HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/31/2014 - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Goals - Air Quality Advisory Board
Environmental Services
215 North Mason
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6600
970.224.6177 Fax
fcgov.com/environmental services
Air Quality Advisory Board
TO: Councilman Ross Cuniff, Mayor Weitkunat and Council Members
FROM: Rich Fisher, Chair Air Quality Advisory Board
CC: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Bruce Hendee, Chief Sustainability Officer
Lucinda Smith, Environmental Services Director
John Phelan, Energy Services Manager
DATE: January 31, 2014
SUBJECT: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Goals
On 27 January 2014, the Air Quality Advisory Board unanimously adopted the following
recommendation to Council.
“The latest global climate assessments confirm a rapidly changing climate. Prompt actions to
reduce greenhouse gases are more urgently needed than was previously thought. Averting
catastrophic climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions must be a global effort, but
those reductions can begin most effectively at the local level. Fortunately, citizens and
businesses of Fort Collins will benefit from the many environmental, economic, and social
dividends of moving away from fossil fuel energy sources.
Therefore, the Air Quality Advisory Board recommends the City adopt more aggressive
greenhouse gas goals, including a reduction to 80% of 2005 emissions by 2030 and aspiring to
carbon-neutral status by 2050.
To become carbon neutral by 2050, the City should adopt specific, achievable, and measurable
actions for 2020, 2030, and 2040. Recent analyses prepared for the City by the Rocky Mountain
Institute and the Brendle Group suggest that the City can achieve carbon-neutrality with a
concerted effort. The City is well-positioned both technically and policy-wise to act on these
interim and long-term goals. Action on these goals should begin immediately. Doing so makes
achieving the goals most likely.”
The AQAB also believes it’s critical to tier the Energy Policy, and other policies related to the
built environment, transportation and sustainability from the GHG Goals followed closely with
aggressive, meaningful and measureable actions that implement these policies and plans.