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BACKGROUND The City has recently completed a number of environmental projects including a comprehensive Energy Efficiency Conservation Strategy (EECS) using ARRA stimulus funding and County wide GHG inventory which established a baseline emissions value for 2005. The City is also a member of the Alameda County Climate Protection Project and taken several significant steps to reduce GHG emissions by developing programs to conserve resources, water, and energy. While programs completed to date represent an important step toward climate action planning, the City recognizes the need to develop a comprehensive suite of programs and strategies to reduce GHGs that enable the City to respond to AB32 and the City's General Plan that promotes greater environmental sustainability. In recognition of these interests, and in cooperation with the Committee on the Energy and Environment, staff circulated a request for proposal to identify a firm to complete a Climate Action Plan. A total of eighteen proposals were received and four firms participated in interviews with City staff from Planning, Traffic Engineering, Operations, and a representative from the City's Committee on Energy and Environment. A final interview was conducted with the two top firms leading to the selection of ESA.. DISCUSSION Climate Action Plan and Environmental Impact Report The Climate Action Plan will be developed using the current BAAQMD guidelines with the intention of creating a "qualified climate action plan" as defined by BAAQMD that includes feasible measures to reduce GHG emissions (consistent with AB 32 goals or Executive Order S -03 -05 targets) would be considered less than significant. The elements of a qualified climate action plan include: GHG inventory for current year and forecast for 2020 An adopted GHG reduction goal for 2020 Feasible reduction measures to reduce GHG emissions for 2020 to the identified target Inclusion of relevant measures from the AB 32 Scoping Plan Quantification of the reduction effectiveness of each measure Implementation steps, financing mechanisms, and identification of responsible parties Monitoring and updating of the inventory and reduction plan at least every five years Schedule of implementation Certified CEQA document Timing and quality of the CAP development is very important for a number of reasons: 1. To comply with the Attorney General's suit we must complete the CAP within eighteen months, or by February 2012. 2. From a regulatory standpoint we must also reduce GHG's significantly by 2020 which is only nine years to the target emissions date. Page 2 of 3