FOR LEADERS IN GOVERNMENT, EDUCATION & HEALTHCARE.
SUSTAINABLE CITY NETWORK
VOLUME 27 April 2018
4
BEST OF
e City SustainaWbl ORK NET
SALT LAKE CITY
COMMITS TO ZERO-CARBON POWER PLAN
LEADERBOARD SERIES SPONSORED BY CRESCENT ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.
10 NEW TOOL HELPS CITIES USE TREES FOR STORMWATER MANAGEMENT 16 CORPORATE GIANTS HELP PLANO GROW IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE 27 GREEN SHOOTS IN THE U.S. BOND MARKET – BUT STILL A SAPLING
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contents
4
cover story
SALT LAKE CITY
COMMITS TO ZERO-CARBON POWER PLAN
VOLUME 27 April 2018
The Financial Risks of Climate Change
13
Corporate Giants Help Plano Grow in More Ways Than One
16
Planning for Environmental Justice
19
COP23: Two Degrees, With Separation
22
Restoring a Lost Corridor
25
Green Shoots in the U.S. Bond Market – But Still a Sapling
27
10
New Tool Helps Cities Use Trees for Stormwater Management
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Sustainable City Network Magazine
The Best of Sustainable City Network is a quarterly magazine highlighting the most popular articles posted on sCityNetwork.com, an online trade publication that serves government, education and healthcare institutions in all 50 U.S. states and the provinces of Canada. The magazine is available in print or as a digital download at www.sCityNetwork.com/bestof. The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sustainable City Network or WoodwardBizMedia. SUBSCRIPTIONS Contact 563.588.4492; info@scitynetwork.com www.sCityNetwork.com
For Leaders in Government, Education & Healthcare
EDITORIAL INFORMATION Contact 563.588.3853; randy@scitynetwork.com ADVERTISING SALES Contact 563.588.3858, kruden@woodwardbizmedia.com
Sustainable City Network magazine is produced by WoodwardBizMedia, a division of Woodward Communications, Inc. GROUP PUBLISHER Karen Ruden PUBLISHER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR Randy Rodgers
Upcoming Online Courses
ASSOCIATE EDITORS Kathy Regan Michael Manning
Moving the Needle: Innovative Climate Solutions in Salt Lake City
BUSINESS MANAGER Kathy Goetzinger CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ted Chapman Julianne Couch Michael Ferguson Chris Fordyce Kurt Forsgren Lisa Schroeer F. Alan Shirk S&P Global Ratings CREATIVE DESIGN Eric Faramus Cover Photo: Ingimage Unless otherwise noted, all images used throughout © 2018 Ingimage, all rights reserved. Sustainable City Network 801 Bluff Street Dubuque, Iowa 52001 Visit Us On The Web sCityNetwork.com Printed on recycled paper
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Free 1-Hour Webinar – April 19, 2018 Join us April 19 for a free 1-hour webinar featuring Salt Lake City’s Sustainability Division Director Debbie Lyons and Sustainability Program Manager Tyler Poulson, who will describe how the city’s approach to sustainability issues has evolved over time and how local leaders are now focused on driving solutions and reducing emissions at scale. The city has a partnership with its investor-owned utility to achieve net-100 percent renewable electricity for the community by 2032 while on its way to an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2040.Learn more at http://sCityNetwork.com/SaltLakeCity
Hazard Mitigation Planning Fundamentals
4-Hour Online Course – May 9 & 10, 2018 Sustainable City Network will host a 4-hour online course May 9 and 10 for anyone responsible for initiatives related to resilience and hazard mitigation planning. Hazard mitigation planning is becoming increasingly important as extreme weather events continue to worsen. Every part of the world is susceptible to experiencing some type of natural or man-made hazard, so it is important to: (1) enact preventative measures that reduce or eliminate risk from hazards and (2) help communities recover more quickly post-disaster. Instructor Kimberly Burton is a professional engineer, certified planner with an advanced specialty in transportation planning, and LEED accredited professional in neighborhood development. Attend live or via on-demand video. Learn more at http://sCityNetwork.com/HazardMitigation
Sustainability in the City of Plano, Texas
Free 1-Hour Webinar – May 17, 2018 Join us May 17 for a free 1-hour webinar featuring Plano Sustainability & Environmental Education Manager Heather Merchant and staff, who will describe how the city used the Star Community Rating System outcomes to identify priorities for sustainability initiatives that also support its comprehensive plan. Learn how the city’s sustainability staff have collaborated with local employers, planners and university personnel to address environmental challenges related to mobility and air quality and implement solutions strengthening the city’s commitment to enhancing health, prosperity and the well-being of its residents and business community. Learn more at http://sCityNetwork.com/Plano
from the editor Welcome to Sustainable City Network Magazine – the Best of sCityNetwork.com! This quarterly magazine is a compilation of the most popular articles on our web site and in our email newsletter, the InBox, which is delivered to more than 40,000 leaders in government, education and healthcare across the U.S. and Canada. Sustainable City Network produces advertiser-supported, non-partisan articles, webinars, trade shows and white papers that provide local institutions with quality, organized and timely information about sustainability projects, plans and best practices. This magazine is another way we fulfill our mission. In this issue, we continue our Leaderboard series by showcasing the Salt Lake City, Utah and its plan to achieve net-100 percent renewable electricity by 2032 while on its way to an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2040. Randy Rodgers Publisher & Executive Editor SUSTAINABLE CITY NETWORK www.sCityNetwork.com 801 Bluff Street Dubuque, IA 52001 563.588.3853 randy@scitynetwork.com
OUR MISSION “To make U.S. cities more sustainable through quality and well-organized information.”
In our cover story, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and her sustainability team discuss their historic agreement with Rocky Mountain Power and a variety of solar projects that are already putting the city on track to reach its aggressive goals. Climate scientists say Salt Lake City is warming at more than twice the national average and dangerous ground-level ozone is regularly exceeding federal standards, which is turning up the heat on local officials committed to solving these serious problems. We’ll host a free 1-hour webinar featuring Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 19. Register to attend live or download the recording at http://sCityNetwork.com/SaltLakeCity. In other top stories: We profile the city of Plano, Texas, which is struggling with the growing pains of a booming economy, which include deteriorating air quality along with mobility and affordable housing issues. Learn the innovative ways city officials are working with employers and other partners to solve these and other sustainability-related challenges. Don’t miss our May 17 webinar featuring Plano Sustainability & Environmental Education Manager Heather Merchant and staff as they show you how they’re getting it done. Register to attend live or on-demand at http://sCityNetwork.com/Plano. Other articles in this issue focus on new online tools that help communities use trees for stormwater management; a look at how California is approaching environmental justice in urban planning; a Wyoming town that is purchasing land to protect its water resources; the sense of urgency at the United Nations now that the U.S. is pulling out of the Paris Accord; and a look at how green bonds are beginning to impact the U.S. municipal bond market. The articles in this magazine have been selected by our readers. We’ve packaged them together in this convenient magazine format, available as a digital download or in print at sCityNetwork.com/Bestof. We hope you find value inside..
Blue Line Transfer, South San Francisco, CA Unison Solutions Inc., based in Dubuque, Iowa is proud to be part of the team at this industrial organic waste processing facility. On site are eight modular, dry anaerobic digesters processing 11,200 tons/year of food scraps and yard trimmings. The facility produces 100 scfm of biogas which is treated with the biogas conditioning equipment designed and built by Unison Solutions. After removing hydrogen sulfide, moisture and siloxanes, the gas is used to fuel CNG waste haulers that bring waste to the facility. Learn more about it at www.unisonsolutions.com [3]
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Salt Lake City
Commits to Zero-Carbon Power Plan City/Utility Pledge to Go 100% Renewable by 2032 BY RANDY RODGERS PUBLISHER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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“...We worked with the utility to help them create a program where residents who can’t put solar on their own property can subscribe to a larger utility-scale solar project”
JACKIE BISKUPSKI is mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah.
VICKI BENNETT is director of Salt Lake City’s Energy & Environmental Division.
DEBBI LYONS is sustainability division director.
Things are heating up in Salt Lake City, Utah. And not in a good way. The city is located in a region of the U.S. that climate scientists say is warming at more than twice the national average. It would be bad enough if the only victim of that problem was the area’s $1.3 billion ski resort industry, but local leaders know the stakes are higher than that, as water reserves decline and air quality reaches dangerous levels. As daunting as these threats appear, Salt Lake City’s municipal government has partnered with its local electric utility to make an historic commitment that could become a model for all communities facing the dire effects of climate change in the years to come. Salt Lake City gets most of its water from snowmelt in the surrounding mountains, and the city’s water reserves are significantly below historical norms. Higher temperatures are also accelerating the production of ground-level ozone, an invisible, odorless gas that can cause permanent damage to the lungs. Last year the city’s air exceeded the federal ozone standard on more than 20 days. City officials are bracing for more of the same. “The climate models show us that we’ll probably get about the same amount of overall precipitation, but it’s going to be coming as rain rather than snow,” said Vicki Bennett, the city’s sustainability department director. That means more of the water runs off in the spring, making less of it available later in the year. She said rising temperatures tend to increase water demand, which only exacerbates the problem.
TYLER POULSON is sustainability program manager.
Last year the Salt Lake County Health Department released a Climate Adaptation Plan for Public Health, which warned of many other health concerns related to the rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns caused by climate change. From the unprecedented harmful algae blooms seen in Utah Lake, to the introduction of new disease vectors and the increasing cases of asthma, allergies, and other respiratory conditions, the report said climate change has the potential to become the leading cause of death and disease in the 21st century. As a result, water availability and air quality have been among the biggest concerns in Salt Lake City and the state of Utah for several years. A statewide poll conducted by Envision Utah in 2014 indicated water was the top concern, followed by education, air quality and healthcare. A 2017 survey by ecoAmerica found that 90 percent of Salt Lake City residents believe clean water is a “critical right,” and 89 percent believe the current generation has “a moral responsibility to create a safe and healthy climate for ourselves and our children.” In that same survey, 82 percent said they believe their community needs to take action now to reduce the pollution that is causing climate change. These and other concerns have been credited with convincing Salt Lake City to become an early adopter and a national leader in sustainability at the local level. Bennett, who joined the city in 2001, said its sustainability department started out as “a division within a department” managing routine things like recycling, energy efficiency and community gardens. [5]
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Photo: Salt Lake City Corp.
SPONSORED BY: CRESCENT ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.
■■ LEED-Gold Fire Station
Salt Lake City’s Fire Station 10 rooftop solar system was installed as part of a larger project that put 756 panels at seven municipal sites across the city. The fire station’s solar system will generate 48 percent of the facility’s electricity needs.
But, as problems related to climate change intensified, it gradually became “the overarching concern of every administration since then. I’ve worked here under three mayors and all of them have had a full understanding of the climate threats that we face,” she said. Current Mayor Jackie Biskupski was a Minnesota transplant with a criminal justice degree who said she came to Utah on a ski trip more than 25 years ago “and never left.” The first openly gay elected official in the state, Biskupski won a seat in the Utah House of Representatives in 1998, where she served for 13 years. After working as a senior policy advisor and manager of special projects in the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department for 15 years, Biskupski was elected mayor of the city in 2015. She is recognized nationally as a champion of climate action, diversity and inclusion in local government. In February, Biskupski attended the Women4Climate conference in Mexico City, where discussion focused on how climate change is disproportionately impacting minorities and women around the world, often because they lack the resources to withstand the effects of natural disasters. Back home, she said, “we are constantly thinking about the impact on the parts of our community where there is already a preexisting vulnerability. We take that very seriously.” Almost as soon as Biskupski took office in 2016, the city’s commitment to sustainability went into overdrive. That year, she and the city council signed a 100 percent renewable electricity resolution that included a commitment to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2040. [6]
“Soon afterward, we announced our partnership with Rocky Mountain Power and a joint commitment to provide 100 percent renewable electricity community-wide by 2032,” said Energy and Climate Program Manager Tyler Poulson. A cost-benefit analysis conducted in the spring of 2017 indicated that while consumers could see modest rate increases in the short term, the move would dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, save water in the energy generation process, and provide economic development benefits related to the construction and operation of renewable energy facilities. Biskupski called the Rocky Mountain Power agreement “unprecedented” and said a clause in the contract allows for renegotiation if specific progress hasn’t been made after five years.
“So, it’s holding them, and us, accountable for doing our parts to make sure we stay on track,” she said. “In the conversations I’ve had with other mayors across the country, they are watching this very closely and are very interested in how you can replicate this kind of agreement in other settings.” Biskupski has been an active member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a bipartisan organization that has strongly opposed the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. She has served as vice chair of the organization’s Alliance for a Sustainable Future, in partnership with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. “Mayor Biskupski was the 16th mayor in the country to commit to 100 percent renewable energy at the time and now there are close to 200,” Poulson said. Sustainability Division Director Debbie Lyons said solar power will play a major role in helping the city reach its 100 percent renewable goal. “We worked with the utility to help them create a program where residents who can’t put solar on their own property can subscribe to a larger utility-scale solar project,” she said. “That rolled out very quickly and demonstrated the public demand for renewable energy. I think that was a very tangible way our residents could show support and dedication to our renewable energy goals,” Lyons said. Rocky Mountain Power’s initial 20mw Subscriber Solar Program is now fully subscribed with more than 2,500 residential and 650 business
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subscribers in 157 communities across the state. Its solar array near Holden, Utah, has more than 81,000 panels and generates more than 48 million kWh of solar energy per year. The wait list for a second solar project is so long that efforts to get it approved are being expedited, according to the utility. As a municipality, Salt Lake City is subscribed to 3mw of the solar array, which locks in electricity generation rates for 20 years, Poulson said. “I think the other really impressive story in Utah is what’s been happening with so called ‘qualifying facilities,’ where a lot of thirdparty solar developers have been able to develop projects totaling over a gigawatt of solar, so that by the end of 2016 Utah was second in the country in terms of per capita solar installed, after Nevada,” he said. Bennett said the city will take a multi-pronged approach to reaching its carbon reduction goals, beginning with a new solar project launched this year that will get the city’s renewable energy portfolio up to 50 percent for municipal operations by 2020. She said the city will also be working with Rocky Mountain Power to champion new legislation that enhances community choice and offers a pathway forward.
In 2017, Salt Lake City installed 28 public EV charging stations and is in the process of installing another dozen this spring. The city currently has more than 130 hybrid vehicles in its fleet and is continuing to add more, Poulson said. In January, it partnered with Utah Clean Energy to produce an Electrified Transportation Roadmap, which outlines 25 strategies local governments can use to develop electrified transportation solutions. The whitepaper includes information on charging infrastructure, EV fleets, electrified transit, education, incentives, outreach and policies, as well as suggestions for providing equitable access to electrified mobility. “We’re looking at what we can do now to accelerate the electrification of transportation at all scales, from passenger class to mass transit, and then to really ramp up our game as it relates to reducing energy waste,” Poulson said. He said electricity generation accounts for about half of the city’s carbon footprint, while transportation makes up another 20 percent. So, he said, with the biggest gains coming from the transition to renewable energy, the city is free to chip away at the rest of the problem in a wide variety of projects and programs.
Poulson said the city’s Climate Positive 2040 plan, released in March 2017, outlines how the city will achieve its emission reduction goals primarily by: 1) Reducing energy waste hrough efficiency and conservation; 2) Transitioning to 100 percent renewable electricity;
“Our utility, to its credit, has committed to invest $10 million over the next five years in electric vehicle charging stations. They’re doing that in the form of rebates to customers who are installing them. Also, last year they were awarded a $4 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to work on a whole array of different tactical community engagement issues and government engagement issues that are clearing the way for more EVs on the road,” Poulson said.
Photo: Salt Lake City Corp.
3) Electrifying everything (especially transportation).
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Subscriber Solar Press Event
Sustainability Director Vicki Bennett, Rocky Mountain Power CEO and President Cindy Crane and Mayor Jackie Biskupski announcing Salt Lake City’s commitment to a three megawatt (MW) subscription of solar energy through Subscriber Solar, a program offered by Rocky Mountain Power. (May 2016)
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Sustainable City Network Magazine
“For a city our size to have so many people dedicated to sustainability, I’m sure we’re one of the top in the country, and I feel very fortunate that we have a mayor and council that are so supportive of our department…. We couldn’t ask for a better political climate at the local level.”
Photo: Salt Lake City Corp.
While Salt Lake City officials expressed some frustration over the lack of action taken by Utah’s predominately Republican legislature, they also expressed hope that things are beginning to change.
■■ Urban Greens Mobile Market
Mayor Jackie Biskupski checks out the Urban Greens Mobile Market, a food program that helps to increase the availability of sustainable and healthy produce in low access areas of Salt Lake City.
Bennett said a lot of the city’s success has been accomplished by focusing on the basics. “Over the last year and a half we’ve passed an ordinance requiring construction waste recycling and another requiring businesses and multifamily units to recycle. We passed a benchmarking and transparency ordinance to require large building owners to benchmark their energy use so they can find energy efficiency options and opportunities.” In recent years, the city has installed solar panels on seven municipal buildings and is in the process of building two new LEED-certified fire station that are also striving to be net-zero energy. A Sustainability 2017 Year in Review report outlines a plethora of other projects and accomplishments recently achieved by department staff. For a community with just under 200,000 people, Salt Lake City’s commitment to sustainability stands out. Bennett said there are a dozen people in her Energy & Environmental Division and the city’s Waste & Recycling Division employs another 60. Despite a conservative state government, sustainability in Salt Lake City enjoys a lot of local support, both inside and outside city government.
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“People in Utah, in general, care about clearing our air, but they also care about what’s happening to the earth,” Biskupski said. “Sometimes that falls on deaf ears in state government, but there are some things happening at the state level that are helping,” she said. On March 20, for example, the legislature passed, and Republican Gov. Gary Herbert signed, an environmental and economic stewardship resolution that, among other things: • recognizes the impacts of a changing climate on Utah citizens; • encourages the use and analysis of sound science to understand the causes and impacts of local and regional climates; • encourages resilient ecosystems that can better adapt to our changing environment; and • encourages the reduction of emissions through incentives and the support of growth in technologies and services that enlarge the economy. So, as things heat up in Utah, there appears to be a growing consensus on both sides of the political spectrum that something can and will be done about it. n Sustainable City Network will host a free 1-hour webinar featuring Salt Lake City, beginning at 11 a.m. Mountain Time on Thursday, April 19. Register or learn more at http://sCityNetwork.com/SaltLakeCity.
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Sustainable City Network Magazine
New Tool Helps Cities Use Trees for Stormwater Management OKI, US Forest Service and Partners Launch Site to Help Decision Makers BY F. ALAN SHIRK
Communities wrestling with critical stormwater management issues have a new tool to help local decision makers throughout the U.S. integrate trees into facility design regulations and policies for new and retro-fitted installations. PHILLIP RODBELL is program leader for the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry’s Northeast Region with offices at Newtown Square, Pa.
TreesAndStormwater.org developed by the Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), the USDA Forest Service and other national partners, was created specifically to help overcome the widespread lack of understanding, acceptance and credibility of using trees for green infrastructure to manage stormwater. The site includes a document builder, hundreds of case studies, videos, methods and best practices, benefit calculators and other tools on how adding trees can boost overall system performance, often at lower costs.
LARRY WISEMAN is an urban forestry consultant for Centerline Strategy in Washington, D.C.
DAVID RUTTER is senior environmental planner for the Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), based in Cincinnati.
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Phillip Rodbell, program leader for the Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry’s Northeast Region with offices at Newtown Square, Pa., said that OKI had been dealing with stormwater issues in a big way throughout its territory and approached the Forest Service in 2015 to fund a website for its members. “OKI wanted to capture lessons learned and share them with national groups,” Rodbell said. “One thing led to another and we all agreed that the site should serve the entire country. A lot of effort
went into it and we received input from many local, regional and national sources.” According to Treesandstormwater.org, traditional “gray” water infrastructure — concrete and metal pipes, holding tanks, pumps and water tunnels — have long supported cities and towns as they grew and developed. “However, as leaders grapple with shrinking budgets and deteriorating local infrastructure, the resilience and multifunctionality of trees and other green sites continues to broaden its appeal as a fiscally responsible investment for the long-term health and vibrancy of an area,” Rodbell said. He noted that stormwater sewer systems are often combined with sanitary sewer lines, which can be quickly overwhelmed by storm runoff and result in combined sewer overflows (CSO), particularly with the increasing intensity of today’s storms due to climate change. “There is a sense of urgency to dealing with this problem. Larger cities are mostly located at the mouths of rivers which are seeing much larger flows from upstream due to more and more impervious development runoff, which inundates infrastructure,” he said. Trees offer numerous benefits, according to the Penn State Extension, including: • Canopy Interception: Working like large umbrellas intercepting and evaporating rainfall, average interception by deciduous trees can range from 700 to 1,000 gallons of rainwater annually; an evergreen can intercept 4,000 gallons. A recent Forest Service study found New York City’s street trees reduced stormwater runoff by 8,980.6 million gallons a year, with a value of $35.6 million in stormwater management costs. The average tree in New York City intercepted 1,432 gallons of rainfall every year. • Infiltration: Trees and forests provide for infiltration into the soil to recharge groundwater. In forest soils, infiltration ranges from 10 to 18 inches an hour depending on soil composition. • Water Consumption: Trees absorb and use tremendous amounts of water for growth and photosynthesis. A single mature oak can transpire more than 40,000 gallons of water every year.
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Photo: TreesAndStormwater.org
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■■ Making a Case for Trees
A new web site, TreesAndStormwater.org, helps decision makers learn about, and make the case for, using trees in stormwater management.
• Pollutant Removal: Trees are very good at using nitrates, phosphates and other nutrients and removing contaminates such as heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, oils and hydrocarbons from water and soil. The process is phytoremediation. One single roadside maple is credited with removing and storing 60 mg of cadmium, 140 mg of chromium, 820 mg of nickel and 5,200 mg of lead in a single season. Philadelphia’s 25-year Green City, Clean Waters program is expected to reduce stormwater pollution entering its waterways by 85 percent.
only did they help the city meet stricter regulations, but the trees also helped enhance the quality of life for citizens. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) under the Clean Water Act is the primary federal vehicle regulating the quality of U.S. water bodies. It was developed initially to reduce pollutants from industrial process wastewater and municipal sewage discharges. Congress brought stormwater control into NPDES in 1987.
• Stream Stabilizers: Riparian forest buffers filter stream sediment during storms, remove nitrogen and phosphorous leached from adjacent lands, stabilize stream banks, shade streams and modify their temperatures, provide aquatic and wildlife habitats and reduce velocity and downstream flooding.
EPA issued Phase 1 Stormwater Rules in 1990, requiring NPDES permits for operators of municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) serving populations of over 100,000 and for runoff associated with industry, including construction sites five acres and larger. In 1999, EPA issued its Phase II Stormwater Rule to expand requirements to small MS4s and construction sites between one and five acres.
Green infrastructure can also help to alleviate increasing regulatory pressure. “Many still misunderstand the full benefit of trees,” Rodbell said. “Most think only about air quality and shade.” He said a study to determine the impact of EPA regulations on Philadelphia determined that the value of trees and green infrastructure was significant. Not
According to the National Research Council, America’s stormwater program “has suffered from poor accountability and uncertain effectiveness at improving the quality of the nation’s waters.” One reason is that EPA estimates the total number of permitees under the stormwater program at any one time exceeds 500,000. For comparison, [ 11 ]
Sustainable City Network Magazine
there are fewer than 100,000 non-stormwater (wastewater) permits covered by the NPDES program. Thus, to manage the large number of permit holders, the stormwater program relies heavily on the use of general permits. The National Research Council also said that although stormwater has been recognized for contributing to water quality impairment for decades, federal regulations to deal with stormwater quality have occurred only within the last 30 years. Thus, regulation is expected to grow, making trees and green infrastructure even more attractive, said Rodbell. The Trees and Stormwater Project was made possible in part by funding from the U.S. Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program. The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC) sets categories for the grants based on the Ten-Year Urban Forestry Action Plan. Other key participants included the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) the Davey Resource Group and Centerline Strategy LLC. Urban Forestry Consultant Larry Wiseman, Centerline Strategy, Washington, D.C.; David Rutter, senior environmental planner for OKI based in Cincinnati; and members of the OKI staff were key architects of the TreesAndStormwater website. Rutter said making the site useful nationwide was a big priority. “We relied on a national advisory committee; we were able to develop a highly detailed resources guide with more than 350 documents,” he said, adding that users can create a password-protected place to gather and store all the information about their individual stormwater programs. “Armed with all of their site data, they can easily put together white papers and other documents to make the case for buy-in of elected officials and decision makers,” he said.
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Rutter said that best management practices include identifying existing trees and what benefits they provide; equating the number of trees with the number of parking spaces in a given development; retaining rather than cutting down trees in a new developments; assuring that trees have enough soil to survive to maturity; working with foresters; and coordinating tree care among all municipal departments. Wiseman is the retired CEO of the American Forest Foundation, steward for the country’s privately owned forests, and he had access to many stakeholders, research and other government agencies. He now develops programs for all aspects of urban forestry policy and practice. Wiseman said his involvement in the project got him “obsessed” with trees as a vital tool in stormwater management. “I think a problem is still that enough people don’t fully appreciate trees, including a lot of community planners who don’t understand the role trees play in public health,” he said. “Using the logical Document Builder, someone can make the case to policy makers that trees are important to stormwater systems and find the tools they need to create a plan that incorporates nature,” Wiseman added. “They can also scour regulations and remove conflicts.” Visitors who register on the TreesAndStormwater.org site take a brief tutorial, provide some basic information about their community, and are then directed to a variety of tools that help them with understanding opportunities, tree planting, stormwater best practices, design specifications, stormwater modeling, funding sources and return on investment. They can choose and save relevant documents from the resources library, which includes data for 138 entities covering 12 regions of North America. n
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The Financial Risks of Climate Change Mother Nature Can Impact a Community’s Credit Rating BY KURT FORSGREN, TED CHAPMAN AND LISA SCHROEER OF S&P GLOBAL RATINGS
The U.S. municipal market has always faced credit exposure to weather-related and natural catastrophes – such as fires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. However, what were previously viewed as one-off implications for creditworthiness – transitory storms, for example – can increasingly be analyzed through the lens of climate change risk. As such, there are possible risks faced by U.S. municipal issuers as a result of a rapidly changing climate. Recent years have seen an uptick in sustainable development. Transport and buildings are not only becoming more energy efficient but also more resilient to the increasingly severe consequences of global warming. This new, sustainable infrastructure is the result of
both greater political ambition to decarbonize and increased funding through debt issuance (private and municipal). However, while advancements are combating climate change, municipal issuers continue to face environmental risk on two fronts: first, from the growing cost of extreme weather events; and second, from more gradual changes to the environment affecting land use, employment, and economic activity that support credit quality. What is climate change risk? By definition, climate change risk is difficult to pin down; as the climate continues to change with global warming, so does the associated set of risks.
■■ Rough Seas Ahead
Municipal bond issuers face environmental risk on two fronts: first, from the growing cost of extreme weather events; and second, from more gradual changes to the environment affecting land use, employment, and economic activity that support credit quality.
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For a start, we can differentiate between natural disaster risk and climate-related risk. Natural disaster risks include naturally occurring phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis and some fires. They can also include climate-related events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms or snowstorms. Data from the American Meteorological Society indicate that extremely violent tornadoes, for example, constitute less than 1 percent of all natural disasters, and have not shown an increase in occurrence in the more than 50 years of that type of record keeping. Yet, regardless of their cause, according to global insurer Swiss Re the financial cost of these natural disasters has increased, and various studies have identified population growth and development in highrisk affected areas as a key factor. While the precise impact of climate change on extreme weather events is still uncertain, different studies are pointing toward an increase in the financial impact of these events. Hurricane Harvey, for example, is the most expensive hurricane on record – costing around 1 percent of America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – with mitigation and adaptation efforts continuing in the form of enhanced drainage and flood infrastructure. Therefore, in the context of U.S. public finance, we see climate-changerelated risks as the near-term exposure to increasingly costly and possibly more frequent extreme weather events – as well as the long-
term accumulation of negative impacts on society from a changing environment. This includes the costs of mitigating and adapting to those changes that can affect the service delivery or physical assets of local governments, state governments, and municipal enterprise infrastructure owners – such as in the case of flood defenses postHurricane Harvey. The impact on municipal credit quality The implications of climate change for municipal credit quality can be broad. Most visible are the direct costs of increasingly expensive extreme weather events. Other implications are longer-term, such as the viability and variability – economic or otherwise – of coastal land use. For instance, rising sea levels can exacerbate coastal flooding and increase high tides, which in turn can reduce the property tax base that many public finance entities rely on. In addition, high and extreme temperatures – as a result of climate change – can have a diverse range of effects. These range from increased electricity loads in many regions to the softening of pavements and roadways, making them more susceptible to wear and tear. In other cases high temperatures can cause or contribute to droughts and desertification. And, all else being equal, warmer weather will have an effect on utilities: those facing peak demand in the winter will have to contend with lower sales, whereas those with
Illustration: ingimage
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summer peaks (driven by greater need for air conditioning) could see an increase in demand, potentially imposing additional capital costs. In U.S. public finance, the effects on credit because of climate change thus far have largely focused on the fallout from natural disasters – and S&P Global Ratings’ research has shown that (with some exceptions) there has been limited impact on municipal ratings. Downgrades have been isolated and less common, even as the affected areas increasingly include large and growing population centers. And – not surprisingly – issuers that have prepared for natural disasters by maintaining healthy liquidity and building resilient infrastructure have seen credit stability. Local governments have received federal disaster relief and insurance as a means for offsetting costs associated with extreme weather events and the probability of many extreme weather events are measured in 1 in 100, 250, 500 or even 1,000 year terms. However, several local governments and municipal enterprises in the New Orleans area and Galveston, Texas, were downgraded following hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike. In these instances, the economic and financial damage from the hurricanes was long-lasting and severe enough to change S&P Global Ratings’ view of many issuers’ mediumterm growth prospects and ability to generate sufficient tax revenues before exhausting external liquidity – as well as affect their long-term viability at their pre-disaster rating levels. As costs of recovering from these events grows and the potential for large-scale federal assistance decreases in the future, local governments and other infrastructure providers may not experience the same rating stability. Municipal mitigation Some municipal issuers – led by the state of California – are recognizing, measuring, and reporting their impact on the environment. While the practice is not yet widespread, we have observed issuers documenting how operations and capital planning are changing in response to global warming. California in particular has undertaken extensive efforts to understand how climate change affects all core functions of government, including energy, land use, emergency management, public health, transportation, water, and agriculture. There has also been growing recognition of these environmental risks by many issuers particularly exposed to coastal flooding and king tides – which now occur not only during extreme weather events, but are increasingly common during regular high tide. Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Virginia and Miami Beach are already under duress; the tiny towns of Isle de Jean Charles, La., and Newtok, Alaska, are already preparing to abandon their waterfront locations and move to higher ground. In Newtok there is particular urgency: the town has lost its port, landfill, and sanitary sewer lagoon and believes the loss of its drinking water supply is imminent.
As awareness of climate risk continues to rise with the tide, some state and local governments are recognizing the value of enhancing infrastructure’s climate-change resilience and adaptability – where adaptation is defined as adjustments to natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change. This is most often associated with raising river or coastal barriers, building higher bridges, and increasing the capacity of storm water systems. As these measures are implemented, S&P Global Ratings continues to monitor the effects on impacted municipal issuers within our credit ratings methodology. Governments’ and municipal enterprises’ planning for these types of risks is embedded in our criteria across all sectors, and we expect this will be more critical for credit quality as the cost of infrastructure adaptation and regulatory compliance increases. Climate in credit ratings The choices that municipal management teams make today could have long-term rating implications. Investment in infrastructure assets exposed to coastal flooding and rising sea levels illustrate this most clearly – where the true value of sustainable development and public investment in resilient infrastructure often only becomes obvious after natural disasters, when the human costs and property damage are tallied. S&P Global Ratings believes that organizations demonstrating current and long-term plans – and reasonable attempts to fund them – will be better prepared for these episodic risks. Preparing for climate change and mitigating the associated risks is one component in our credit analysis and our opinion regarding the adequacy of management’s plan is one of many factors that determine a rating. While the effect of climate change on municipal issuer ratings has been minimal so far, the future now depends on good management, and strong mitigation and adaptation initiatives. In turn, this can protect municipalities and their communities from the worst consequences of climate change where possible – and help their economies to recover effectively in the event of climate-related damage. n■ This article was written for Sustainable City Network by Kurt Forsgren, managing director in the infrastructure practice; Ted Chapman, senior director and sector lead for U.S. municipal utilities; and Lisa Schroeer, senior director and sector leader for U.S. local governments, all with S&P Global Ratings.
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Corporate Giants Help Plano Grow in More Ways Than One Dallas Suburb Recruits Employers to Help with Sustainability BY RANDY RODGERS, PUBLISHER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
In the northeast corner of the DallasFort Worth metro area, Plano, Texas is an economic hub and headquarters to some of America’s biggest companies, including such recognizable brands as Capital One, Toyota, Frito-Lay, Dr. Pepper/Snapple and J.C. Penney.
RACHEL PATTERSON is director of environmental health & sustainability for the city of Plano, Texas.
HEATHER MERCHANT is sustainability & environmental education manager for the city of Plano, Texas.
In 2016, Fannie Mae and JP Morgan Chase announced they would move their regional operations to Plano, bringing a combined 7,000 new jobs. Consistently ranked as one of the best locations in America for job growth, the city is planning to add more than 40,000 in 2018, with total growth estimated at 43 percent in the next decade. But, with new jobs come more people, more traffic and more pollution. Plano’s population has nearly quadrupled since 1980 to 286,000, making it one of Dallas’ largest suburbs. And, because it’s surrounded on all sides by other cities, Plano can no longer expand geographically. To cope with all this growth, the city has made sustainability a priority in recent years.
Benchmarks & Planning In 2015, Plano achieved a four-star rating in the STAR Community Rating System, a national sustainability benchmarking program that rates participating jurisdictions from one to five stars. Heather Merchant, sustainability & environmental education manager, said the city used the system to identify gaps and set priorities for improving health and quality of life in the community. These gaps suggested air quality, energy efficiency and transportation should be the city’s top priorities, which were all incorporated into its comprehensive plan in 2016. [ 16 ]
“Mobility and transportation issues have become a really big focus,” Merchant said, “and that ties in with our desire to work on air quality, greenhouse gas emission reduction and improved transit opportunities.” She said the city has plans to invest in biogas fueling stations and has added electric vehicles to its fleet. While sustainability gets a lot of support locally, Plano Director of Environmental Health & Sustainability, Rachel Patterson, said navigating the winds of Texas politics can be challenging, so developing partnerships, providing education and setting a good example are all important. One thing everyone agrees on, Patterson said, “is that air quality is a big deal here.” She said the city used some of its federal grant funding to purchase air quality monitors that will help it set a baseline and develop goals for improvement. At the same time, plans are under way to update the city’s greenhouse gas inventory, which hasn’t been done since 2007. Transportation Merchant said transportation planners are realizing that conventional methods of dealing with traffic congestion aren’t sustainable in the long run. “They’re adding more lanes on our regional highways and tollways, but we know just adding lanes isn’t the answer,” Merchant said. “So, they’ve formed a transportation management association that a lot of these corporate offices will be part of, and they’ll be working together to figure out what they can do as companies to solve this mobility problem. “They’re looking at staggered work times, having shuttles that pick their workers up at designated parking lots, ride-share programs and contracts with Dallas Area Rapid Transit… so it’s being approached from a lot of different angles,” Merchant said. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) operates a regional bus and light rail network that includes stops in Plano. Merchant said an innovative collaboration between DART and Uber allows transit passengers to use a cell phone app to schedule and pay for trips that include a combination of the transit system and online ride-hailing systems like Uber. This, along with a new bike sharing service and a network of trails and bike routes, is helping solve the “first-mile, last-mile” transit problem, Patterson added.
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Four major expressways come through Plano, and much of that traffic is pass-through or bringing commuters from other places. Affordable Housing
“Plano is essentially built out as far as its housing stock and available land go,” Merchant said. “So, the housing that is available is very competitively priced, which makes it difficult for some people. A lot of the workers that are coming in are settling in surrounding communities.” The city owns 24 three- and four-bedroom single family homes scattered throughout ■■ Plano Community Garden the community and helps more than 900 Corporate volunteers from Toyota help bring in the harvest at the Plano, Texas, Community Garden last fall, three months additional families through a U.S. HUD after Toyota opened its North American Headquarters in the city. voucher program. Patterson said the Plano City Council recently passed resolutions supporting grant applications for at least three new the shelf for residents to come and shop through for free. The paints affordable housing projects in the city. that are still good go into our paint recycling system and come back out as what we call ‘conservation colors’ for residents to take for free,” she Tree Canopy said. The Household Chemical Reuse Center is open several days a week and is staffed by trained Live Green in Plano volunteers. With extreme heat and air quality among the city’s biggest concerns, Plano is focusing on expanding its urban tree canopy. A 2016 study Plano has had a strong construction and demolition recycling program revealed its canopy covers just 21 percent of the city, about half what for more than 10 years, with many projects diverting more than 90 it could potentially achieve. Less than 2 percent of its 1.69 million trees are located on public property. An Urban Forest Master Plan recently developed by the Plano Parks & Recreation Department calls for adding about 600 trees per year to public property during the next 25 years, and a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation is helping add hundreds more to residential properties in the city.
Photo: City of Plano
Housing, especially affordable housing, is also a challenge for the city, which in turn puts more pressure on the transportation system.
In a recent tree distribution project, 360 trees were given away to homeowners in zip codes identified by the forestry master plan as heat islands within the city, Merchant said.
Plano collects residential yard waste and operates a composting facility that produces commercial-grade mulches and soil amendments packaged under the brand Texas Pure Products. Tested and certified by the U.S. Composting Council and rated by the Organic Materials Review Institute for use in organic gardens, Merchant said the popular mulches, compost and soil blends are sold in bulk or in bags at the city’s facility and in retail outlets throughout the area. “We also have a hazardous waste curb-side collection program,” Merchant said. “The things that are still reusable and good are put on
Photo: City of Plano
Composting & Recycling
■■ Plano Environmental Education Center
The Plano (Texas) Environmental Education Center is a LEED Platinum building surrounded by demonstration plots of heat and drought tolerant landscaping and interpretive displays. The interior contains a large classroom used for classes, workshops and outreach events.
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Photo: Wade Griffith
Sustainable City Network Magazine
■■ DART to Dallas
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) operates a regional bus and light rail network that includes stops in Plano. A cell phone app lets riders schedule and pay for trips that include a combination of the transit system and online ride-hailing systems like Uber.
percent of their materials away from the landfill, Patterson said. When new construction or remodel projects of a certain size are granted building permits, commercial builders pay a deposit based on the type and square footage of the project. Remodel projects that divert more than 30 percent, and new construction/demolition projects that divert at least 60 percent, qualify for a full refund of their deposit as long as they use one of 28 city-designated companies to haul the waste for recycling. Education and Outreach The citizens of Plano have strongly supported local sustainability events hosted by the city, which have included a drive-through recycling event, an annual litter cleanup day and a Learn to Live Green expo that once attracted more than 18,000 people. Many of the city’s events take place at its LEED-platinum Environmental Education Center, built in 2010. The center is exclusively used for education – it has no office space – and is surrounded by heat and drought tolerant landscaping and interpretive displays. The city employs five full-time educators and a volunteer coordinator. “No matter what you do, education is so key to behavior change,” Merchant said. “We have some really strong water conservation programs in the city, and because we have a person dedicated to education and outreach in this area, we’ve been really successful in getting a solid base of residents on board. I don’t know that we would be so successful in our whole water conservation effort without having this dedicated staff person who has built so many programs around this topic,” she said.
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Besides hosting live classes and workshops, the outreach team has produced a variety of online learning modules on topics such as green building, water conservation, composting and stormwater management, among others. Corporate Support Patterson said the city’s corporate citizens have also stepped up as strong partners. Plano’s Corporate Sustainability Forum meets every other month, bringing together sustainability officers from some of the city’s largest businesses to share and network with each other. Initially started by the city in January 2017, Patterson said, the corporations themselves are now setting the agenda. “We’re there to support it, of course, but it’s really for them,” Patterson said. “It’s really important to have those corporations involved to understand and support where we’re going as a city. The last meeting we had was at Toyota and we had representatives of 11 or 12 really big companies and it was great to see them networking and learning from each other,” she said. n■ Sustainable City Network will host a free 1-hour webinar featuring the city of Plano, beginning at noon Central Time on Thursday, May 17. Register or learn more at http://sCityNetwork.com/Plano.
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Planning for Environmental Justice California Requires Planners to Protect Disadvantaged Citizens BY JULIANNE COUCH
Environmental Health Coalition, which is dedicated to achieving environmental and social justice by empowering communities. And Michele Hasson is policy director with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, which works on social justice change through the lens of environmental health and justice. These three individuals described the ways SB 1000 is helping them advocate for members of disadvantaged communities (DACs) who might be impacted by development. TIFFANY ENG is Green Zones program manager with the California Environmental Justice Alliance, a California statewide, community-led alliance that works to achieve environmental justice by advancing policy solutions.
CAROLINA MARTÍNEZ is associate director for policy at the Environmental Health Coalition, which is dedicated to achieving environmental and social justice by empowering communities.
MICHELE HASSON is policy director with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, which works on social justice change through the lens of environmental health and justice.
Urban and regional planners customarily focus on developing land use plans and programs to accommodate growing communities, keeping in mind social, economic and environmental realities. Now a law in California shaping how planning is carried out requires another element to be considered: environmental justice. Known as SB 1000, this law offers a policy solution to guide community organizing and legislative processes to implement cutting edge programs. SB 1000 requires development plans to include “a safety element for the protection of the community from unreasonable risks associated with the effects of various geologic hazards, flooding, wildland and urban fires, and climate adaptation and resilience strategies,” according to the legislation. Three land planners working in California shared their experiences in a recent webinar titled “Planning for Environmental Justice and Healthy Communities,” which was hosted by the Planning and the Black Community Division of the American Planning Association; the Planning Webcast Series Consortium; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice. Tiffany Eng is Green Zones program manager with the California Environmental Justice Alliance, a statewide, community-led alliance that works to achieve environmental justice by advancing policy solutions. Carolina Martínez is associate director for policy at the
Eng explained that disadvantaged communities include low income residents, communities of color, indigenous and immigrant communities. In many cases, these communities are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and other hazards that can lead to negative health effects, exposure, or environmental degradation. An important focus of SB 1000 is to “reduce the unique and compounded health risks” often found in disadvantaged communities, Eng said. To address the environmental justice (EJ) element in SB 1000, and similar policies nationally, Eng said planners should focus on reducing pollution exposure and improving air quality, promoting safe and sanitary homes, encouraging development that promotes physical activity, and other actions. In order to bring about positive changes, she said, planners must “promote community engagement in the public decision-making process, and prioritize improvements and programs that address the needs of DACs.” Eng defined “intelligent planning” as something that “creates healthy and vibrant communities while preventing outcomes that can be costly to the community.” Benefits of planning with an EJ element include avoiding lawsuits and conflicts, promoting equity and civil rights and leveraging funding and resources. Eng’s organization developed the SB 1000 Toolkit, which is a method to help planners identify EJ communities. She stressed that community engagement should not be an add on, after decisions have already been made. Rather, engagement should come first in the process. “The core of this law is community engagement. The spirit of the law is more environmental justice planning, not more burden,” she said.
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Photo: Environmental Health Coalition
Sustainable City Network Magazine
■■ Faces of Environmental Justice
Participants in research projects conducted near San Diego, Calif., by the Environmental Health Coalition helped bring attention to environmental justice issues that ultimately resulted in new state legislation requiring development plans to identify, engage with and protect disadvantaged communities from environmental pollution and other hazards.
The planning process includes holding public meetings to help planners and others identify disadvantaged communities, then documenting existing conditions there. Involving and engaging the community is the first step to creating advisory committees, then developing EJ goals, policies and objectives to meet the needs of that community. Eng said the SB 1000 Toolkit helps move planners and communities into increasing phases of community engagement. These include informing, consulting, involving, collaborating and empowering. She said communities should choose the phases that best fit what they’re trying to accomplish. EJ goals, objectives and policies lead to solutions and ultimately, better outcomes. For example, Eng said some people are forced to travel regularly to find goods and services that aren’t available in their neighborhoods. So, developing shopping centers within a neighborhood can reduce trips, and therefore, reduce pollution exposure. Food access can be made more affordable and nutritious through actions such as urban agriculture and local purchasing. Homes can be safer and more sanitary if unhealthy environmental conditions are addressed. Physical activity can be promoted with better access and urban greening. Community engagement can achieve capacity-building if it attends to cultural considerations, language access and broad and balanced participation. [ 20 ]
Eng summed up best practices in EJ planning by quoting Grecia Elenes, a member of the Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability. “South Fresno residents have a harsh reality. They breathe in toxic fumes every day from neighboring industrial plants and diesel truck emissions. They lack basic infrastructure like sidewalks, streetlights, and bike lanes, making it dangerous to walk or bike anywhere. And they lack access to fresh foods making it very difficult to live a healthy lifestyle. By simply being intentional and thoughtful when planning for equitable land uses, low-income families and communities of color can get the opportunity for a better quality of life.”
Carolina Martinez of the Environmental Health Coalition has focused her EJ planning efforts around the city of San Diego. One tool used to identify disadvantaged neighborhoods is CalEnviroScreen 3.0. This is a software tool used to identify and direct resources to communities affected by pollution, based on environmental exposure and population data. Martinez said they use this and other tools to advance and educate policy makers in terms of urgency of needs her community faces. For example, National City, which is in the southern part of the San Diego metropolitan area, has been “historically excluded from resources,” Martinez said. She said land use there had been residential but in the 1970s more industrial uses arose. The city is a port of entry from San Diego Bay, and auto imports and other automotive related businesses have inserted into the area, particularly along Interstate 5. The result has been “heavy industrial use, disregarding the needs of the community,” Martinez said. For example, it is common to see auto body shops adjacent to schools and homes. As a result, nearby residents suffer high asthma rates and other health complications. “There is also the impact of cars taking over the public space along sidewalks, to the point that residents have to walk on streets,” she said.
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Predictably, in March 2014 a chemical explosion and fire at a body shop occurred that might have been much worse had it not happened on a Sunday. There were no workers present, Martinez said, but the hazardous materials presented problems for emergency responders and neighborhood residents. According to Martinez, area residents were concerned about the impacts of these land uses but were not always able to present their concerns to planners or other decision-makers. Language barriers, lack of access, and simply not understanding the complex jargon of land planning kept people at a distance. “The planning world is a foreign world,” she said, “with a language that is confusing for those who are not educated in that field.” To help bridge that gap, EHC launched the Salta Community Leadership Training Program in 2005. Its events featured accessible planning language, professional interpretation, childcare, food, cultural relevance, a safe space to gather, and a fun environment. It was intended to build self-awareness and confidence in participants and “forge genuine relationships that could lead to community building and real solutions,” Martinez explained. The group developed a community survey in which residents ranked their concerns. Land use compatibility was ranked high. The group operated with the guiding principal that land use is similar to how a home is organized. Most houses have a space for entertaining, a space for resting, a space for cooking, and that’s how communities should be organized, she said. Instead, a zoning map of National City illustrated that “land use incompatibility is a big issue — you don’t put a restroom inside a kitchen, but that’s what land owners have been doing for many years in EJ communities. Most people want to keep their homes clean and safe, organized and comfortable,” Martinez said. Ultimately, in 2010 the Westside Specific Plan was approved, showing four priorities: restricting polluters to an industrial zone; creating affordable housing; restricting building heights to three floors, and maintaining a 500-foot buffer between the interstate highway and homes. Martinez said this a good plan but “the language didn’t have a lot of teeth.” There were too many words like “may” and not enough words like “must.” However, this process was what started the conversation that led to SB 1000. “If you plan for EJ with the community, you bring solutions leading to a different reality than the planning world might have thought of before,” she said. “People facing the issues are articulating the solutions.” Michele Hasson, of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, focuses her work on the Inland Valley of Southern California. This area includes communities within western Riverside County and southwestern San Bernardino County and extends to cities in eastern Los Angeles County, in the Pomona Valley and the desert community of Palm Springs. The area has a variety of land uses.
Hasson said the area has numerous EJ health impacts due to “shortsighted land use planning” that come with astronomical costs. For example, during 2005-2007, unhealthy air cost $193 million in hospital admissions and emergency room visits. Annual ozone-related public health costs could soon reach $10 billion. But meeting federal clean air standards could result in significant public health saving, almost $22 billion in the Inland Empire Region, Hasson explained. “Healthy communities have to breathe,” Hasson said. “The way we move around our communities impacts our air.” Hasson said that limited community engagement during the planning process has put the overwhelming majority of polluting practices in the most vulnerable communities in the region. “This inequity is a result of many factors: a history of residential segregation and discriminatory zoning, lower levels of political and economic power and marketdriven land use and economic development patterns that exacerbate the concentration of environmental hazards in disadvantaged communities, while distributing their benefits elsewhere,” Hasson said. There are many instances of the EJ element planning process helping communities to be meaningfully engaged in decision making about land use. Because of increased civic participation and engagement, cities can standardize and establish meaningful community development approaches. Hasson said of the common practice, “We put industry where it needed to go and people happened to live there.” She said the increase in online purchasing has meant an enormous need for storing and moving goods. Now those goods move past homes by truck or rail. “Market driven land use planning put vulnerable people at risk.” Hasson described a community where homes were so close to industry that there was a high rate of cancer and asthma. In the community of Mira Loma Village, Hasson said, there were roughly 100 homes surrounded by warehouses and about 800 freights a day moved through the community. “People thought it was just the way it was” and they’d have to accept it, Hasson said. Then community engagement led to educating community leaders about the issue and giving people a path to work toward a shared goal. Now, the community has a restricted truck route and increased safety. Hasson said a plan is a “living document” that can be referred to the next time development is happening in a given area. “This really helps residents engage with the planners and developers next time.” Further, an EJ element helps a community understand what a planning process looks like and what to look out for. “When they get a notice about something in the mail it might have been thrown away, but after the EJ process they know what matters and they can decipher notices.” In the end, Hasson said, planners should ask themselves whether or not they have created something acceptable to the residents of the area, and make adjustments from there. n
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Sustainable City Network Magazine
COP23: Two Degrees, With Separation Sense of Urgency Increases at UN Climate Change Meeting BY CHRIS FORDYCE, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS
Overall though, the Bonn conference, which was the 23rd UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, saw the parties rolling up their sleeves and digging into the important details and technicalities of implementing the Paris Agreement.
After a year of multiple extreme weather events around the world, some delegations expressed their growing sense of urgency for action, particularly the small island states and developing countries looking to focus more attention on climate change adaptation.
Where Will The Money Come From?
Chart: S&P Global Ratings
In contrast to the euphoric Paris conference of 2015, where 195 countries agreed to limit global warming below two degrees Celsius, the 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany was a more subdued event.
A key question for negotiators was how to convert political ambition into concrete actions, and in turn how to finance these. We’ve previously highlighted the gap between the political ambitions expressed in the Paris Agreement and the financings committed to support these ambitions. Our research found that 60 countries have so far disclosed a financing plan to achieve reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions (known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs), out of the 170 countries that ratified the agreement. We also found that the $5.3 trillion cost estimated by these 60 countries is unlikely to be met from public-sector funding sources. It’s no surprise then that climate negotiations have increasingly focused on how to mobilize private sector and multilateral finance, as countries start putting in place their NDCs. The decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the agreement, which leaves a $2 billion gap in the financing of the Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism under the UNFCCC that helps fund investment in low-emission, climateresilient development, gave further impetus to tackling this question.
■■ U.S. Climate Alliance
The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bi-partisan coalition of 14 states and Puerto Rico committed to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The alliance represents 36 percent of the U.S. population, $7 trillion in GDP and 1.3 million clean energy jobs.
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The mobilization of private finance to transition to a low carbon economy differs in scale and speed between sectors. Overall, we have seen private financing emerge to support new business opportunities in mitigating the carbon impact of traditional sectors
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Chart: S&P Global Ratings
which is partly due to their lower creditworthiness. Still, these countries need significant investment to switch to a more sustainable development path from a carbon intensive one. Recent extreme weather events have shown just how vulnerable these countries are, particularly if the frequency and intensity of these events increases through climate change, and the severity of the impact. For example, Hurricane Harvey is expected to cost the U.S. around 1 percent of its GDP, whereas the damage caused by Hurricane Irma is likely to cost some Caribbean Islands more than their annual GDP, according to reports. Globally, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates additional adaptation costs will be between $140 billion to $300 billion by 2030, and $280 billion to $500 billion by 2050. In other words, financing for adaptation in 2030 would need to increase by approximately 6 to 13 times ■■ Where Will the Money Come From? over the international public finance Sixty countries have so far disclosed a financing plan to achieve reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions out of the 170 countries that ratified the agreement. This chart shows that the $5.3 trillion cost estimated by these 60 countries is unlikely to available today to fill the gap according be met from public-sector funding sources. to UNEP. We expect that a significant amount of this will need to be directed to the most vulnerable countries with such as the energy and construction industries. In the energy sector, the least developed economies. Ensuring they can develop sustainably, the private sector is contributing to the deployment of renewable while increasing their resilience to climate change will also be capacity at a rapid pace, as shown by the $173 billion in outstanding necessary to achieve a “just transition,” supporting economies and green bonds in the green energy sector in 2017 (figure from the communities in the move to low carbon economy. Climate Bond Initiative). However, private financing still remains scarce in sectors with relatively high risks and limited opportunities for returns. For example, we have found that investments in energy efficiency projects have been historically limited by the small-scale and diversified nature of transactions as well as the long payback periods. The lack of private funding is even more acute in adaptation projects that aim to strengthen the resilience of buildings, infrastructure, and communities against the effects of climate change. Supporting A “Just Transition” Through Blended Finance How fast and at what scale private finance is being mobilized to fund the transition to a low carbon economy also differs across regions. One of the key challenges facing countries that are most exposed to the physical impacts of climate change – typically emerging and developing economies – is their limited access to financial markets,
Participants also identified blended finance as a potentially powerful instrument in achieving a “just transition.” Blended finance refers to the provision of both public and private funding from a range of different sources, including sovereign, development, and multilateral lenders as well as private entities. It relies on financing structures where public entities provide hedging and credit enhancement mechanisms to reduce risks for private-sector funders. In parallel, the private sector can bring liquidity and sizing through standardization and securitization. In October 2017, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated the number of new blended finance facilities created between 2000 and 2016 to be 167, representing $31 billion in financing commitments. We expect the deployment of blended financing solutions to play an increasing role in climate financing.
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Sustainable City Network Magazine
America’s Pledge: We’re Still In
Chart: S&P Global Ratings
Another key question at COP23 was the stance of the U.S., both officially and unofficially. This was the first COP since President Trump announced his intention to pull out of the Paris Agreement. The conference revealed the deep divisions among the U.S. participants at the conference on the solutions to fight climate change. On one side, the official U.S. delegation promoted investments in efficient fossil fuel technologies. On the other, a coalition of U.S. states, cities, and businesses showcased its transition away from fossil fuels and its continuing commitment to the Paris Agreement through the U.S. Climate Action Center. Among the speakers, the Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe noted how the growing number of businesses making commitments to use 100 percent renewable energy was becoming a critical factor in the state’s competitiveness.
■■ Blended Financing
Blended finance refers to the provision of both public and private funding from a range of different sources, including sovereign, development, and multilateral lenders as well as private entities. It relies on financing structures where public entities provide hedging and credit enhancement mechanisms to reduce risks for private-sector funders.
This split within the U.S. between the supporters and detractors of the Paris Agreement illustrates the fierce debate around the disruptive potential of new low-carbon technologies.
While some predict that the transition to a low-carbon economy will be mostly based on improving existing technologies, others argue that the transition may result in unprecedented changes in companies’ business models and operating environment, especially in the energy industry. This was the argument presented by the Carbon Tracker Initiative in their recently published “No Country For Coal Gen” report, which estimated that up to $104 billion in assets in the U.S. coal power generation sector would be stranded by 2035 under a twodegree scenario. Coal continued to be a hot topic at COP23. In stark contrast to the U.S. stance, the U.K. and Canada led the creation of the Powering Past Coal Alliance with the objective of phasing out of coal power generation by 2025. This was met with enthusiasm from the parties and NGOs alike, with France announcing that it will aim to close all of its coal plants by 2021.
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Looking Ahead To Katowice COP23 demonstrated that countries remain committed to the targets set in the Paris Agreement despite the current U.S. administration’s intention to withdraw. Efforts are now focusing on the concrete implementation of the Paris Agreement – the so-called rulebook – through blended finance, further negotiations to ratchet up targets, and a greater focus on adaptation, especially for the most vulnerable communities. The review of progress on these measures at this year’s conference in Katowice, Poland, will show whether these efforts have been ambitious enough. n ■
Beth Burks contributed to this article.
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Restoring a Lost Corridor County, City and Citizens Plan to Make Private Lands Public BY JULIANNE COUCH
Chris Rothfuss, a Wyoming state senator and adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, is chairman of the oversight committee created by the Albany County Commissioners to manage the land purchase project. He said the community had been concerned for many years about protecting the aquifer from development that could harm the water supply. “This is a clean water supply that would be easy to ruin,” Rothfuss said. CHRIS ROTHFUSS is a Wyoming state senator and adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
MELANIE ARNETT, data coordinator with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, is project coordinator for the Pilot Hill Land Purchase.
PEGGY GRIBBLE MCCRACKIN is a long-time resident of Laramie, Wyo., and supporter of the Pilot Hill project.
There is only one obstacle standing between the college town of Laramie, Wyo., and the year-round recreational opportunities of the Medicine Bow National Forest just to the east.
For many years, the agricultural land that separated the town of Laramie from the public lands of the national forest were heavily used by locals for nonmotorized recreation. Although the land was known to be private, the owners allowed people to enter the unfenced acreage to walk dogs, hike, snow-shoe, run or bike across well-worn trails or gravel roads leading into the forest through an area known as Pole Mountain. But after a time, the landowners became concerned about overuse and other issues.
That obstacle is a spread of 5,528 acres of privately owned land, sloping uphill from the edge of Laramie to what is known as Pilot Hill, which also happens to stand atop a portion of the Casper Aquifer, the main water supply for Laramie and the surrounding area.
Seemingly overnight, areas that were private but unfenced were suddenly fenced and marked with No Trespassing signs. Laramie residents could only access the forest by driving 15 miles up Interstate 80, shoulder-to-shoulder with semi-tractor trailers and other traffic.
Now the city of Laramie, and Albany County, where the town is located, are putting together a deal to purchase this private agricultural grazing land, clear up to the national forest border. Not to develop it for housing or an industrial park, but rather to protect its natural beauty and preserve its environmental and recreational benefits for generations to come.
Rothfuss said once that change occurred, the community became “very interested” in restoring their former access, for reasons that went beyond recreation and preserving the view. It turns out, the beautiful undeveloped foothills covered with sage grass and forest are critical habitat for wildlife. The mule deer, elk, antelope, song birds, raptors and other creatures who live in the Medicine Bow National Forest are undeterred by boundary markers, fences and No Trespassing signs. Wildlife can readily be found on the private property acreage between the national forest and the city in the Pilot Hill area and beyond.
The Pilot Hill Purchase Plan has many proposed benefits, with one of the most important being protection of the underground geological formations that store water and replenish the aquifer. The Casper Aquifer provides about 60 percent of the city’s drinking water and 100 percent of the water going to homes within the aquifer’s recharge area. In 2002, the city developed a plan to protect the aquifer from development that might allow contaminants to seep through the shallow soil and into the community’s drinking water. But as the city’s growth seems to be strongest along the east side of town, more houses can be seen dotting the landscape on the flanks of Pilot Hill.
When county commissioners surveyed residents, a large majority said they favored the purchase to protect the land against urban sprawl and ensure direct public access to the national forest, not just for their own quality of life, but for the economic boost that recreational tourism brings. Visitors come from around the region for rock climbing or cross-country skiing along 30 miles of groomed trails, or tent camping in the primitive sites of Medicine Bow. Many of these visitors also spend time and money in Laramie. [ 25 ]
Sustainable City Network Magazine
Rothfuss said that in 2017, the landowner offered to sell the property to the county for $14 million, but with the stipulation that the land would not be developed and could only to be used for recreation. Those conditions perfectly suited what most local residents wanted. The question was, how could the money be raised. The landowner gave the county commission one year to raise the funds but after that, he could take his offer elsewhere. The county commissioners entered into an agreement with the seller, and then appointed an oversight committee to tackle this question from various angles. In addition to Rothfuss, other members include the director of the Laramie Rivers Conservation District, an Albany County commission member, a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, a University of Wyoming trustee, a retired Wyoming Supreme Court justice, and a Laramie City Council member... all individuals with a track record of getting things done. In addition, the oversight committee created subcommittees around economic development, land management, finance and communications. Each of these committees has eight to 15 members. “We are in the early stages of identifying large pieces of the financial puzzle, such as large donors and grants,” Rothfuss said. “There might have to be some funding approved by the voters,” he added. Private contributions are being gathered by the Wyoming Community Foundation. The various subcommittees have the support of Melanie Arnett, data coordinator with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database, who has come on board as project coordinator. She expressed confidence that local citizens are fully behind the project. “The overwhelming support for this purchase, as evidenced by the survey of residents performed by the county when the opportunity was first announced, offers a unique opportunity for many diverse people to unite, find common ground… and build non-partisan community bonds,” Arnett said Rothfuss said he used to explore the trails himself before they became off limits to the public. “I’m looking forward to being out there again and my kids will certainly take advantage of it,” he said. He added that proximity to public space can shape the future of a community in positive ways. “This is so important for evolution of the community. There’s nothing better to serve people of this city, to keep the land not just open, but public. Now when we sit in War Memorial Stadium to watch the Wyoming Cowboys play, we know we’ll always have that open view from the stands of that beautiful hill, instead of a housing development.” Peggy Gribble McCrackin has a story that is typical of many in this outdoors-loving community. She has lived in Laramie since 1978, with the exception of two years spent with the Peace Corps. She described herself as “absolutely thrilled” about the Pilot Hill Land Purchase project. For many years McCrackin was a regular on this terrain. [ 26 ]
“Mountain bikers and runners were able to jump on their bikes or lace up their shoes in town and head up the hill. I remember many beautiful rides and runs through Cactus Canyon up to Pilot Hill and on to Pole Mountain,” she said. But then the fences and signs went up. “I felt a huge sense of loss without access to the trails, land, and vistas that brought me so much pleasure,” McCrackin said. She still uses the public trails on forest lands, but has to get in her car and drive up the interstate to get to an access point, bypassing Pilot Hill. In winter, which at 8,800 feet can last nine months, frequent blizzards close the interstate and make travel dangerous. Being able to access those lands by simply strapping on skis or snowshoes at the edge of town and staying out of the way of motor vehicle traffic makes much more sense. As McCrackin said, “Even though I do it, the irony of driving in order to ride or run is not lost on me.” McCrackin said not everyone honored the No Trespassing signs, and simply went around the fences. But she decided that for her, trespassing on private land was not the answer. Instead, she volunteered on the Laramie Parks and Recreation advisory committee and the Parks and Recreation Master Plan Ad-Hoc committee. “I did everything I could think of to advocate for finding a way to provide public access to this lost corridor.” McCrackin has noticed some “chipping away” of the Casper Aquifer Protection plan through the years but thinks the Pilot Hill Land Purchase project has a good chance of effectively protecting the water supply. “It is a win-win for both protecting our community’s water and for improving the quality of life through opening up a recreation corridor that connects town with the national forest. It could also prove to be an economic development tool, attracting more business, college students and faculty who are looking for a community with easily accessible outstanding recreation opportunities.” McCrackin will likely have to face another spring and summer of driving up the interstate to reach her trails, but if Rothfuss is correct, the end of that inconvenience is in sight, maybe even in time for next winter’s ski season. That’s because access to the trails could once again be at the edge of town, possibly with an “official” trailhead parking lot and informational kiosks. “I am so stoked for this to happen,” McCrackin said. “I have chipped in a financial contribution and I hope others will, too.” Rothfuss is “very confident” the sale will go through. “This is an incredibly supportive community that understands the value of this deal, from an economic development standpoint,” he said. “This is exactly the type of lifestyle asset to attract tech companies and bring about innovative diversification that will bring people back here or retain them. The upside, over the long term, is tremendous.” n
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Green Shoots in the U.S. Bond Market – But Still a Sapling U.S. Cities Lead Sharp Increase in Issuing Green Bonds BY MICHAEL FERGUSON, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS
MICHAEL FERGUSON is Director of Infrastructure at S&P Global Ratings.
As market interest continues to mount in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and water conservation measures, U.S. cities and states are witnessing substantial reductions in their environmental footprints, as well as an ongoing mass transformation of the generating grid.
change, both by cutting down on their own greenhouse gas emissions with the use of cleaner generation and by developing those industries that support mitigation efforts elsewhere (including battery storage technology, offshore wind, and energy efficiency technology). Politically, this offers benefits, too: aside from reducing emissions, this can be a major job creator for savvy states. Even states long dominated by fossil fuel industries, such as Texas, have seen considerable growth in their wind and solar industries.
In order to finance this green transition, many municipalities across the country are taking advantage of the green bond as a form of financing.
However, cities in these states require a means of financing new, green projects. And they must do so at a time when municipal budgets are already straining to cover the high costs of maintaining, repairing and replacing the country’s aging infrastructure.
While significant progress has been made in the U.S. green bond market, the country’s share of global issuance remained relatively small through the end of 2017 – and the lack of near-term clarity on regulatory policy may offer a possible explanation. That said, favorable trends could signal further growth in the long term. State Support In recent years, environmental and climate change news has been dominated by developments at the federal level – where regularity policy has been uncertain and marked by political partisanship in the U.S. But at the state and municipal levels, more cohesive policies have coalesced, and the green energy transition continues to make headway. Individual states have been implementing Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) – a legally binding policy that requires utilities to procure or generate a specified percentage or amount of renewable electricity, from wind, solar, biomass or geothermal sources. Since Iowa led the way in 1983, 29 states have now passed an RPS. Hawaii and Vermont have the highest standards, with 100 percent and 75 percent respectively of utility-sold energy necessarily being renewable; even several states without binding standards have established formal goals for renewable installations. Other progressive states – Massachusetts, California and New York, in particular – have sought to forge ahead in mitigating climate
Municipal Green Issuers This is where green bonds enter the picture. These debt instruments, constructed precisely to bring capital to sustainable projects – whether that is renewable power, battery storage or climate change adaptation projects – can provide an alternative means for cities to invest in the infrastructure they need to remain economically competitive in a manner that is both environmentally and ecologically sound. Not only can green bonds help municipal debt issuers to obtain crucial funds, they also afford municipalities an opportunity to show their “green” credentials. In an environment where “being seen to be green” increasingly matters – and where competition for attracting large-scale, institutional capital is becoming progressively fierce – this may be a differentiating factor for some investors. This is especially the case for long term, investment grade financings, for which investors may require some protection from climate risk. A green financing can, therefore, provide some validation. Even for those municipalities without an immediate, acute focus on climate change, green bonds are seen as a viable financing option. Because green bond investors are spread around the world but the primary beneficiaries of green financings are more concentrated by region (or even by country), some municipalities could appeal to a broader base of investors by issuing green bonds. What’s more, issuers and investors alike could stand to benefit from certain municipal bond tax-exemptions. [ 27 ]
Sustainable City Network Magazine
In this respect, cities have been well-represented in America’s green bond market. In the first half of 2017, U.S. municipalities accounted for both 70 percent of U.S. bonds issued and a majority of the global 101 green bonds issued worldwide by municipalities, cities and states. New York City, for instance, has committed to an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by the middle of the century, and has recently issued green-labeled debt to fund large-scale infrastructure projects that will be necessary to meet this target. And with California’s State Treasury Department having identified a $359 billion funding gap in public infrastructure over the next decade, we will likely also see California’s cities using green bonds (or alternative green financing tools) as essential means of closing it. The municipal experience with green bonds has already been a promising one. In the first half of 2017 alone, American municipalities had together issued some $18 billion worth of green bonds. This number represents a sharp increase on previous years, and essentially matched the amount issued by US-based companies in the same period. The final 2017 tally is anticipated to be even higher.
America’s Market Position In the grand scheme of things, however, the U.S. still boasts only a relatively small share of the global green bond market. Lacking a cohesive set of principles for carbon mitigation and adaption – itself a casualty of the political partisanship belying scientific consensus on climate change at the federal level – America’s stake in the global green bond market is still dwarfed by those of Europe and China. Thanks to a transparent and enduring carbon reduction framework, Europe enjoys the longest history of a deep green bond market, while China has seen green issuance skyrocket in recent years, with expectations that it will continue to increase sharply as it did in 2017. Domestically, meanwhile, green-labeled bonds are still far outweighed by the wider universe of American debt issuance. It is important to note, however, that a less developed U.S. green bond market to date is not necessarily indicative of diminished interest in sustainable investments. While the renewable energy market in the U.S. may have grown at a slower rate than in other economically comparable countries, it has still done so dramatically – even amid continued discord over climate change and renewable tax credits.
In years to come, the U.S. green bond market is expected to flourish. Much of the country’s new energy generation capacity brought online over the next four years is expected to be renewable.
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Illustration: Ingimage
■■ Bright Idea
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Chart: S&P Global Ratings
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■■ Bond Market Share that is Green
This chart illustrates the impact of state renewable energy portfolio targets on municipal green issuance.
In years to come, the U.S. green bond market is expected to flourish. Much of the country’s new energy generation capacity brought online over the next four years is expected to be renewable. And, despite the federal rollback of environmental policy, since 2016 there has been a groundswell of support for more proactiveness on carbon mitigation from cities and states. As the chart above shows, in fact, renewablefavorable regulation from state-level authorities makes a noticeable difference when it comes to growing the municipal green bond market.
While the U.S. green bond market has come a long way in a short time, it is still playing catch up with Europe and China. And with the impetus behind the American energy transition coming not from the federal level, but from the local level, it may be falling to municipal issuers to establish green leadership. n■
So, with a stricter federal policy on climate change unlikely to materialize any time soon, it will be down to states, cities and corporations to drive future green bond growth – with much of the investment for green projects coming from investor-owned and public utilities to meet new standards. [ 29 ]
Hazard Mitigation Planning Fundamentals Webinar Series
4 Hour Online Course - May 9 & 10. 2018 Instructor Kimberly Burton, P.E., AICP CTP, LEED AP ND President of Burton Planning Services & Associate Professor of Practice at The Ohio State University in City & Regional Planning
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