After a slow progression to achieve goals set by the Austin Climate Equity Plan three years ago, council member Ryan Alter drafted a resolution to kickstart city investments in sustainability, set to be voted on during a council meeting Feb. 15.
“We as a city have made a lot of plans with a lot of great environmental goals for reducing our impact on the climate but in too many instances have failed to make the investments needed to meet those goals or just, quite frankly, [have been] falling short,” Alter said. “And so this item asked the question of what type of investment do we need to make to reach these goals and hopefully even exceed them?”
The gist
If approved, the resolution will direct the city manager to seek community input via a public meeting in the spring, consider any proposals put forth by the Joint Sustainability Committee and draft what investments need to be made to fulfill any of the city’s adopted plans related to the environment.
These include:
- The Austin Climate Equity Plan
- Water Forward
- The Watershed Protection Strategic Plan
- One Austin: The Climate Resilience Action Plan
- The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan
- The Austin Resource Recovery Comprehensive Plan
- The Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan
- Parks and Recreation Department Land Management Plan
- The Austin/Travis County Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan
- The Austin/Travis County Food Plan
A closer look
The Climate Equity Plan outlines 74 strategies to achieve its goals, including prioritizing greenhouse gas reduction and supporting community-led initiatives. Out of these strategies, 41 are underway or going, and three have been completed since August 2022.
In the city’s $5.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2023-24, $385,000 in one-time funding was allocated for recommendations within the Climate Equity Plan. Alter says a goal of this resolution is to look at how city officials can budget for specific investments toward climate.
Funding for these investments may be sought out from utility base rates, general fund expenditures or general obligation bonds, or it could even be brought to voters through a bond election this November.
Despite city staff recommending council pause on bond elections until 2026, Alter said the matter is too pressing to wait another two years.
“There are certainly financial [recommendations] from our staff about how to best manage our bond program, but I believe that the urgency of the situation as it relates to climate change demands our action now,” Alter said.
Also of note
On Feb. 7, city officials announced a $1 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be used to develop plans aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution. This announcement came alongside the EPA's new national air quality standard. Travis County does not meet the revised annual levels based on 2020-22 air quality monitoring data from the EPA, as previously reported by Community Impact.
What’s next?
As of Feb. 9, co-sponsors of the resolution include council members Paige Ellis, José Velásquez, José “Chito” Vela and Vanessa Fuentes.
Council will discuss the item and take a vote on Feb. 15.
