Title
Study Session Summary of March 26, 2019 - Climate Action Plan 2.0
Report
Call to Order:
Vice Mayor Melton called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
City Councilmembers Present:
Mayor Larry Klein
Vice Mayor Melton
Councilmember Gustav Larsson
Councilmember Glenn Hendricks
Councilmember Nancy Smith
Councilmember Michael S. Goldman
City Councilmembers Absent:
Councilmember Mason Fong
Study Session Summary:
Ramana Chinnakotla, Director, Environmental Services Department, along with Melody Tovar, Regulatory Programs Division Manager, and Nupur Hiremath, Environmental Programs Manager, delivered a presentation on the product of the Climate Action Plan 2.0 Initiative -the Draft Climate Action Playbook.
The Draft Climate Action Playbook (Draft Playbook) is a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. The presentation covered the Draft Playbook’s proposed long-term targets of achieving a 60 percent reduction by 2030 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050 relative to 1990 levels, and an overview of the Strategies and Plays to achieve those targets. In addition, staff presented a Game Plan of “next moves” or actions to focus on in the coming three years and a summary of an associated funding request that was presented to Council at a later meeting as a part of the annual budget cycle. The presentation included the preliminary results of the community engagement to date to gather feedback on the Draft Playbook and the plan for continued outreach through April 2019.
Councilmembers asked questions and made comments:
Promoting Clean Energy
• Comment that storage should be featured separately from solar as leveraging storage effectively entails behavior change that is distinct from that required when only using solar.
• Question on whether it would be possible to achieve the 100% participation in clean energy sooner than 2030.
• Question on how the solar target is evaluated and whether it can be accelerated.
Decarbonizing Buildings
• Question about how the timing of the Green Building program aligns with the timing of the Playbook.
• Question about whether it is possible to require all-electric buildings.
• Comment that decarbonizing buildings should be prioritized over reducing automobile trips.
• Question about whether the building electrification targets could be accelerated.
Decarbonizing Transportation & Sustainable Land Use
• Concern that the reduction targets for vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are not achievable based on the Next Moves proposed and that past progress on mode shift has been limited.
• Question about how VMT and vehicle emissions are monitored.
• Comment that Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) data could be leveraged to better understand the penetration of electric vehicles.
• Comment to broaden references to electric vehicles to “clean vehicles” to include additional alternative fuels such as hydrogen.
• Question about whether Move 3.A (Plan for additional housing, with the goal of diverse housing, to reduce long-distance commutes) accounts for the housing decisions associated with upcoming plans, such as Lawrence Station Area Plan and El Camino Real Corridor Plan.
Managing Resources Sustainably
• Question about how the Playbook can address plastics diversion through its zero-waste related plays and whether it would be possible to discourage the use of single-use plastics in Sunnyvale using taxes or other financial mechanisms, which can then fund the Playbook.
• Question about whether waste reduction could have separate target from waste diversion.
Empowering Our Community
• Support that community engagement is essential to implementation success.
• Questions on the feasibility and trade-offs of committing to annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory and the anticipated impact on staff time.
• Comment that the lessons learned from the food scraps program implementation should be leveraged to better understand how to have effective pilot programs, engage the community and achieve high participation.
Overarching Comments
• Questions about how the Playbook will be funded longer term and what the possibilities are for grant funding.
• Comments on the need for careful consideration prior to implementing fee changes, to balance revenue and keep costs to the community low.
• Question about how the anticipated workload for Playbook implementation is integrated into staffing and relationship to the Study Issue process.
• Comment that the Playbook should include the language that highlights its relationship with existing plans.
While staff addressed many of the questions during the meeting, there was not sufficient time to respond to all the questions. Additional information will be provided to the Council as an Information Only memorandum prior to the final Playbook coming to the Council for consideration of approval.
Public Comment:
Six members of the public addressed the Council and provided the following comments:
• Commended staff on the Draft Playbook’s readability and relatability
• Expressed support for the Draft Playbook and its proposed targets and strategies
• Expressed support for funding the implementation of the Playbook
• Emphasized that additional efforts are needed to address transportation emissions, including first- and last-mile electric shuttles, improvements to bicycle infrastructure and public transportation options, and significant changes in approaches to land use
• Requested consideration for revising the long-term target to an 80 percent reduction by 2045 (rather than 2050) to match the Governor’s most recent Executive Order (B-55-18)
• Requested more robust monitoring and transparency of tracked metrics
• Requested consideration of upstream emissions from consumption
Adjournment:
Vice Mayor Melton adjourned the meeting at 6:59 p.m.