Cities Collaborate With Businesses on Climate Plan Implementation

• Author: Linda K. Breggin
• Position: Director of ELI's Center for State, Tribal, and Local Environmental Programs
• Pages: 11-11

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | 11

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, November/December 2021.

Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

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sustained legal eort that aims to result in actual emissions reductions.

Around the States

CITIES around the United States

have pledged to reduce their

greenhouse gas emissions and

develop voluntary climate action

plans to achieve their targets. ese

CAPs have signicant mitigation po-

tential, but it is proving dicult for

many cities to establish a reduction tra-

jectory that will meet their goals. As a

result, many are now looking to their

business communities for help.

To be sure, cities are implementing

a plethora of climate mitigation mea-

sures, but scal and political constraints

often result in harvesting low-hanging

fruit rather than emplacing measures

that position them to meet long-term

targets. Vanderbilt’s Michael Vanden-

bergh and Jonathan Gilligan emphasize

that if regulators such as cities make the

right decision governing “three essential

choices or forks in the road,” their ac-

tions have the potential to result in a

60-70 percent reduc-

tion in greenhouse

gas emissions. ese

choices are decarbon-

izing the electric grid,

electrifying motor

vehicles, and electrify-

ing building heating

systems. A recent C-40/McKinsey &

Company study adds “improving waste

management” to the list.

But cities may not be following the

optimal forks, according to Brookings

Institution research. e think tank

studied mitigation eorts in the 100

most populous U.S. cities, nding that

45 had set targets and conducted emis-

sions inventories. e Brookings re-

searchers concluded that “despite genu-

ine achievements in many cities,” about

two thirds of the 45 “are currently lag-

ging their targeted emission levels” and

on average “still need to reduce their an-

nual emissions by 64 percent by 2050,”

in order to reach their targets. Further-

more, the researchers observed that the

“development and implementation” of

pledges and CAPs — “while important

and encouraging — leaves room for

improvement in terms of reach, rigor,

and ambition.”

Recognizing these implementation

challenges, C40, CDP, and the World

Business Council for Sustainable De-

velopment launched the City-Business

Climate Alliance on the premise that

cities “can reach their climate goals fast-

er if they enlist the help of the private

sector.” CBCA points out that “a city

cannot simply retrot its building stock

without addressing the commercial and

private sector” and “a city’s transition

of its vehicle eet to electric will have

a limited eect without corporate eets

also making the shift.” Furthermore,

collaborations can yield insights that

inform municipal CAPs and provide

“a vehicle for joint advocacy and cam-

paigns to address systemic barriers” that

are limiting accelerated climate action.

In fact, CAP implementation col-

laborations are spring-

ing up around the

country including,

but not limited to,

cities that work with

CBCA, such as Dallas

and Long Beach.

For example, over

100 businesses participate in New York

City’s Carbon Challenge and have

pledged to reduce their emissions by 30

percent or more over 10 years. Boston’s

Green Ribbon Commission advises the

city on implementation, aligns assets

and initiatives in support of the CAP,

and promotes best practices that ad-

vance CAP goals. Similarly, the Climate

Collaborative of Greater Philadelphia

seeks “to dramatically accelerate climate

action” by sharing best practices and

providing resources, among other ap-

proaches. And San Francisco’s Business

Council on Climate Change leads ini-

tiatives that “no single organization can

take alone,” including piloting a model

for small companies “to aggregate their

energy demand in pursuit of renewable

energy projects.” In addition, Phoenix’s

Green Business Leader program certi-

es businesses based on their sustain-

ability eorts and is intended, in part,

to assist the city in reaching its goal of

reducing the community’s carbon foot-

print by 80-90 percent by 2050.

Although many collaborations are

spearheaded by municipalities, in some

cases nonprots are leading the way.

Citizens’ Greener Evanston collabo-

rates with the city, businesses, and other

stakeholders to implement Evanston’s

CAP through advocacy and education

initiatives.

Other collaborative initiatives focus

on specic emission sources, such as

Providence’s RePowerPVD, in which

participants pledge to reduce their

buildings’ energy consumption by 20

percent — or enter the “race" to be-

come the city’s rst zero-energy build-

ing. Similarly, San Jose’s Building Per-

formance Leaders initiative supports

its CAP goals by challenging building

owners to reduce emissions through

measures that include energy conserva-

tion and eciency.

Although not specically focused

on CAP implementation, a slew of

additional municipal-business col-

laborations also helps foster carbon

reductions, including certication

and recognition initiatives and tech-

nical assistance programs. Collabora-

tions alone will not ensure that cities

reach their targets, but such eorts

are likely to represent an increasingly

important CAP implementation

strategy as cities strive to meet their

pledges.

Cities Collaborate With Businesses

on Climate Plan Implementation

Many cities are aiming

for an 80 percent

reduction in climate

emissions by 2050

Linda K. Breggin is director

of ELI’s Center f or State, Tribal, and

Local Environ mental Programs . She

can be reache d at breggin@eli.org.