Transcript Slide 1

Local Government Sustainability Policies
and Programs
Tad McGalliard, Director of Sustainability
International City/County
Management Association (ICMA)
ICMA Organizational Overview
• Professional association for chief administrative
officers and other local government managers
• Research, publications, technical assistance,
professional development services
• International and Domestic
• Center for Sustainable Communities
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Center for Sustainable Communities
Current Projects
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Solar America Communities Partnership—
Objectives and Expected Outcomes
• Five year partnership between U.S. DOE’s Solar
America Communities program and teams led
by ICMA and others
• Overarching goal—increase the amount of solar
PV installed capacity in the United States
• National workshops and dealmaking events
• Communication and outreach to local
government, community and business
stakeholders
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Local Governments and
Sustainability Survey
• National survey (summer 2010) of 8,569 local
governments with populations over 2,500
• 25% response rate with 2,176 local governments
responding
• 100+ questions in 12 major categories
– Policy actions, recognition programs, water, recycling
& solid waste management, energy, transportation,
buildings and land use, social inclusion, and other
actions (local products and food, procurement, public
land for public benefits, etc)
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Local Governments and
Sustainability Survey
• The survey was developed with the input of ICMA’s
Center for Sustainable Communities, the Center for
Urban Innovation, Arizona State University’s Global
Institute of Sustainability (ASU GIOS), the Alliance for
Innovation, and others. Survey distribution was
conducted through a collaboration of ICMA, ASU GIOS
and the Sustainable Cities Network, a multi-jurisdictional
partnership.
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Local Governments and
Sustainability Survey
• Strong indicators that sustainability is a
priority in many place with some
interesting variability
• The economy and financial matters
dominate concerns of local government
CEOs
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Local Governments and
Sustainability Survey
• Traditional local government programs continue to be
implemented
– Recycling of some type reported in a majority of
communities
– Increasing number of energy audits of government
owned buildings
– Procurement of fuel efficient or alternative fuel fleet
vehicles
– Complete streets and active living (bike lanes,
sidewalks, walking trails)
– Urban agriculture including farmers markets and
community gardens
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Loacl Governments and
Sustainability Survey
• Other areas not as widely implemented
– Teleworking and altered work schedules
– Alternative energy generation
– Use of grey water and/or reclaimed water
– Few programs to encourage eco-friendly
development
– Few incentive or regulatory programs for
“sustainable” construction
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Findings-Energy and Environment
• Most local governments consider the
environment and energy conservation key
priorities: A full 70% of respondents called
“energy conservation” a “priority” (46%) or a
“high priority” (24%). Similarly, nearly two-thirds
of local government respondents (62%), consider
the “environment” a priority, including 21% of
respondents calling it a “high priority.”
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Findings-Sustainability Planning
•
While governments are conscious of the need for
sustainability however specific plans are slower to take
hold: When asked what specific planning actions related
to sustainability and energy conservation they had taken,
only 29% had adopted a resolution outlining specific
policy goals – and that was the most popular response.
Additionally, most localities had yet to assign dedicated
staff to sustainability efforts (27% had), establish specific
benchmarks related to sustainability(19%), established or
appointed a task force (28%), or provided a budget
specifically for their efforts (16%).
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Findings-Climate Change
•
Actions to limit greenhouse gases are not
widespread – except for tree planting: While a
full 45% of localities have a plan for tree
preservation and planting, only 14% had
established greenhouse gas limits for the local
government, less than 10% for the communityat-large, and only about 3% for local businesses.
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Findings-Energy Conservation
•
Localities show progress embracing energy
conservation actions in and out of government: A strong
majority (63%) of localities had conducted energy audits
of government buildings, and 56% had upgraded or
retrofitted office lighting, and 44% had increased the
purchase of fuel efficient government
vehicles. Meanwhile, few localities reported the
establishment of public/private partnerships to establish
energy reduction measures in local small businesses –
only 6% reported doing so.
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Findings-Water
•
Actions to improve and protect water are more
advanced, but still not widespread: 34% of localities had
taken actions to conserve the quantity of water from
aquifers, 33% had adopted a water price structure to
encourage conservation, 30% had set limits on
impervious surfaces on private property, and 28% had
provided other incentives to encourage local water
conservation behavior.
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Findings-Green Building
• Approximately one-in-ten localities require
LEED or Energy Star certification for all
new government construction. Close to 8%
require LEED or Energy Start certification
for all retrofit government projects.
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Some Additional Findings
• Most local governments seem to be in the early stages of
addressing “the issue of our age”
• Most communities surveyed reported some actions but the
number and range is limited
• About one in six are setting the pace with extensive activities
• City and country governments seem to be at the same level of
adoption on average, although emphasis based on
responsibilities are slightly different
• The larger the population the more that a local government
seems to do
• Cities and counties that use council-manager form of
government tend to be more active
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More Findings
• Sustainability initiatives should be targeted
to community needs first and foremost
• Goal setting and performance
measurement are important for all
communities
• Policy priorities matter-what’s important to
some communities may not be as much of
an issue in others.
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Current Data and Forthcoming
Reports
• Detailed data sets available for purchase at
bookstore.icma.org
• Summary data available at icma.org/sustainabilitysurvey
• Two research articles both authored by Jim Svaara,
Arizona State University
– The Early Stage of Local Government Action to
Promote Sustainability (MYB 2011)
– Breaking New Ground: Promoting Environmental and
Energy Programs in Local Government (May 2011)
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Breaking New Ground
• Sponsored by IBM
Center for the Business
of Government
• PDF Available at
icma.org/sustainability
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Upcoming Research--HUD
• Follow up research on community and
social indicators of local government
policies and programs
• One of 6 HUD funded research programs
• Partnering with Arizona State University
and the Alliance for Innovation
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Upcoming Research--Solar
• First national
survey on local
government
policies and
programs related
to solar PV
• Initial information
available in
November 2011
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Tad McGalliard, Director of Sustainability
ICMA
www.icma.org
202.962.3563 (office)
443.223.7851 (cell)
[email protected](email)
tad.mcgalliard (skype)
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