In 1993 Portland became the first U.S. city to adopt a plan to reduce CO2 emissions. Early in 2001 Multnomah County joined these efforts, identifying climate change as a key element in its overall sustainability initiative.
Portland’s strategy establishes a reduction target of 10 percent below 1990 levels in 2010. Reaching this plan’s goal requires a reduction in emissions to 8.9 million metric tons, or a real total reduction of almost 26 percent. This aggressive goal will require considerable efforts by the City, County, other governments, the commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors, and individual residents. The plan presents the following strategies:
- Energy-efficiency initiatives will reduce emissions by decreasing energy use in residential, commercial, industrial, and government buildings and facilities by 10 percent.
- Transportation reductions will be achieved by reducing per capita vehicle miles traveled to 10 percent below 1995 levels by 2010 and by improving the average fuel efficiency of vehicles in Multnomah County from 18.5 to 26 mpg.
- Meeting all growth in local electricity load since 1990 with renewable energy resources will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.54 million metric tons.
- Reducing solid waste and improving recycling and recovery rates and practices will reduce methane emissions from landfills and the energy required in manufacturing processes.
- Promoting expanded and improved forestry and seeking other carbon offsets will acquire just over 0.3 million metric tons of emission reductions.
- Providing policy, research, and community-wide education will enhance all of these efforts.
Agriculture and Forestry Sector
Trees can be an effective tool for sequestering carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, and also have important benefits for storm water management, urban temperature control, and water quality. The city and county plan to achieve emission reduction goals through the use of the principles listed below.
Principles for Enhancing CO2 Sequestration and Mitigation
1. Achieve a net gain in the size, health, and diversity of local forests, encouraging native species wherever practical.
2. Plant the right tree in the right place to achieve the greatest functional benefit and longevity.
3. Ensure community understanding of and appreciation for forest both as a vital part of Portland’s character and as a greenhouse gas-reduction strategy.
4. Pursue carbon-offset strategies to complement but not substitute for local emissions-reduction strategies.
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The government will take action by 2010 to:
Adopt policies to restrict the purchase and use of non-sustainably harvested timber by city and county agencies.
Plant 3,000 acres of trees.
Update the City Urban Forestry Department’s inventory of the urban canopy to determine its current health and identify needs and priorities for future urban forest management.
Seek funding for urban forestry as a core component of the city’s climate, air, and water infrastructure.
Document and, where possible, quantify the multiple benefits associated with Portland’s urban canopy. Use this analysis to inform policy decisions and include this information in adult and child education programs.
Identify and promote the planting of tree species to accrue optimum benefits in the areas of carbon offsets, energy conservation, air quality, storm water management, and habitat.
Explore tax deferral for county forestlands certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Implement best management practices for city and county urban landscaped areas and, where appropriate, seek certification.
Explore investing in carbon offsets and retire the credits to help meet the city and county’s overall greenhouse gas-reduction goal.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Support private, non-profit, and government efforts to reforest 50,000 acres of Oregon timberland.
Improve development practices to limit destruction of trees and encourage planting of suitable trees.
Expand the urban forest and improve forest performance by maintaining trees carefully, eradicating invasive vegetation, and promoting trees that will perform well for a long period of time.
Forge partnerships with community cooperatives to organize tree-planting and maintenance events.
Improve community understanding of the role and value of the urban forest.
Secure increased funding for green infrastructure through partnerships and from businesses, residents, and organizations that benefit, either directly or indirectly, from tree planting.
Seek resolution to conflicting city, county, and State goals that impact urban forestry.
Encourage residents, businesses, governments, schools, and institutions to invest in greenhouse gas-reducing projects to offset their personal or corporate greenhouse gas emissions.
Cross-Sectoral or Other Sector
The City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development and Multnomah County Department of Sustainable Community Development will coordinate Portland-area efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and assist other local government agencies with complementary programs and policies. The City of Portland and Multnomah County will assume leadership roles in taking aggressive, prudent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. High quality, timely information is essential to implementing these policies successfully. The city and county must ensure that the Portland community has access to this information and becomes increasingly aware of global warming and the impacts residents and businesses have on greenhouse gas emissions.
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The government will take action by 2003 to:
Compile and update an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from city and county operations and track related solid waste, energy, economic, and environmental data.
Educate employees and bureau managers about sustainability with a focus on specific operational changes that can be made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Require employee education on fuel-efficient driving and reducing energy use at work.
The government will take action by 2010 to:
Review major policies and programs in the early stages of development to identify ways to reduce related greenhouse gas emissions.
Integrate the goal and actions set out in this plan into future city and county policies.
The community will take action by 2003 to:
Inform local elected officials, community leaders, and local and regional media about the causes and impacts of global warming.
Continue to compile and distribute information on greenhouse gas reduction technologies, programs, and policies that will improve Portland’s economy and environment.
Expand the civic, educational, religious, and neighborhood institutions that specifically address global warming.
Implement and support education and outreach programs to:
a. Improve community understanding of the nature of the greenhouse gas effect and possible global, regional, and local impacts of climate change
b. Inform residents, businesses, and institutions about how their actions affect greenhouse gas emissions
c. Encourage residents, businesses, and institutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Provide tools to local residents and businesses to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and emission reductions.
Work with city and county agencies to publicize greenhouse gas-reducing projects and actions through public education efforts.
Encourage and support greenhouse gas-reduction efforts at state, national, and international levels.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Establish a hotline for business and household resource-conservation questions. Provide educational information and referrals to resources and global warming-related programs.
Ensure that teachers have access to effective educational materials about global warming.
Compile and update an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in Multnomah County and track related air quality, solid waste, energy, and environmental data.
Formally acknowledge the global warming impacts of city planning, transportation, and urban redevelopment policies and decisions such as North Macadam, North Interstate Avenue, and Outer Southeast.
Prepare a progress report on the Local Action Plan on Global Warming every two years and propose action items for the following two years.
Monitor the development of greenhouse gas emission credit mechanisms, and seek to bank credits for the city and county.
Power Generation Sector
The effort to achieve greenhouse gas reductions in the power generation sector will encompass initiatives to influence energy demand and supply. The programs and policies designed to influence energy demand will focus on energy-conservation and energy-efficiency, while the programs and policies targeting energy supply will support environmentally acceptable, sustainable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and small hydroelectric power plants.
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The government will take action by 2003 to:
Invest in all energy-efficiency measures with simple paybacks of 10 years or less.
Develop and adopt energy- and resource-efficient building standards for all city and county new construction and major renovation projects.
Establish city and county policies to purchase ENERGY STARŽ or equivalent products, when available, for any equipment that uses electricity, natural gas, or fuel oil.
Require all city and county construction projects to exceed energy code by 20 percent on new construction and 10 percent on retrofits.
Purchase 10 percent of city government electricity load from new renewable resources by 2003.
The government will take action by 2010 to:
Improve energy efficiency in city and county facilities by 10 percent.
Invest in building commissioning for new city and county facilities and retro-comissioning for facilities larger than 25,000 square feet.
Purchase 100 percent of city government electricity load from new renewable resources.
Fully develop the generation potential of anaerobic digester gas produced at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Install solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy applications at appropriate city and county facilities.
Explore cost-effective opportunities to invest directly in new larger-scale renewable projects like wind, photovoltaic, geothermal, and landfill gas systems.
The community will take action by 2003 to:
Work with the 100 largest local business, industrial, and institutional energy consumers to establish and meet energy-efficiency and greenhouse gas-reduction targets.
Actively promote the implementation of local commercial and industrial energy-conservation programs funded through the electricity system benefits charge or utility funds.
Facilitate the use of energy-service performance contracts, when appropriate, by businesses, government, and non-profit agencies.
Reduce heating and cooling loads by promoting light-colored roofs and paving materials, planting trees, and increasing vegetative cover.
Support amendments to the State Business Energy Tax Credit and State Energy Loan Program to encourage green building practices and make the tax credit more accessible to organizations.
Encourage residents and businesses to purchase at least 10 percent of their electricity from new renewable sources by promoting green power as a community ethic.
Support the use of the electricity system benefits funding allocated to renewables to leverage the development of new renewable resources.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Help small businesses, non-profit organizations, and public agencies gain access to energy efficiency services.
Promote opportunities to improve operations and maintenance practices in local buildings, including resource-conservation managers.
Continue to advocate strengthening the Oregon state building code to include all cost-effective energy-efficiency measures.
Work with industry to identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency in process applications, including waste-heat recovery for cogeneration.
Support the establishment of a city energy plans examiner and a required field inspection of energy systems, with technical consultation available at the planning stage.
Develop guidelines for the installation of combustion distributed generation systems to facilitate low-cost interconnection and encourage increased efficiencies.
Support small business conservation programs through new agreements in utility franchises.
Investigate sliding-scale building permit fees with rebates for high-performance green buildings and higher fees for conventional buildings.
Include renewable resource incentives or requirements in utility franchise agreements.
Promote a green-power purchase by aggregating public-sector entities.
Support the deployment of small-scale renewable energy systems in mobile applications.
Provide technical assistance to builders and developers to include solar water heaters and photovoltaics in rooftop and building-integrated systems.
Support code revisions that facilitate low-cost interconnection of photovoltaic and other renewable electricity systems.
Support legislation requiring 20 percent of all power sold to rate-regulated customers be from new renewable resources.
Residential Sector
The effort to achieve greenhouse gas reductions in the residential sector will focus on energy-conservation and energy-efficiency. The city and county plan to achieve emission reduction goals through the use of the principles listed below.
Principles for Reducing Building Energy Use
1. Benefit all neighborhoods and socioeconomic groups, with particular attention to low-income residents.
2. Promote energy, economic, environmental, and social benefits, including developing active, healthy neighborhoods.
3. Consider community values along with a broad definition of cost effectiveness that includes total costs to individuals and all resource savings.
4. Minimize lost opportunities, such as new residential and commercial construction.
5. Emphasize education and outreach value.
6. Support local businesses and expand local infrastructure for delivering energy-efficiency services.
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The community will take action by 2003 to:
Weatherize 250 homes occupied by low-income households through the city’s Block-By-Block program and 500 homes through the county’s weatherization program.
Facilitate the installation of energy-conservation measures in 3,500 multi-family units.
Support the implementation of local residential energy-conservation programs funded through the electricity system benefits charge or utility funds.
Implement neighborhood-based outreach efforts to combine and promote energy and water conservation, solid waste reduction, safety, and livability.
Require green building and energy-efficiency measures, including ENERGY STARŽ or equivalent appliances, lighting, and heating equipment in city-funded affordable housing and other development projects.
Support residential conservation programs through new agreements in franchises with local utilities.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Provide green building design assistance and technical resources to Portland residential developers, designers, homebuilders, and residents. Impact at least 5,000 new units or major remodels.
Work with Community Action Programs to weatherize 10,000 low-income homes in Multnomah County.
Weatherize 1,250 homes occupied by low-income households through the city’s Block-By-Block program and 2,500 homes through the county’s weatherization program.
Facilitate the installation of energy-conservation measures in 15,000 multi-family units by 2010.
Work closely with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance to promote local access to household resource-efficiency products.
Improve the maintenance of residential heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment by educating consumers and schoolchildren.
Work with the state and other partners to offer financing for the purchase of high-efficiency furnaces, heat pumps, air-conditioning systems, replacement windows, insulation, water heaters, appliances, and other large energy-using systems.
Promote energy-efficient construction and renovation of attached single- and multi-family dwelling units, including accessory units.
Broaden standard residential energy audits to include review of major appliances, education of residents, and direct installation of efficient lighting and water-saving devices.
Improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and control of residential outdoor lighting through regional efforts and retail promotions.
Develop a consortium of local and state support for more stringent federal efficiency standards for furnaces, refrigerators, water heaters, air conditioners, other appliances, and lighting products.
Explore requiring weatherization of residential properties at time of sale. Bring properties up to the 1992 code, at a minimum.
Provide green building design assistance and technical resources to Portland developers, designers, and builders. Develop local standards for green buildings and help local buildings meet national energy-efficiency and green building standards such as LEED™, ENERGY STARŽ, and Earth AdvantageŽ. Impact at least 10 million square feet of commercial and institutional space by 2010.
Transportation Sector
The city and county shall pursue energy-efficient transportation that provides convenient, affordable access to goods, jobs, education, leisure, and information with reduced environmental impact. The emission reduction efforts will focus around the principles listed below.
Principles for Reducing Transportation Emissions
1. Reduce the need for trips by using telecommunications and remote access whenever possible.
2. Encourage people who must travel to do so on foot, by bicycle, on transit, or as part of a rideshare.
3. Implement mechanisms to ensure that people who drive pay the full social cost of driving.
4. Improve access to alternative-fuel and highly fuel-efficient vehicles.*
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The government will take action by 2003 to:
Require city and county agencies to offer bus tickets to visitors who arrive by transit in any situation where the agency validates parking.
Implement city and county policies to encourage transit whenever appropriate and to provide employees with transit tickets for travel on business.
Expand city and county transit-pass subsidy programs.
Purchase a minimum of 25 city and five county hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with fuel efficiency of at least 45 mpg.
Educate all employees on fuel-efficient driving practices, such as avoiding unnecessary idling.
Implement EPA’s “Best Environmental Practices for Fleet Maintenance” in the
county’s Fleet Services Shop.
The government will take action by 2010 to:
Convert traffic signals to LED technologies.
Convert street lights and traffic signals to more efficient technologies as they become available.
Reduce per employee vehicle miles traveled in city and county administrative vehicles by 20 percent by 2010 by promoting teleconferencing and the availability of pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and rideshare options for employees on business.
Promote city and county tele-work and flexible hours policies and provide education to agency managers to encourage consistent application of the policies. Enable 25 percent of city and county employees to tele-work or work compressed schedules to avoid commuting at least one day every two weeks.
Expand the participation of city and county agencies in vehicle-sharing programs.
Increase the average fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles in the city and county motor pools to 35 mpg.
The community will take action by 2003 to:
Support expanded transit lines and increased frequency of service on major transit arterials.
Expand the number of businesses that offer transit tickets to shoppers who request them.
Work with Tri-Met to improve access to transit service.
a. Encourage shared parking opportunities such as movie theaters with primary parking needs in evenings and churches or other facilities with weekend-only parking needs.
b. Support additional park-and-ride lots in locations where substantial VMT reductions can be achieved.
c. Provide additional services such as secure, covered bicycle parking, coffee and newspapers during peak hours, and other amenities.
d. Continue and expand projects that increase pedestrian accessibility to transit stops, neighborhood shopping areas, schools, churches, and parks.
e. Help transit riders to show their neighbors, friends, and co-workers how easy it is to take transit.
Support the expansion of Tri-Met’s “Fareless Square” to appropriate areas.
Continue to provide maps highlighting alternative modes of transportation and preferred routes for those modes.
Publicize and participate in campaigns to promote options to single-occupancy vehicle travel.
a. Implement an area-wide, internet-based rideshare program to encourage use of carpools and vanpools.
b. Establish a storefront “transportation options center” in downtown Portland to help residents and visitors learn and use a variety of travel alternatives.
c. Support bicycling and walking tours and transportation fairs.
Provide secure, covered bicycle parking at schools, in commercial districts, and at other destinations.
Work with businesses to encourage all employers who offer subsidized parking to employees also to offer a parking “cash out”—an equivalent payment to employees who do not require vehicle parking.
Strongly advocate raising the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for new automobiles to 45 mpg and for light duty trucks to 35 mpg.
Promote growth through redevelopment and infill that maintains or improves the quality of life for existing neighborhoods.
a. Promote proximate commuting (i.e., living near a workplace).
b. Support continued use of transportation demand management strategies.
Continue to implement the city’s Transportation System Plan, which includes policies to reduce vehicle miles traveled, increase non-motorized vehicle trips, and support the connection between land use and transportation.
Partner with surrounding communities and Metro to implement the Regional Transportation Plan and the 2040 Growth Concept it complements, including light rail lines, rapid bus, frequent bus service, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and the addition of new and improvement of existing intermodal connections.
Implement new parking ratios in City Title 33 and support programs that allow for innovative new development to occur with a minimum number of parking spaces.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Provide transit passes for all Portland residents funded through a household levy or business tax.
Continue the city and county’s signal optimization plans until all major streets and roads are optimized for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians.
Continue to improve Portland’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and meet the needs of pedestrians and both children and adult cyclists.
Promote tele-work, compressed workweeks, and other flexible-schedule work options.
a. Encourage the establishment and use of home and satellite offices.
b. Establish a quick-response system to encourage tele-work during winter storms,
Summer ozone alerts, and major road construction projects.
c. Support the availability and use of tele- and video-conferencing facilities.
Promote vehicle sharing to individuals and businesses.
Enhance transportation management associations (TMAs) and encourage the development of TMAs in all regional centers to make more efficient use of existing transportation resources.
Establish neighborhood-level ride-share cooperatives to encourage neighbors to carpool and reduce both work and non-work trips.
Continue and expand education efforts in schools to promote safe transportation alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles and smart use of cars (e.g. trip chaining, ride sharing, and car sharing).
Extend parking pricing to all appropriate commercial areas to reduce single-occupancy vehicle use.
Support the use of auto insurance premiums based on the number of miles a car is driven.
Support the use of congestion pricing on appropriate regional roadways.
Work with financial institutions to promote location-efficient mortgages.
Encourage the state to add a fee to vehicle-inspection charges to fund transportation options education.
Investigate a city-wide parking permit and/or state-wide registration fee based on a vehicle’s greenhouse gas emissions. Revenue will be used to reduce use of single-occupancy vehicles.
Work with the state to provide loans and other financial incentives to promote the purchase of 50,000 vehicles with fuel efficiency of at least 45 mpg by business, government, and individuals.
Encourage the use of low- or no-CO2 technologies in non-road vehicles and equipment, such as electric forklifts and medium-duty construction equipment.
Work with vehicle maintenance providers to educate consumers about the potential savings and impact on fuel consumption of maintaining vehicles properly and practicing fuel-efficient driving techniques.
Support programs to retire and recycle fuel-inefficient vehicles.
Promote efficient transportation options such as high-speed rail for commuting between northwest urban centers.
Waste Sector
The city and county shall promote solid waste management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote community understanding of the relationship between solid waste reduction and global climate change. The city and country plan to achieve emission reduction goals through the use of the principles listed below.
Principles for Reducing Emissions from Solid Waste
1. Reduce the generation of solid waste, including source prevention and reduction in packaging and other excess materials.
2. Recover materials from the waste stream for direct reuse and remanufacture into new products.
3. Reuse products whenever possible.
4. Recycle materials whenever possible.
5. Purchase recycled-content products.
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The government will take action by 2003 to:
Track waste disposal and recycling practices and quantities at all city and county facilities.
Establish city and county policies to use recycled antifreeze, recycled latex paint, and paper with at least 30 percent post-consumer recycled-content paper. Investigate establishing standards for the purchase of additional recycled-content products.
Evaluate purchasing printers and copiers with duplexing capacity and making duplexing the default setting.
Seek approval to hire a county pollution-prevention specialist to reduce environmental and human health risks from air-, water-, and land-based pollutants.
The government will take action by 2010 to:
Continue to improve internal city and county waste prevention practices.
Achieve a solid waste recovery rate of 60 percent at city and county facilities.
Hire a city resource-conservation manager to reduce solid waste and the use of energy, water, and other resources at city facilities.
Hold city and county agency managers directly responsible for resource-conservation practices in their agencies.
Conduct employee awareness campaigns at the city, county, and other partner businesses and organizations.
Require city and county contractors and vendors to document the use of recovered materials in their products and follow environmentally responsible solid waste management.
Expand city and county recycling of asphalt and other street material.
The community will take action by 2003 to:
Improve and expand curbside recycling and other residential recycling services.
Assist 150 local businesses in developing and implementing improved waste management practices, and continue to expand commercial recycling programs and services.
Promote the continued development of the local building deconstruction and material salvage industries.
Encourage contractors to recycle street and other infrastructure materials.
Implement a commercial food-waste collection program.
Work with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and other jurisdictions to develop mechanisms to ensure extended product responsibility.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Explore residential food waste-collection options.
Investigate opportunities for waste-recovery technologies.
Promote the reuse and recovery of electronic devices.