Agenda Packets - 2013/02/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Figure l: Minneapolis Greenhouse Gas Emissions from City Operations (2006) Buildings 48% Solid Waste <1% Streetlights and Signals 22% — Water and Sewer 18% vel uCles 120/ Source: Minneapolis Carbon Footprint Project Report, draft 121112008. become climate resilient, and urging the federal government to support their efforts. Hennepin County was one of the initial signatories and other counties are considering participation. GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORIES AND PLANS Larger cities have conducted detailed greenhouse gas inventories, not only of their own operations, but also citywide. The goal of these inventories is to identify areas on which to focus efforts, to track results, and to develop a basis for a greenhouse -gas action plan. The most comprehensive and widely used framework for developing these plans is ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection program. ICLEI has a worldwide network of participating cities, and provides technical help and guidance for developing action plans. Ten cities in Minnesota are members of ICLFL In Minnesota, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Duluth, and approximately five other cities are known to be developing greenhouse emissions inventories and/or action plans. The workgroup reviewed some of these plans as well as several other cities nationally, and offers the following observations: • For cities with adequate resources, emissions inventories can be an effective tool for identifying and achieving consensus on the opportunities for greenhouse gas reductions. • A standardized greenhouse gas emissions inventory and protocol for cities across the country is still evolving and could reduce the cost, but developing an accurate greenhouse gas inventory at the local level can currently require significant resources which could instead be devoted to direct actions. These inventories duplicate some state and federal inventory efforts. • The largest opportunity for greenhouse gas reduction within city government operations is generally city buildings, followed by streetlights and signals, water and sewer treatment, and city vehicles. Figure 1 presents the City of Minneapolis's greenhouse gas emissions for city operations, which illustrates this point. Focusing on implementation of best practices in these operational areas provides direct savings and puts local governments in a position to lead by example and to encourage the entire community to take action. Minnesota Green Step Cities Program Proposal 5