest priority at this time. The remaining recommendations for immediate action, which focus on food security, the availability and cost of oil, building efficiency and waste management will be brought to the council later this fall. In addition to these recommendations, the commission has included a list of “example actions” as Attachment A. The commission’s intent in including this list is to offer solutions that can be immediately championed by individual councilors, the City Manager, or staff as appropriate. Recommendation 1 Climate Change has been identified as an important issue by the Sustainability Commission. The SBI report and many other scientifically reputable reports find that the observable rise in global temperature can be linked to a similar rise in human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The SBI report concludes that proactively addressing climate change through mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions a and specifically carbon emissions will have positive economic, social and environmental impacts on our community. The City has been very proactive in reducing its carbon emissions in a number of significant ways including through active energy management, use of hybrids in the City fleet, capture and use of methane at the wastewater treatment plant and providing free bus passes to employees. The City has just completed updating a greenhouse gas inventory for City operations. A summary of initial findings as included as Attachment B. The final report will be completed by late October 2008. The report findings include that emissions have remained the same from 2000 to 2005 despite the increase in City employees and services provided to the community. However, the City still produces significant volumes of greenhouse gas throughout its operations. A specific emissions reduction goal and a coordinated City approach will enhance the internal effort to decrease emissions and identify additional ways to ensure wise use of resources. a Carbon is a shortened form of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. All greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and others can be described in terms of carbon dioxide equivalency, the amount of CO2 that would have the same global warming potential, when measured over a specified timescale (generally, 100 years). Z:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M081008\S081008Aand attA.doc