HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 4/26/2022 - Memorandum From John Phelan And Honore Depew Re: April 12, 2022 Work Session Summary - Our Climate Future
Environmental Services Department
222 Laporte Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6600
MEMORANDUM
Date: April 15, 2022
To: Mayor Arndt and City Council
Thru:
From:
Kelly DiMartino, Interim City Manager
Kyle Stannert, Deputy City Manager
Jackie Kozak Thiel, Sustainability Officer
Kendall Minor, Utilities Director
John Phelan, Energy Services Manager and Policy Advisor
Honoré Depew, Climate Program Manager
Re: April 12, 2022 Work Session Summary Our Climate Future
The purpose of this memo is to summarize the discussion from the work session on implementation of the
adopted Our Climate Future (OCF) plan and Council Priority on the climate emergency. All
Councilmembers were present, participating virtually.
Council members expressed appreciation for the work by staff and community members/partners to
implement the Our Climate Future plan. And a strong desire for action was expressed, to move rapidly yet
deliberately to achieve Council-adopted goals for climate, energy, and waste. Feedback from
Councilmembers included:
Budget: Expectation for budget offers to provide clear information relating investments with direct
carbon emissions impacts and climate goals while also articulating the benefits of these actions on
many outcome areas and the cost of inaction;
Climate Emergency Council Priority: Majority support to transition language to climate emergency
paired with Our Climate Future to communicate the urgency and severity of climate change and
the importance of our response;
o Staff will also continue to emphasize the many positive attributes of working towards the
OCF vision that everyone benefits from a carbon neutral Fort Collins
Develop the details for the OCF Carbon Pathway to 2030: Request for future OCF work sessions
to provide specific focus, clarity, and context on pathways to 2030 goals, including:
o What and when decision points for Council in short, medium and longer term increments;
o Specific actions/activities by City and partners with funding considerations;
o Graphics and tools that convey systems-level context;
o How state/federal actions impact our ability to achieve the goals, and
o Continue to be transparent and clarify the costs and tradeoffs of the decisions ahead.
Connect climate to other related discussions (e.g., Land Use Code, workforce and recovery) and
bring the data to inform Council discussions;
Support for accelerating efforts on critical pathway of composting;
Support for exploring updates to OCF goals, including interim targets, as long they meet or exceed
current goals, and
Community engagement and shared leadership: continue to focus on resilience and equity in
process and outcome and to pair with engagement with action.
Next steps
Respond to follow up questions from Councilmembers
Quarterly Council update memos about OCF implementation
Q4 OCF work session to include: draft Next Moves Plan for 23-24, Pathways to 2030, Goals
review