Climate Action Planning

Global warming is real and demands our immediate response. It is in our national interest to act now and mayors understand that a successful plan in this country for reducing our energy consumption begins in cities and local communities. We are leading by example in the fight against global warming and representing America to the world.

Gregg Nickels, U.S. Conference of Mayors president and Seattle mayor

The U.S. Global Change Research Program's June 2009 report to the president and Congress clearly establishes the nature of the global warming problem:

Observations show that warming of the climate is unequivocal. The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. These emissions come mainly from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), with important contributions from the clearing of forests, agricultural practices, and other activities.

Global warming is already impacting human health and safety, the economy, and ecosystems. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, global warming impacts will increase in severity. The global challenge is twofold: reduce the human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases, and respond to the negative impacts already being felt and the likelihood that they will worsen in the future.

The largest source of heat-trapping gases, or greenhouse gases, is fossil-fuel-burning power plants, and the second-largest source is fossil-fuel-burning vehicles (fig. 1.1). For the former, changes such as better technology, development of large-scale renewable energy, and retirement of old, inefficient power plants will have an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For the latter, evolving vehicle and fuel technology and standards will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These types of technological evolution and large-scale energy programs are driven by private-sector investment and federal and state government legislation and programs. Although these efforts are important and necessary, the problem of global warming cannot be solved without the participation of communities, local governments, and individuals as well.

Local action is critical for needed greenhouse gas emissions reductions to occur. Local governments control the vast majority of building construction, transportation improvements, and land use decisions in the United States. Civic and business organizations, environmental groups, and citizens can join forces with local government and commit to local action that includes energy efficient operation of local government, energy efficient buildings, alternatives to driving such as city buses and bicycles, and city planning that improves the quality of life and allows people to depend less on their car.

Fortunately, communities all over the United States are responding to the challenge of climate change by assessing their greenhouse gas emissions and specifying actions to reduce these emissions. As of early 2011, over a thousand mayors had signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (box 1.1), vowing to reduce carbon emissions in their cities below 1990 levels, in line with the Kyoto Protocol (fig. 1.2). In October 2009, Mayor Scott Smith of Mesa, Arizona, became the 1,000th signatory to the Agreement. At the signing ceremony, he expressed the needed collective effort: "I welcome the opportunity to join with 1,000 of my peers in this truly bipartisan effort to improve not only the environment, but our communities and our nation. We may not all agree on specific action points, but we are united in a common goal of responsible environmental stewardship." When Mayor Tim Davlin of Springfield, Illinois, signed the Agreement he reminded everyone what it would take and why it was needed: "We must rally the entire community to creatively find additional ways to reduce emissions and make our planet a better place to live for our children and their children."

These kinds of commitments have driven the completion of over 120 city and county climate action plans (CAPs) as of early 2011 (fig. 1.3). Most of these are only a few years old so their impact is yet to be felt, but some communities are well into implementation of their greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies and are beginning to report success. ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), a "membership association of local governments committed to advancing climate protection and sustainable development," in their 2009 annual report notes the following successes (among others):

• Broward County, Florida, reduced emissions by 62,491 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually between 1997 and 2007.

• Portland, Oregon, reduced local carbon emissions in 2008 to 1% below 1990 levels, despite rapid population growth.

• New York City, New York, in September 2008 reported a 2.5% reduction in citywide greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2007, largely due to the impact of new natural gas power plants that came online in 2006.

• San Francisco, California, reduced community-wide emissions by 5% between 1990 and 2005—8% from peak emissions in 2000—totaling 670,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

• Minneapolis, Minnesota, reduced community-wide emissions by 7% (440,700 metric tons) between 2000 and 2006, over 50% of which was due to reductions in electricity usage.

• Seattle, Washington, reduced its greenhouse gas emissions to 8% below the 1990 baseline by 2005.

• Boulder, Colorado, has been reducing community emissions since 2006.

These successes show that actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can work and that aggressive reduction targets can be met.

Also at the local level, many U.S. colleges and universities are leading the way in climate action planning. As of early 2011, about 380 U.S. colleges and universities have adopted a CAP, with several hundred more committed to action. There is a great opportunity for communities to partner with their local colleges and universities to share knowledge and resources and engage in collaborative planning.

The tremendous variety of efforts taking place in cities, counties, and colleges and universities to address the problem of climate change is impressive and suggestive of the need to establish "best practices" in this new field of planning for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and for climate change adaptation. Although the specific names for these plans vary, they are generally referred to as climate action plans (CAPs). This book provides basic guidance on preparing a local CAP...