Pittsburgh Climate Initiative PITTSBURGH CLIMATE VERSION 1.0 ACTION PLAN Cover photo: © 2008 Matt Robinson PITTSBURGH CLIMATE VERSION 1.0 ACTION PLAN Endorsed by the Green Government Task Force of Pittsburgh A collaboration of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 2008 Copyright © 2008, Green Building Alliance Report Compiled by Lindsay Baxter, Municipal Fellow, Clean Air - Cool Planet Report Edited by Jenna Cramer, Resource Coordinator, Green Building Alliance Eamon Geary, Project Specialist, Green Building Alliance Aurora L. Sharrard, Research Manager, Green Building Alliance Report Recommendations Contributed by Jennifer Andrews, Campus Program Manager, Clean Air - Cool Planet Christa Koehler, Community Program Manager, Clean Air - Cool Planet Benjamin Rasmussen, Senior Program Officer, ICLEI Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 2008 Copyright © 2008, Green Building Alliance II Acknowledgements Surdna Foundation The Heinz Endowments Roy A. Hunt Foundation The New York Community Trust The Oak Foundation Green Government Task Force Co-Chairs Jim Ferlo State Senator, Pennsylvania William Peduto City Councilman, City of Pittsburgh Luke Ravenstahl Mayor, City of Pittsburgh Rebecca L. Flora Executive Director, Green Building Alliance (Convener) III Table 1: Green Government Task Force Members ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE 3 Rivers Wet Weather . John Schombert Carnegie Mellon University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Department of Engineering and Public Policy . Cliff Davidson Carnegie Mellon University Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research . Deborah Lange Chatham University . Lisa Kunst Vavro Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC . Dean Walters Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) . Jeanne Clark City of Pittsburgh City Information Systems . James Sloss City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning . Corey Layman City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning . Daniel Sentz City of Pittsburgh Mayor’s Office . Kristen Baginski Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development . Ellen Kight Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources . Michael DeBerardinis Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection . Kathleen McGinty Conservation Consultants, Inc. Ann Gerace East Liberty Development, Inc. Nathan Wildfire Giant Eagle . Robert Garrity GTECH Strategies . Andrew Butcher International Union Operating Engineers Local #95 . William Cagney Pennsylvania Resources Council . David Mazza PNC Bank . George Whitmer Rachel Carson Homestead . Fiona Fisher Rothschild Doyno Collaborative Architecture and Urban Design . Kenneth Doyno Sierra Club . Rachel Martin Steel City Biofuels . Nathaniel Doyno Sustainable Pittsburgh . Courtland Gould The Heinz Endowments . Caren Glotfelty The Pittsburgh Foundation . Jane Downing The Pittsburgh Project . Saleem Ghubril United Jewish Federation . Richard Wice IV ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE University of Pittsburgh Mascaro Sustainability Initiative . Eric Beckman University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health . Robbie Ali Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh . Matthew Smuts United States House of Representatives Pennsylvania’s 14th District . Mike Doyle Table 2: Business Working Group of the Green Government Task Force ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE Clean Air - Cool Planet . Bob Sheppard Clean Air - Cool Planet . Lindsay Baxter Green Building Alliance . Eamon Geary GTECH Strategies . Andrew Butcher International Union Operating Engineers Local 95 . William Cagney Sustainable Pittsburgh . Matthew Mehalik Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh . Matthew Smuts Table 3: Communications Working Group of the Green Government Task Force ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) . Jeanne Clark Clean Air - Cool Planet . Lindsay Baxter Green Building Alliance . Eamon Geary Office of Senator Ferlo . Paul Svboda Rachel Carson Homestead . Fiona Fisher Rothschild Doyno Collaborative Architecture and Urban Design . Kenneth Doyno V Table 4: Community Working Group of the Green Government Task Force ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE Clean Air - Cool Planet . Christa Koehler Clean Air - Cool Planet . Lindsay Baxter Conservation Consultants Inc. Ann Gerace Green Building Alliance . Eamon Geary Sierra Club . Rachel Martin United Jewish Federation . Rick Wice Table 5: Higher Education Working Group of the Green Government Task Force ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE Carnegie Mellon University Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research . Deborah Lange Chatham University . Lisa Kunst Vavro Clean Air - Cool Planet . Jennifer Andrews Clean Air - Cool Planet . Lindsay Baxter Green Building Alliance . Aurora Sharrard Green Building Alliance . Eamon Geary Table 6: Municipal Working Group of the Green Government Task Force ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE City Information Systems, City of Pittsburgh . James Sloss Clean Air - Cool Planet . Lindsay Baxter Department of City Planning, City of Pittsburgh . Neha Gabhawala . Corey Layman Department of Finance, City of Pittsburgh . Bernard Komorsky . Chester Malesky . Robert Murphy . Robert Yackich Department of Public Works, City of Pittsburgh . Patrick Hassett . Shawn Wigle Green Building Alliance . Eamon Geary Port Authority of Allegheny County . David Wohlwill VI Technical Support Provided by Kim Lundgren Regional Director, Northeast, ICLEI Melissa Stults Senior Program Officer, ICLEI Authors of the December 2006 Pittsburgh Climate Protection Initiative Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory William Bernstein Angela Gasparetti Miles Ingram Isabella Johnson Jessica Mooney MarDestinee Perez Shruti Vaidyanathan H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University Photo: Maggie Chutz VIII Executive Summary Climate change is a serious problem with major implications for global and local economies, environments, and societies. Unless coordinated action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions locally, Pittsburgh will experience a variety of negative conditions due to the temperature increase projected to occur during the next century. These effects of global warming may include higher prices and shortages of basic goods (especially food and energy), a higher susceptibility to flooding, increased public expenditures on rebuilding and relief efforts due to extreme weather events, and a higher rate of infectious diseases and heat-related illnesses and deaths. In an effort to create a coordinated Pittsburgh climate protection effort, the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan presents the City of Pittsburgh and its residents, businesses, and higher education institutions with opportunities to reduce the impacts of local and global climate change, improve the local environment and the local economy, and enhance Pittsburgh’s reputation as an environmentally progressive city. The Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan outlines the measures that government, businesses, higher education institutions, and citizens of the City of Pittsburgh have begun and can continue to undertake to help mitigate the local effects of global climate change. This plan also includes recommended actions that the municipal, community, business, and higher education sectors of Pittsburgh are encouraged to adopt in order to achieve the City’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 20% lower than the 2003 level by 2023. Specific strategies for achieving this emission reduction are initially organized in this plan by the following sectors: municipal, community, business, and higher education. The climate action recommendations for each of these sectors are then classified into the following categories: • General • Energy • Recycling and Waste Management • Transportation • Green Building Practices (Higher Education Only) • Student Engagement and Education (Higher Education Only) Following issuance of this Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan in June 2008, the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative will pursue implementing and monitoring its outcomes. Short-term recommendations will be the first to be implemented, and their impact will be quantified to track progress towards the goal of 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2023. As individual recommendations, goals, and measures are achieved, the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative will work with the City of Pittsburgh’s Sustainability Committee, Pittsburgh Higher Education Climate Consortium, Pittsburgh Business Climate Coalition, and Community Climate Coalition to assess which climate action strategies will be acted upon next, as well as what.