A carbon emissions analysis may become a necessary step for future land development projects in Austin. City staff on Wednesday introduced a rough outline for a plan being put together that, if implemented, would require a “Carbon Impact Statement” to be produced on future land development and capital improvement projects in the city. The statement would provide an in-depth analysis of the carbon footprint that would be left by the project. Lewis Leff of the city’s Office of Sustainability introduced a preliminary sketch of the plan to the Joint Sustainability Committee during its meeting Wednesday night. He said an emissions analysis is not currently a concrete part of the government’s decision-making process. The push for implementing a required emissions analysis was a major recommendation of the Austin Community Climate Plan, which was passed in 2015. A priority of that climate plan was to get the city to net-zero carbon emissions by 2020. Leff said implementing a required carbon impact statement would force city officials to consider the effect of emissions when making decisions about development or capital improvement project proposals. “We said, 'Unless they’re thinking about it on a regular basis, how can we make sure that’s at the top of mind when they’re making those kinds of decisions?'” Leff said. “Maybe it’s only one factor out of ten they consider. But it’s still one factor and something consistent to consider.” Leff said the analysis would be similar to affordability, education and traffic impact analyses, which are all part of the land development and capital improvement project decision-making process. As the plan is laid out, the carbon impact statement would only be an advisory piece of information and would require anything more than consideration from the decision-making bodies. Committee member Fred McGhee asked how the carbon emissions could become less advisory and pushed more towards accountability that would require projects to meet a certain threshold of carbon emissions. Leff said that would need to be a policy decision. The plan is only in its infant stages but received favorable reviews from the Joint Sustainability Committee. Chairman Jim Walker said the work done so far by city staff was “great.” Leff said he would come back to the committee in the spring with a more concrete plan of implementation. If the committee approves of the process, it will pass a resolution and officially recommend the carbon impact statement process be implemented by City Council.