Item A: Sustainability Commission Recommendations

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Based on its review of the SBI report and other relevant information, the commission recommends that immediate action to further reduce the amount of carbon generated by City of Eugene facilities and operations is needed. Therefore the commission recommends the following: The City of Eugene shall formally adopt the following goal and annually report to the Sustainability Commission on progress made to reach the goal: All City-owned facilities and City operations shall be “carbon neutral” (i.e. shall reduce net carbon emissions to zero, or if that is not possible, cancel all remaining emissions through the b funding of approved local offset mechanisms or the purchase of approved offsets) by 2020. Recommendation 2 While City facilities and operations contribute to local carbon emissions, their collective impact at the community, metro and regional level is of far greater significance. The City, in conjunction with several community partners, completed a Eugene Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report in July 2007. The August 2007 memo to the council and Inventory Report is included as Attachment C. The “next steps” section of the August 2007 memo to the council noted it was vital to have in-depth discussions with community members and local agencies in order to identify reduction strategies and ways to get there. While the commission recognizes that the City is limited in its jurisdictional authority to regulate outside its boundary, it also recognizes that Eugene must be a leading participant in moving our region toward carbon neutrality. While Eugene has relatively low carbon emissions compared with many other North American cities, much of that is due to the excellent work of EWEB to provide us with primarily low carbon emission hydro and wind power and their focus on energy conservation since the 1970s. However, based on the review of the SBI report and other relevant information, the commission has determined that immediate action to develop a community climate action plan, including a community carbon emission reduction goal is needed. Therefore the commission recommends the following: The City of Eugene shall, in conjunction with a wide variety of community partners: Develop a community climate action plan within 18 months that will (1) set a carbon emission reduction goal and establish targets for achieving that goal; (2) identify strategies to achieve those targets; (3) identify necessary adaptations;, (4) develop measures for tracking success, and (5) include periodic progress reports back to the community with annual reports of progress to the Sustainability Commission. RELATED CITY POLICIES The Sustainability Commission recommendations build on and add detail to the sustainability-related policies the council has previously adopted, including in particular Resolution No. 4618, which outlines a definition and statement of intent regarding the application of sustainability principles to the City of b (1) Carbon emissions of City facilities and operations shall be defined as all Scope I and Scope II emissions as defined by the General Reporting Protocol of The Climate Registry. (2) The policy shall prioritize the reduction of City emissions at source, then funding of offset-style local mitigation (i.e., carbon/ greenhouse gas-reducing) projects over the purchase of offsets from projects that do not result in decreased local emissions or increased local carbon sequestration. Any selected local mitigation project shall consider and address the major concerns of national and global markets for offsets, including but not limited to additionality, permanence, leakage, monitoring and verification, double counting, and transparency. Z:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M081008\S081008Aand attA.doc