(UPDATE Mar. 21: The city has clarified that it does not intend to backpedal on Kyoto.)
Last night’s Climate Smart community meeting at the West Boulder Senior center was well attended, energetic, and constructive. Over 40 community members and city and county employees attended. I took extensive notes and will be writing much more about the event later.
But first, I was a bit surprised to hear city Environmental Affairs spokesperson Beth Powell note that her department may recommend to the City Council, “that we go beyond Kyoto to a 2020 or 2050 goal.”
…A little bit of background: Boulder’s major municipal efforts to address climate change began in 2002, when the City Council passed resolution 906 adopting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol — which would require the city to cut its greenhouse gas emissions reducing greenhouse gas emissions 7% below the estimated 1990 level. The Kyoto Protocol calls for that goal to be met by 2012 — which is when the current carbon tax sunsets.
Actually, the wording of the resolution included some wiggle room…
The resolution reads: “The local action plan will be developed with the initial goal of being in alignment with the Kyoto Protocol target…” (Emphasis added)
It appears that now the city may be taking advantage of that wiggle room — backpedaling substantially from that initial goal to move the target date back by decades.
All of this raises many questions we’ll explore with the community in this site — such as what are realistic targets for the city to meet, and in what timeframe? Also, where might the money come from after 2012?
According to Powell, Environmental Affairs will make recommendations to the city in the upcoming April 8 council study session, which we’ll be covering. Stay tuned.
UPDATE 1:40 PM: It was just brought to my attention that it’s possible Powell meant that the city might be planning to set new goals in addition to meeting the Kyoto goals. That is a possible interpretation of her remarks — although from the way this was framed in her talk, it could go either way. I have a call in to Powell for further clarification. However, the wiggle room to step back from Kyoto does exist in the resolution language. Again, stay tuned.
Entries (RSS)
March 20th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I, too, am concerned about abandoning the Kyoto goal. We worked hard to get 202 passed at the ballot box with promise that we would strive to meet the UN goals.
1. If we are abandoning Kyoto, let’s come right out and say it rather than couching it in obfuscatory language like “we’re looking to longer time horizons”.
2. Give the climate activists in the city every chance to keep us on track before the ClimateSmart office makes this unilateral decision.
Regards,
Tom
March 20th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
It will be interesting to see if this trial balloon stays afloat going into the April 8 meeting, and whether data supports a proposal to extend the goals. Let us know what you think here or on a new thread our Boulder Carbon Tax Tracker forum here: http://www.bouldercarbontax.org/forum/showthread.php?p=16#post16
March 20th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Thanks, Tom.
Obviously, this possible shifting of target dates is something that Boulderites who are interested in climate change issues should keep a close eye on. If anyone knows or finds out more about this, I encourage you to speak up here or in our Forum. This definitely warrants public discussion
Again, there will be a City Council study session on April 8 where Environmental Affairs will submit recommendations on this and other matters concerning Climate Smart. Study sessions generally aren’t open for public comment, but they are open to the public, and it would be an opportunity to learn more details.
We will be following this closely.
Thanks, and I hope to see you on this site again. Please let people know what we’re doing here and that anyone is welcome to participate in whatever way they find comfortable.
- Amy Gahran
March 21st, 2008 at 8:01 am
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