Combatting global climate change requires ambitious city-level climate action. Cities are where people live, work, and learn. For that reason, cities have great potential to develop and implement the bold, transformative solutions needed to address climate change while making cities vibrant places for people to live.
At Fresh Coast Climate Solutions, we are passionate about helping local governments with every step of community climate action. Below are some important considerations when thinking out how to simplify the process.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories
A critical first step of embarking on community climate action is developing a baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory. A baseline GHG emissions inventory is a foundational tool for effective and informed climate action, enabling informed decision-making, goal setting, and strategic planning to effectively reduce GHG emissions.
Establishing a GHG inventory is critical to properly create goals, develop GHG reduction models, conduct forecasting, and track emissions reduction progress. Here are some important items to consider before starting the process:
Understand the GHG methodologies (GHG Protocol for Cities and U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions)
Develop organizational and operational boundaries
Establish baseline year
Determine sources of data and develop data collection process
Identify partners critical to helping collect data
Every community is different, so the process should be tailored to your specific community’s needs and provide you with the tools and resources you need – establishing a baseline, setting emissions reduction targets, and developing strategies – to accelerate your city’s journey to net zero emissions.
How does this process come to life? Check out Fresh Coast’s community GHG inventories the City of Columbia, Missouri. Our team of technical experts can manage the process of completing community wide or local government GHG inventories.
Climate Action Planning Support
Reducing community-wide and government operations’ GHG emissions inventories to net zero may seem like an overwhelming endeavor. Fresh Coast makes the process of climate action planning easy by translating GHG inventories into actionable decarbonization pathways that are realistic and specified to your community.
Here are some important items to consider when developing your Climate Action Plan:
What GHG reduction tactics are most meaningful to your community stakeholders?
Which actionable pathways will provide the largest reductions?
What are the cost associated with implementing reduction strategies?
How can climate action make your community a better place for residents to live?
What significant vulnerabilities does your community have to the impacts of climate change?
Who in your community is most affected by the impacts of climate change, and how can you prioritize them in your climate action plan?
Check out Climate Action Planning in action -- For the City of Sterling Heights, Michigan, Fresh Coast has formulated an extensive stakeholder engagement strategy to incorporate community input and encourage buy-in from city staff, Sustainability Commission members, and the residents of Sterling Heights. The Climate Action Plan is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
Climate Action Plan Implementation
For most cities, the buildings sector (commercial, industrial, and residential buildings) account for the majority of scope 1 and 2 community-wide greenhouse gas emissions. This is a critical sector to prioritize in working toward net zero communities, and building decarbonization strategies often require technical expertise and support. Many cities have limited staff capacity or the technical expertise to advance critical implementation efforts.
In order to ease the process, consider some of the following:
Establish your municipal buildings in Portfolio Manager by ENERGY STAR
Develop a list of implementation tactics ranked by GHG reduction and $/GHG
Begin coordinating with other stakeholders on implementation tactics
Create a system to track key metrics and progress over time, such as an automated dashboard Research local grant and rebate options that could aid in financially incentivizing building efficiency improvements
Check out planning in action - Fresh Coast has worked with many cities to develop building decarbonization strategies and programs. For the City of Flint, Michigan, Fresh Coast benchmarked municipal buildings in Portfolio Manager by ENERGY STAR to establish baseline energy efficiency metrics, designed a full decarbonization strategy for municipal buildings specific to City needs, and developed a community residential electrification roadmap.
About Fresh Coast Climate Solutions
Fresh Coast Climate Solutions was founded with a mission to reverse climate change through bold solutions and transformative action. Leveraging our expertise and passion for the environment and social equity, along with decades of experience guiding public, NGO and private sector clients, we promote smarter and more impactful sustainability practices. Our deep knowledge in life cycle assessment, GHG inventories, carbon mitigation, ESG, CSR, and cleantech enables us to provide unique insights and solutions to complex problems. We view our clients as friends and collaborators, believing that business success and climate action are not mutually exclusive.
Explore how Fresh Coast Climate Solutions can help your community achieve its sustainability goals. Visit our website or contact us today. Together, we can make a lasting impact on our planet.
Additional Resources:
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