Just announced this morning, there will be a joint City Council committee hearing for 10:00 am Tuesday May 12, 2020, which has on its agenda, Resolution No. 200005 for Updating the City’s Climate Protection Plan. This resolution seeks to Update the City’s Climate Protection Plan to include new greenhouse gas reduction goals, resiliency, and equity and incorporate into City policy and operations; and direct the City Manager to submit the new Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan to Council by March 31, 2021. There are video links available to this hearing where the public will not be able to attend in person. Most importantly, there are links for submitting individual comments. The posting of the agenda for this joint City Council committee hearing has a link to a version of 200005 that will be substituted with the following language:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR RESOLUTION NO. 200005
Updating the City’s Climate Protection Plan to include new greenhouse gas reduction goals, resiliency, and equity and incorporating into City policy and operations; and directing the City Manager to submit the new Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan to Council by March 31, 2021.
WHEREAS, the City Council by Resolution No. 080754 on July 24, 2008, adopted goals that called for a thirty percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations and a thirty percent reduction citywide by 2020 from 2000 levels; and
WHEREAS, the City in its municipal operations has not only met those climate goals but exceeded them, by achieving a forty percent reduction in municipal operations by 2017 and citywide emissions have declined twenty-one percent since 2000; and
WHEREAS, Kansas City’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis is established by the 2008 Climate Protection Plan and by Resolutions 180475, calling for a transition to 100 percent community-wide renewable electricity as soon as possible, and 181000, directing the City Manager to achieve energy efficiency targets and procure carbon-free energy; and
WHEREAS, the updated greenhouse gas emission reductions for 2020 will continue to show the City of Kansas City, Missouri as a national leader on these efforts and more significantly make the City a healthier and more resilient municipality; and
WHEREAS, the City Council in previously adopted Resolution Nos. 170484, 170586, 181000, and 190233, expressed its support for the Paris Climate Agreement and its targets of a 26-28 percent reduction by 2025 from the 2005 baseline; and
WHEREAS, in November 2019, the UN released the latest Emissions Gap Report, which estimates global emissions will have to decrease by 7.6% every year from 2020 to 2030 for a total reduction of 55% below 2018 levels to have just a 66% chance to keep global warming below 1.5°C; and
WHEREAS, on June 24, 2019 more than 70 health organizations including the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association declared climate change to be a health emergency and issued a call to action for government, business, and civil society leaders to recognize it as such; and
WHEREAS, without serious intervention on the climate crisis, Kansas City will see more extreme high temperatures, intensified heat waves, more frequent severe precipitation and flooding, as well as longer dry periods in the coming years; and
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR RESOLUTION NO. 200005
WHEREAS, these changes in Kansas City’s local climate will lead to reduced air quality, degradation of water quality, population displacement, mental health problems, increased injury, greater incidence of certain infectious diseases, and death; and
WHEREAS, climate change affects all residents and businesses, but communities that already face socioeconomic and health inequities will be most severely impacted, including youth, elderly, people of color, and low-income communities, and such communities therefor require an investment in resilience that is proportionate to these more severe risks; NOW THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. That the City develop a comprehensive Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan that incorporates greenhouse gas reduction, climate adaptation, and carbon sequestration strategies.
Section 2. That the City reaffirms that climate protection and greenhouse gas reduction should be key factors in all decisions and actions by the City.
Section 3. That the City will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from City municipal operations seventy percent (70%) below 2005 levels by 2025, and a goal of being climate neutral by 2030, including a one hundred percent (100%) reduction for emissions related to electricity consumption by 2022.
Section 4. That for citywide emissions, the goal will be to reduce greenhouse gas emissions thirty percent (30%) below 2005 levels by 2025, a fifty percent (50%) reduction by 2030, and a goal of being climate neutral by 2040, including a one hundred percent (100%) reduction for emissions related to electricity consumption by 2030.
Section 5. That the City will develop plans to accomplish these goals through a transparent and inclusive stakeholder process which includes community members as well as representatives from organizations representing faith groups, youth, labor, unions, public health groups, businesses, academic institutions, homeowners’ associations, housing groups, and environmental, economic, racial, gender, family and disability justice and indigenous, immigrant and women’s rights organizations and other such interested parties who will be integral to the effort.
Section 6. That the City, working collaboratively with key stakeholders, will develop specific strategies to achieve these new targets and such solutions shall include, but are not limited to, building efficiency, carbon sequestration, renewables, waste reduction, electrification of vehicles, water heating, space heating, transit, walking and bicycling access, land use, tree planting, and green infrastructure, while recognizing that all appropriate or required strategies may not yet be known.
Section 7. That the City Manager is hereby directed to develop and submit to the Council by March 31, 2021 the new Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan that reflects these goals in consultation with key community stakeholders.
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR RESOLUTION NO. 200005
