The City of Austin’s climate protection goals include:
- Power all City facilities with renewable energy by 2012.
- Make entire City vehicle fleet carbon-neutral by 2020 through the use of electric power, non-petroleum fuels, and mitigation measures.
- Establish a City employee Climate Action Team to (1) inventory greenhouse gas emissions from all municipal operations and (2) develop comprehensive emission reduction plans.
- Create a City employee climate protection education program, including (1) information and incentives to help employees reduce their carbon footprint and (2) training on how to educate other community members on ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
Greenhouse Gas Inventory
The first step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions is measurement. The Austin Climate Protection Program calculates the greenhouse gas emissions of the City of Austin’s municipal operations through a greenhouse gas inventory every year. The inventory takes data from energy, water, transportation, materials, and waste emissions sources and converts them to a CO2 emission equivalent, helping us to monitor emissions levels, track emissions reductions and develop emissions reduction strategies.
City of Austin Climate Action Team
The Austin Climate Protection Program works with all City departments to develop and implement departmental climate protection plans to help the City make its operations carbon-neutral by 2020. Twenty-three departments and five large, multi-departmental buildings have developed customized climate protection plans. The plans, adopted in 2009, establish goals to reduce each department’s or building’s carbon footprint through cost-effective energy, water, fuel, and waste reduction measures; adopting environmentally friendly purchasing practices; and educating employees on ways to reduce their climate impact.
The Climate Protection Program leads the Climate Action Team, which includes representatives from many City departments. This team, which first met in January, 2008, shares resources and lessons learned and facilitates reporting as departments continue work on reducing their carbon footprints.
