By Conference Staff
October 13, 2008

Former President Bill Clinton and a new Conference-sponsored Green Jobs Report were featured at the October 1-2 Environment and Energy Forum, held in Miami, hosted by Conference of Mayors President Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

The Miami event, the fourth of five ’08 Mayors’ Action Forums, focused largely on climate protection and energy issues, which also included presentations on Chicago’s Climate Action Plan, the United Kingdom’s carbon offset initiatives, and speculation in oil futures.

Diaz called for the Mayors’ Forums to determine recommendations for the new President and to draw national attention to pressing domestic issues now facing cities and their metropolitan areas.

“Solutions are no longer coming from Washington – they are coming from mayors and their cities,” Diaz said, “Yet we know these are national problems, and they require national investments, in partnership with mayors.”

On the importance of environment and energy issues Diaz said, “We know we are at critical time in our nation’s history – we are at risk of threatening the future we pass onto our children and grandchildren – a future that may offer less opportunity and much greater peril than what we inherited.”

Conference Vice President Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels added, “Meeting these challenges and seizing these opportunities is a shared responsibility with success requiring an unprecedented collaboration among all levels of government. We mayors are striving to do our part and we are eager to work together with the next administration to identify and act on the key policies necessary to support our climate protection activities.”

Clinton joined with the mayors to deliver remarks before engaging in a lengthy dialogue on the many energy and climate challenges before the nation. “I think energy is the answer to America’s economic problem,” Clinton said.

During his remarks, Clinton praised the mayors for their leadership, offered insights on numerous federal policy issues affecting energy and climate protection, discussed the partnership between the Conference of Mayors and the Clinton Climate Initiative and recognized the Mayors Climate Protection Center for its new report on green jobs and the U.S. economy.

Luke Tilley, Senior Economist with Global Insight, opened the Forum with a presentation on the findings of the new report, Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy, which was prepared for the Conference’s Mayors Climate Protection Center.

The report includes a first-ever Green Jobs Index that will help mayors and other local leaders establish a baseline of current green jobs in their regions and track the creation of green jobs in the economy over time, supported by periodic updates of the report sponsored by the Center.

Tilley presented the key findings of the report, explaining the potential for more than 4.2 million green jobs by 2038, with this sector contributing as much as 10% of new job growth for the U.S. economy over the three decades. The report also found that there are more than 750,000 Green Jobs in the U.S. economy (2006), with over half of the green jobs in the Engineering, Legal, Research and Consulting category (418,715 jobs).

In comments on the report, Nickels said, “A transition to a clean energy economy presents exciting new opportunities with cost savings to individual households and businesses and new opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs.”

The mayors discussed key recommendations that should be sent to the next President in the areas of Environment, Climate Change and Energy. The mayors felt strongly that the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program should be fully funded at $4 billion annually and that an 80 percent reduction in national emissions by 2050 should be established. In addition, any “cap and trade” legislation that is enacted should support local government initiatives.

The mayors agreed that transportation policy is a cornerstone for any comprehensive climate change and energy plan for the nation. The mayors called for increasing federal funding commitments to public transit, rails, and non-motorized travel options, adopting a metropolitan mobility program, allocating available transportation resources directly to metropolitan areas, ensuring that investments reflect energy and climate challenges, and eliminating program silos.

Environmental Committee Chair Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster told the mayors that they should not only look to the federal government as a resource when they create their energy efficiency, energy conservation, and climate change plans but to their states and utilities as well. Foster, who is a former California utility executive and also worked for the state and helped write many of their energy efficiency laws, discussed how there are incentives for utilities in California to do conservation and efficiency projects because there profitability was not tied to only energy sales. As a result, the mayors recommended to the next President and Congress to adopt legislation to promote “decoupling” by utilities (ie. changes that ensure utilities are indifferent to sales volatility and remove disincentives to encourage energy efficiency).

In addition, the mayors discussed the importance of modernizing the nation’s electric transmission grid to support renewable energy supplies and establishing a national renewable portfolio standard to accelerate the development of alternative energy sources.

And finally, the mayors recommended the “greening” of the U.S. Tax Code as one of the most useful means to encourage businesses to promote energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy supplies, transit-oriented development, as well as lower carbon emissions for both commercial and residential development.

Meeting participants also heard from Chicago’s Chief Environmental Officer Sadhu Johnston on Chicago’ Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy that builds on the 2005 Environmental Action Agenda to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and ward off the impact of climate change. Specifically, the plan calls for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. Johnston noted that while past environmental programs addressed general energy and environmental issues, the 2009 Chicago Climate Action Plan focuses specifically on reducing the city’s carbon footprint. “This action plan lays out how the city will reach its climate reduction goals,” said Johnston.

The Chicago Climate Action plan – which was developed by the Chicago Climate Task Force that was co-chaired by Johnston – sets city-wide goals for emissions reductions. Under the plan, the city would cut emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Johnston reported that a significant amount of reductions would come from making buildings (which accounted for more than 70 percent of GHG emissions in Chicago in 2000) more energy efficient and from greening the power supply by including renewable energy and modernizing old plants. He also noted that additional reductions would come from investment in the Chicago transportation system (which accounted for more than 21 percent of GHG emissions in Chicago in 2000).

The overall emission reduction goal set in the Chicago plan exceeds the requirements of the Kyoto protocol, and is one of the most aggressive targets in the United States. While other cities have set similar goals, Chicago’s plan goes a step further by identifying emission sources and the impact of those sources in Chicago.

The action plan consists of 26 separate actions to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions in four areas: buildings; clean and renewable energy sources, improved transportation options, and reduced waste. Johnston reported that these four areas are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions in Chicago. The plan also includes nine actions that will help the city adapt to climate change.

The building section calls for a significant number of industrial, commercial and residential buildings to be more energy efficient. The plan also calls for updating the city energy codes for buildings. In addition, Chicago’s climate reduction strategy aims to reduce transportation related greenhouse gas emissions by increasing investment in the Chicago’s public transit system, promoting transit oriented development, making the Chicago vehicle fleet more fuel efficient, and encouraging residents to bike more and participate in car sharing programs.

Other proposed strategies call for upgrades of power plants in the Chicago metro area and also promotes the use of distributed generating power systems that use renewable energy such as solar and wind. Under the pollution category of the plan, the city will reduce by 90 percent waste that is shipped to landfills, phase out the use of hydroflourcarbons, and capture storm water onsite.

The plan also addresses the issue of adapting to climate change and preparing for the effects of global warming. It covers a number of action items the city can take to manage climate changes from high levels of GHGs. They include: managing “urban heat islands”, developing innovative cooling systems, protecting air quality, managing storm water, implementing green urban design and preserving open spaces.

Finally, Johnston highlighted several items contained in the plan that will receive immediate action, including a “Green Office Challenge” – which will spur high rise office buildings to save energy and increase recycling; updating the Chicago Energy Efficiency Building Code – which will bring the current code up to international standards; and innovative ways to help property owners save money by making their buildings more energy efficient. He noted that the city is challenging all residents to participate in the $800 Savings Challenge, which consists of 13 steps individuals can take to reduce their contribution to global warming and saves money.

The mayors discussed the possible role that futures trading and speculation played in the dramatic increase in crude oil prices. Diaz cited a bill, H.R. 3134, introduced by Senator Bill Nelson (FL) that would close the so-called Enron loophole that led to the California and West Coast energy debacle early in the decade, spiking energy costs there by 300 percent.

“There are a lot of experts who believe that excessive oil speculation played a key role in the run up of oil prices earlier in the year,” said Diaz. Nelson’s legislation would restore the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate energy futures. In 2000 Congress exempted energy commodities from CFTC regulation. Nelson’s bill would bring transparency, accountability, limits on positions, and other reporting requirements to the trading of energy futures.

From January to May of this year, institutional investors poured more than $60 billion into major commodity indices, purchasing more than 187 million barrels of crude oil futures. Crude oil increased $33 per barrel. On July 15, investors pulled $39 billion out of the futures markets resulting in a price drop of $29 per barrel. Oil has fluctuated this year from $90 to $145 per barrel, price moves that many experts believe can not be explained by supply and demand of the market place.

“This is an issue that is real, and we should follow it closely,” said Foster.

Keith Allan, Consul General of the British Consulate and Sonia Hamel, Emissions Trading Advisor to United Kingdom spoke about how the carbon offset program was working in the United Kingdom and the lessons that can be learned for cities in the United States.

Hamel outlined the basics of how their Cap and Trade program works including setting a limit on the quantity of carbon emissions from various sources and then allowing those sources to buy allowances or generate or purchase offsets from non-regulated sources. According to Hamel, businesses prefer this model since it provides certainty as well as being cheaper, flexible, less prescriptive and has a clear financial reward for innovation and good management. It was also politically easier to set up this type of system as opposed to charging a tax which they had also tried to do.

Hamel outlined other policies that the United Kingdom had implemented including carbon zero new homes by 2016, local authority initiatives such as low emission zones and congestion charges, a UK-only trading system for the commercial and public sector, and extensive public messaging and education.

For a copy of the presentations, visit the website at usmayors.org.