1. Sustainability & Climate Action Plan
Gil Philip Friend Chief Sustainability Officer City of Palo Alto
February 11, 2015

2. A “sustainable city” can
Improve Quality
of Life
Build Prosperity
Enhance Resilience

3. We’ve done a lot 2007 Climate Protection Plan
154+ City sustainability initiatives, including
Green building ordinance
Electric vehicle readiness
Local Solar Plan
Urban Forest Master Plan
Energy/compost facility
PV permit streamlining
Bicycle Boulevards
Source:  

4. With more in the pipeline
Sustainability metrics to Open Data
Internal engagement: Green Team
Process improvement: Workflow & checklists
Directory of policies & initiatives
Procurement: Default to green
Zero Waste: Internal benchmarking
Fleet: Conversion to ZEVs
Finance: “total cost of operations” + “cost of externalities”
“Future generations” policies
Streamlining sustainability reporting

5. And long way to go…

6. You’ll recall
Impressive GFG reductions: 34% base 1990, x% base 2005
Focus has been incremental reductions of negative impacts
Now we face big challenges: Transportation and Natural Gas
Whether we decide to go for 80x50, 80x30, or carbon neutral in 10yrs or less--Can’t get to even 80% x 2050 w/o transforming transport, and eliminating impact or actuality of gas
How… specific rates of change…
So all this work leaves us…and you…with some big questions
To discuss tonight and over the coming months.

7. Emissions, Current vs. Required (2005-50)*
P R O V I S I O N A L
Current emissions path based on reductions from
Leading but not good enough. Cali 80x50.[EU: 40% by 2030]
CAP now, looking at 80x30…and Moonshot
Courtesy of Daniel Aronson & AutoDesk

8. Global Benchmarks CITY KEY MEASURE GHG GOAL Barcelona
Open Gov’t + Intelligent Energy Network
20% reduction by 2025
Amsterdam
Smart City Investment Funds
40% Reduction by 2025
London
Carbon Measurement + Congestion Pricing + ZEV Taxis
30% reduction by 2025
Ft. Collins
Smart Grid + Efficiency pricing
Carbon Neutral by 2050
Seattle
Integrated transit planning
Copenhagen
California
Carbon Free Mobility and Energy
AB32
Net zero buildings
Renewables
Carbon Neutral—and 75% bicycle commute mode share—by 2025.
80 x 50
New residential 2020, new commercial 2030.
50% renewables by 2030
We’ve done a lot
2007 Climate Protection Plan: 154+ City sustainability initiatives, including
Green building ordinance, Electric vehicle readiness, Local Solar Plan, Urban Forest Master Plan, Energy/compost facility, PV permit streamlining, Bicycle Boulevards
7th in US for number of PV installations per capita- 
Hewlett Packard, VMWare, JCC, VA Hospital, EPRI, Cooley Godward, SAP, and Stanford Medical Center are some of the 36 Palo Alto businesses that have installed solar power systems.

9. Scenarios: Natural Gas (1) Accelerated: 10% per year
Note this scenario is with a 10% adoption rate for fuel switching
Envision a series of stakeholder meetings, interactive, dialing assumptions and preferences,
to see what needed to get to where we want to go
So all this work leaves us…and you…with some big questions
To discuss tonight and over the coming months.

10. Big Questions Shall we become a carbon-neutral city? How fast?
How will we reduce or eliminate the 60+% of our carbon footprint contributed by transportation?
How will we reduce or eliminate the 30+% of our carbon footprint contributed by natural gas?
How will we adapt to climate change?
How would Palo Alto adapt to a possible “new normal” in California’s water regime?
Since it’s not only about carbon, what other sustainability goals should we pursue?
What goals will you pursue?

11. Gil Philip Friend Chief Sustainability Officer
@paloaltocso
Now some may say...