Local Government Climate Planning
Since 2008, StopWaste has assisted local governments in Alameda County with their climate action planning.
For more information about StopWaste's work on local government climate planning efforts, download this brief report.
Visit StopWaste.org/Climate for more on the materials-climate nexus.
Consumption-Based Emissions
Most recently, StopWaste has assisted local governments to understand and incorporate a "consumption-based emissions inventory" into their climate action planning. A consumption-based emissions inventory (CBEI) attributes all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the end user, typically households. This better reflects the full range of impacts and GHG reduction opportunities for residents within a community.
StopWaste created a brief explanation, template narrative and sample measures:
- Guidance for local government staff (PDF)
- Sample CBEI narrative for CAPs (PDF)
- Sample CBEI reduction strategies (PDF)
Additional resources to explore:
- Explore the Cool Climate Network for research and tools: coolclimate.berkeley.edu
- Visit Cool Climate Network and explore the Bay Area inventory project and download the spreadsheet to pull your jurisdiction’s CBEI results: coolclimate.berkeley.edu/inventory
- Instructions for how to include CBEI emissions and reduction strategies to ClearPath (coming soon)
- The West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum’s Climate Action Toolkit including case studies of CAPs that include materials management and upstream emissions: westcoastclimateforum.com/toolkit/homepage
- Webinar of the West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum on CBEI: westcoastclimateforum.com/resources/webinars (October 2018)
Embodied Carbon in Buildings
Within the built environment, significant emissions occur globally to product the materials that are used in construction. StopWaste works with networks such as the Embodied Carbon Network to advance policy options for local governments that decide to address embodied carbon.
- Download two-page summary of a 2018 conference session moderated by StopWaste staff: Carbon Smart Building Day Embodied Carbon Policies (pdf)
- Watch recordings from BayREN's Energy and Material Efficiency in Carbon Smart Buildings forum (11/27/2018): bayrencodes.org/events
Healthy Soils and Climate Change Mitigation
Healthy soils have come to the forefront in the last few years as a means to address climate mitigation and adaptation. The Climate Change Adaptation Measures report from StopWaste proposes nearly 50 measures addressing how soils, compost, and mulch can be incorporated into climate adaptation plans.
Climate Action Planning History
Below is a brief timeline of StopWaste's work on climate action planning since 2008.
Climate Action Planning Milestones: 2008-2018 | |
---|---|
2017-present |
Assisting member agencies with developing post-2020 Climate Action Plans (CAPs) by convening discussion on best practices, lessons learned and emerging ideas. |
2016-2017 |
Assisted eight member agencies with developing climate change adaptation (preparing for climate change impacts) chapters to include in future CAPs, general plans or local hazard mitigation plans (LHMPs). |
2015-2016 |
Introduced Consumption Based Emissions Inventories to member agencies. Developed a template for including a UC Berkeley study commissioned by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) into member agency greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and CAPs. |
2014 |
Provided member agencies with training on ICLEI ClearPath, a software platform for completing GHG inventories, forecasts and CAPs. |
2012 |
Conducted GHG emissions inventories for the year 2010, with funding from PG&E. |
2010 |
Supported Build It Green in developing the GreenPoint Rated Climate Calculator to estimate the GHG impacts of green buildings, with funding from California Air Resources Board. |
2008 |
Through the Alameda County Climate Action Protection Project, assisted member agencies with baseline GHG emissions inventories and CAP templates, with funding from BAAQMD. |