Oakland to develop Energy and Climate Plan
The city of Oakland has a chance to show environmental leadership in the coming months as it prepares an Energy and Climate Action Plan (ECAP) on opportunities to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in its own government operations and throughout the Oakland community. Other local cities preparing such plans include Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, and Benicia.
ECAP will clarify policy direction and recommend priority actions to the Oakland City Council. Work on the plan is being coordinated by the Public Works Agency, under the leadership of Garrett Fitzgerald, the city's sustainability coordinator. This is Oakland's first effort to establish formal energy and climate goals and a comprehensive plan of action. The city is considering a range of strategies for reducing energy use and GHG emissions.
Transportation is Oakland's biggest source of GHGs (see diagram), and so the city's initiatives to reduce GHG emissions need to focus there. The city has limited leverage over highway automobile usage, but does have ways to affect transportation patterns within its borders. The Sierra Club has been working together with other non-profit partners in the Local Clean Energy Alliance of the East Bay to develop priorities:
- shift the city from car-dependent to transit-oriented: commit to demonstrable, annual goals that reduce vehicle travel, and invest in pedestrian/bike-friendly corridors and in transit operations;
- boost funding/incentives for local transit and prioritize bike and pedestrian corridors;
- adopt a comprehensive energy-efficiency-retrofit and solar program, modeled on Berkeley's city-backed solar financing program;
- implement a community- and labor-driven energy-purchasing program, like Community Choice Aggregation.
To help pay for these programs Oakland should:
- immediately apply for federal stimulus funds for improvements in transportation and energy efficiency;
- establish a transit assessment district or a local carbon tax to assess property-owners or energy-users for the costs of transit and reducing GHGs;
- leverage Oakland's clout on the county's Congestion Management Agency to lobby for more funds for transit and bike-pedestrian improvements.
As one of the area's biggest users of energy, and as a city that considers itself politically (and environmentally) progressive, Oakland must join other cities and develop a robust and enforceable Climate Action Plan. The latest climate science indicates that even the most aggressive targets proposed in global negotiations are not nearly strong enough. One recent study suggests that we need to reduce global-warming pollution by 8% a year to realistically have a change of stabilizing our climate for our children - a target in which California's current climate action plan would only make a dent. In the absence of a strong state mandate, local cities need to take more aggressive steps to address this growing threat.
WhatYouCanDo
To help the Sierra Club support the Oakland ECAP, you can participate in several ways.
Attend a meeting. Public workshops and stakeholder meetings are planned during the coming months. Based on these, city staff will then prepare a report for City Council discussion in June or July.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thu., April 30, two identical sessions 3 - 5 pm and 7 - 9 pm at Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza (14th and Broadway), hearing room 3. Please RSVP, identifying which session you plan to attend, to climateaction -at- oaklandnet.com or (510)238-6179. By showing up and supporting important local climate-change initiatives, you can do your part.
Submit feedback. Working from home, you can develop comments, either on your own or in consultation with our partners at the Local Clean Energy Alliance.
For further information on the city's process, including dates of additional public meetings (when they are scheduled), see www.sustainableoakland.com
To work with the Sierra Club on these concerns, contact conservation organizer at (510) 848-0800, ext. 312