Are Cities the Climate Champions We're Looking for?

A failed US climate bill and a stalled international treaty does not mean that nobody is doing anything to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the years while world leaders and bureaucrats have fiddled, cities around the world have been the champions when it comes to adopting tough measures to reduce their carbon footprints.

A new report by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), highlights 13 such cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

According to the CEC's executive director, Evan Lloyd this makes a lot of sense because "virtually all population growth over the next 30 years will occur in urban areas, so promoting action at the local level is one of the best ways to address environmental and climate challenges."

With leaner budgets and mayors looking at the upside of a green image, cities are taking common sense action and doing things like reducing the amount of energy used by municipally-owned buildings. For instance, Eugene, Oregon reduced its average energy consumption per unit of floor area in its buildings by 26% and the York Region of Greater Toronto reduced electricity consumption by 14% and natural gas consumption by 41% at its main administrative complex.

In Mexico City they are upgrading their lighting and estimate that by 2012 the annual energy savings will be a whopping 11 million kwh, not only saving the city a ton of money in the long run, but also giving bragging rights for avoiding an estimated 65,000 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions since 2005.

In 2000, the City of Burlington, Vermont adopted a Climate Action Plan and they now use the same amount of electricity they did twenty years ago in 1990.

In 2007, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced PlaNYC 2030 - a blueprint for sustainability for the next quarter of a century for a city that has significant challenges in the areas of air pollution and population growth. As part of the plan, Bloomberg earmarked $80 million and signed an executive order requiring that all city-owned buildings reduce energy consumption by 30% in the next ten years.

There are many more case studies outlined in the CEC's report, but it is reassuring to know that while the political spats on Capitol Hill continue and the post-Copenhagen dialogues produce little more than hot air, our cities are stepping up to the plate and showing the leadership we need on climate change.

They say that all politics are local, but that rings most true for city politicians who see the major financial, environmental and political upside in taking practical steps to reduce energy consumption for the long-term.

So what other things are cities doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Let me know in the comment section below!

You can read the full CEC report here: Best Energy Management Practices in 13 North American Municipalities.

 

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Comments

[mothergrace]

11:47 AM on 09/22/2010

Bravo!

Hey, I don't mind the patchwork quilt approach at all. If more and more cities do this, eventually the rest of the counties, states, provinces, whatever, will be drawn in and then we will have everyone focused on a future of clean energy.

[tomteboda]

12:12 AM on 09/22/2010

I think local foci are a very logical point for change, for a couple of reasons. First, cities can serve as "test beds" and their successes (and failures) can inform other cities and areas. Second, each area has its own climate and ecological challenges, and local-based changes have much more flexibility than any top-down mandates to respond to those unique facets.

[SallyVCrockett]

09:07 PM on 09/21/2010

Makes good sense to start at the local level, esp. given the political climate on the Hill. I just hope that as communities move forward, they keep all the alternatives on the table.

[Deep77]

03:55 PM on 09/21/2010

Given the political realities, where both parties do operate in trench warfare. Any kind of progress is going to ugly. On the local level, especially with big cities, we can make progress. Most municipal leaders are going to think if NYC is doing it, then they could do it.

[dfranz]

02:12 PM on 09/21/2010

This shows fairly clearly that the public is more in tune to the problem than the world leaders, especially the United States. With a legislative process that requires 60% approval to pass bills and obstruction is in every corner, the US is not structurally set up to act on things like this. Climate deniers & tools of the energy industries will not even allow the bills to come up for a vote. City action on the local level is all we have left.

[doxienan]

02:48 PM on 09/21/2010

Right. Local action is the answer. It's been a very frustrating few years for climate activists, but rather than become depressed and lose our momentum, it's good to focus our activities in our communities, where we can see real results. Our town leaders are very interested in reducing emissions. Well, actually they are more interested in saving money, but they are getting stuff done. With tight budgets, saving money on energy is really important to them.

[doxienan]

02:49 PM on 09/21/2010

....and energy dollars saved stay in your community, so there is an even bigger reward to your city or town.

[Kevin Grandia]

06:54 PM on 09/21/2010

The logical argument is much more concrete and easy to communicate at the city level as well... i.e. "if we reduce the electricity consumption at our schools by 20%, we save $2 million a year that can go into new transit services."

[sheila]

01:16 PM on 09/21/2010

Gainesville, Florida and Ontario Canada both implemented the PROVEN solution to local economic slumps, property value slumps, employment slumps and environmental problems (micro and macro) in the form of a generous FEED IN TARIFF, which almost every developed nation uses to encourage clean power production within the built environment (but not us).

Germany constantly outpaces the US in solar power installation and production at VERY low cost to ratepayers and no cost to taxpayers. Tens of thousands of local manufacturing and installation jobs have been created, and the payments for clean energy GO TO THE PEOPLE, NOT TO CHEVRON, which makes a huge difference in liquidity and local spending boosts. Housing values are substantially increased by rooftop solar and efficiency upgrades, and when you get a check for saving energy, you cut back even more, it's just human nature.

Feed in Tariffs are the number one most important policy decision this country (or any of its states or localities) could make for the economy, employment, property values, global warming or protecting our open spaces (and our working people) from Big Energy destruction (Gulf Oil, PA Gas, Mountaintop Coal, Desert Solar, Plains Wind and Big Transmission/Pipelines everywhere). Clean, reliable, longlasting - efficiency and rooftop solar are the solutions we need NOW.