Laserfiche WebLink
BACKGROUND <br />In January 2007, the City Council took under consideration the Alameda County Climate <br />Protection Project and requested that staff conduct research and issue a <br />recommendation as part of its 2007/08 City Council Work Plan. On May 1, 2007, the <br />Council approved joining the Alameda County Climate Protection Project, an effort <br />launched by ICLEI in partnership with Stopwaste and the Alameda County Mayors' <br />Conference. The outcome of these actions is the attached Greenhouse Gas Emissions <br />Analysis. The report serves to identify the factors with the greatest greenhouse gas <br />emissions (GHGs) to allow the City to set strategies that comply with State legislation, <br />support the General Plan and reduce known emissions, while being environmentally <br />and fiscally responsible. <br />DISCUSSION <br />The Alameda County Climate Protection Project established 2005 as the calendar base <br />year for measuring emissions. Staff worked with ICLEI, Pacific Gas and Electric and <br />others to compile available government operations information from the 2005 calendar <br />year. Using staff-issued information and drawing on several regional reports from <br />various sources including Alameda County, Stopwaste and Caltrans, ICLEI generated <br />Pleasanton's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis. The report (Attachment 1) provides <br />information about the highest emission sources in the community and local government <br />operations sectors. <br />The report is based on ICLEI's Clean Air and Climate Protection software developed in <br />partnership with the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators <br />(STAPPA), the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (ALAPCO) and Torrie <br />Smith Associates. The software calculates emissions from energy and waste <br />generation. ICLEI recommends that the information provided in Pleasanton's report be <br />considered an approximation based on available data. Emission calculations may <br />change as new data and improved estimation methods become available. <br />In the future, the City will also be responsible for: <br />1. Establishing a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target; <br />2. Developing a climate action plan for achieving the emissions reduction target; <br />3. Implementing the climate action plan; and <br />4. Conducting new emissions inventories to monitor and report on progress. <br />The attached report is the first phase of Pleasanton's climate action planning efforts. <br />Emissions were divided into two categories: community emissions and local <br />government operations emissions. The analysis examined the following sectors for each <br />category: <br />Page 2 of 5 <br />