Item B: Sustainability Commission Recommendations

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RECOMMENDATIONS The Sustainability Commission has identified the three recommendations below for council consideration. The commission identified these recommendations as being high priority action that could be taken immediately. Recommendation 1 The Sustainable Business Initiative (SBI) report identifies waste – including the creation, collection, movement and disposal – as having major social, economic and environmental costs. Further, the report suggests local waste management initiatives could represent an opportunity. There is a high level of community awareness regarding recycling efforts and the local network of public and private waste management organizations. City staff briefed the commission on the City organization’s current efforts to reduce, manage and measure waste. The City currently recovers or diverts from the landfill approximately 45 percent of operational waste. The commission is encouraged by the City’s proactive waste reduction efforts to date and is confident that the organization is well positioned to achieve the goal recommended below. Attachment A outlines additional background and rationale for this recommendation. The commission recommends that: The City of Eugene formally adopts the following goal: The City of Eugene shall increase the volume of waste diverted from landfill from internal operations and facilities from current levels of an estimated45 percent to at least 75 percent by 2014 and 90 percent by 2020. Recommendation 2 All eight of the commission’s work plan issue areas have direct or indirect ties to energy consumption. The Portland Peak Oil Report, public testimony and other research asserts the world is very near, at or past global “peak oil” production. The steep oil price rises last summer and the increasing petroleum demand from the growing economies of China and India suggest the end of the cheap, fossil-fuel based energy age is near. Under even moderate fossil-fuel supply reductions or modest price increases, Eugene can expect a wide variety of negative social, environmental and economic impacts. The commission both acknowledges and appreciates the long standing cooperative partnership forged between the City and EWEB that has resulted in Eugene’s comparatively low dependence on fossil-fuel derived electricity. Nonetheless, the commission’s review of the literature leads it to conclude that immediate action is necessary. Eugene must prepare to reduce the impacts of fossil fuel price escalation and supply fluctuations. Attachment B outlines additional background and rationale for this recommendation. The commission recommends that: The City of Eugene, in conjunction with a wide variety of community partners: By August 2010, develop a community action plan that aims to reduce total, current community- wide fossil fuel consumption 50 percent by 2030 (as an absolute not a per capita reduction) by (1) establishing targets for achieving that goal; (2) identifying strategies to achieve those targets; (3) identifying necessary adaptations; (4) developing measures for tracking success; (5) identifying financial impacts, and (6) including periodic progress reports back to the community with annual reports of progress to the Sustainability Commission. Note: If this recommendation is adopted by council the commission recommends that development of the plan be undertaken in conjunction with the community climate action plan (one of the first set Z:\CMO\2009 Council Agendas\M090209\S090209B.doc