Oakland Climate Action Coalition Recommended Targets, Goals, and Actions

The Oakland Climate Action Coalition is a cross-sector coalition of community-based organizations, environmental experts and advocates, labor unions, and green businesses working for an equitable and just Oakland Energy and Climate Action Plan.

We support the City of Oakland's commitment to take action on climate change. We believe that we can achieve significant carbon reductions while also maintaining a vibrant local economy and improving the quality of life for all Oakland residents.

The Oakland Climate Action Coalition is collecting signatures to take to Oakland City Council to show support for these policy recommendations. Add your name and make your voice heard!

We collectively propose and urge the following targets, goals, and actions for the Oakland Energy and Climate Action Plan:

Reduction Targets

The impacts of climate change are most keenly felt in low-income communities. Specific impacts predicted for Oakland include flooding of the airport and West Oakland and East Oakland neighborhoods due to sea level rise, increased droughts and heat waves, increased fire risk in the hills, and decreased air quality leading to potentially significant public health impacts. In order to avoid the most severe impacts the Oakland Energy and Climate Action Plan should set these aggressive yet essential targets:

• Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions 47% Below 2004 Levels by 2020 and at least 6% annually
• Meet 50% of City-wide Electricity Needs with Clean Energy by 2017

Goals

• Clean Up Air Pollution: Reduce air pollution in communities that are disproportionately affected by poor air quality.
• Create Local Green-Collar Jobs: Invest in green industries to create jobs such as energy efficiency retrofits, home weatherization, green construction, public transportation, recycling and materials reuse, urban agriculture, etc. Use local and targeted hire to ensure full access to these jobs for communities facing the highest unemployment and poverty rates, and provide job training and other community benefits.
• Save Money for Residents: Reduce water, energy and food costs, and ensure accessible, affordable and safe public transportation to low-income families and communities of color which are impacted most by rising costs of living related to climate change.
• Improve Public Health: Make public health improvements a priority outcome for the Energy and Climate Action Plan. Prioritize actions that improve public health such as improving air and water quality, creating safe (less toxic and more green), career track, family wage jobs and providing accessible, affordable and safe public transportation) and de-prioritize actions that would have a negative impact on public health.
  

Priority Actions

Below are six categories and priority actions that can meet the goals above, to "minimize the pain and maximize the gain" for all Oakland residents especially low-income communities.

1. Transportation and Land Use
2. Building and Energy Use
3. Consumption and Solid Waste
   
4. Food, Water and Forestry
   
5. Community Engagement
   
6. Climate Change Adaptation Planning

1. Transportation and Land Use

Transportation is the largest contributor of GHG emissions in Oakland, comprising nearly two-thirds of all emissions. We must ensure that public transportation is accessible, affordable and safe for transit-dependent populations and for those who choose to take buses, trains, their feet or their bikes. To achieve these ends, Oakland should invest heavily in Bus Rapid Transit lanes, local bus routes, and the ongoing operation of public transit (both monetarily and by lobbying for federal, state, regional and county funding allocations), safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and housing options (including anti-displacement mechanisms) for a range of incomes near transit hubs and along major transit corridors. The result will be major reductions in GHG emissions, safer streets, healthier communities, and hundreds of new green collar jobs.

Specific Policy Recommendations

• Develop a public transit master plan for Oakland in partnership with AC Transit and other agencies that ensures access for low-income residents.
• Oakland's ECAP should prioritize the completion of bicycle and pedestrian networks to provide safe, healthy transportation choices for all residents. Oakland should prioritize access to transit, jobs and commercial activity, improvements in neighborhoods with low car ownership, and traditionally underserved neighborhoods.
• Pursue pricing approaches that both disincentivize driving and support alternative transportation options by implementing a Transportation Impact Fee and setting strategic pricing for parking and use generated revenue for Eco Passes (unlimited transit use) for students and large employers i.e. Oakland Unified School District, hospitals, colleges/junior colleges, City and County agencies).
• Significantly reduce diesel fuel consumption and better protect local residents health by creating transportation codes that mirror the recently passed California Air Resources Board (CARB) Diesel Truck Rule, the 5-minute idling law and by creating designated truck routes that prohibit driving through and parking near or in residential neighborhoods. Use the West Oakland truck ordinance as a model to be implemented city wide to reduce GHG emissions and protect public health.
• Enhance and implement land use and transportation plans and design review standards that zone for and encourage high density, mixed use residential and transit-oriented development near transit hubs along major transit corridors including affordable housing for a range of incomes reflecting Oakland's demographics and housing needs, retail, services and employment opportunities for Oakland residents - particularly for low-income families.

2. Building and Energy Use

We must increase energy efficiency in our homes, businesses and public buildings by Greening the energy we consume, maximizing the procurement of renewable energy as a percentage of the city's energy use and maximizing access to the benefits of renewable energy, green construction, and energy efficiency for low-income and vulnerable communities.

Specific Policy Recommendations:

• Develop a comprehensive energy efficiency retrofit and solar program that enables building owners to pay for energy efficiency retrofits, solar water heaters, and solar PV systems over 20 years through a special assessment on their property tax bill. Include incentives to enroll renters and low-to-moderate income earners and an ordinance to ensure that energy efficiency improvements occur upon sale or major remodeling (RECO/CECO).
  
• Enable renters and tenants of Multi-Family Units to make energy efficiency improvements through existing ratepayer-sponsored programs or by new programs. Property owners shall not unduly burden tenants through rent increases on the basis of energy efficiency improvements. Conduct extensive outreach campaign that includes utility and property tax bill inserts, and education specifically targeting neighbors of color and low-income.
  
• Institutionalize a free, multi-tiered energy efficiency audit program that trains and employs youth and adults facing barriers to employment in conducting basic, entry-level, and/or home performance building energy auditing under the supervision of non-profit partners and/or licensed contractors. During these audits, provide residents with a comprehensive list of free and subsidized home improvement services based on income.
  
• In collaboration with community organizations, green businesses, and labor, the city should tailor the local grid to maximize local clean energy development, green jobs, and GHG reductions. Using California's Community Choice law, Oakland should charter a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) composed of diverse stakeholders to meet local energy goals. This project should include local hire, prevailing wage and project labor agreements for large-scale contracts, local, minority owned and union contractors, local manufacturing and monitoring and reporting to the city and the public.
  
• Require the 300 Oakland businesses that consume 50% of the city's electricity (30 of which consume 28% of the city's electricity) and 50% of the city's gas to implement aggressive energy conservation and efficiency strategies ensuring jobs created from this policy go to residents from Oakland's Urban Revitalization Program Areas. Also, assist local and minority owned contractors (especially those in Oakland's Urban Revitalization Areas) to do similar energy conservation measures by providing incentives, grants and a revolving loan fund. Provide both groups with a clearinghouse of resources and information to assist in the process.
  

3. Consumption and Solid Waste

Expand and Improve Waste Reduction, Recycling, Reuse and Composting. Maximize reuse and recycling of materials. Reduce consumption of goods made from non-recycled or non-biodegradable materials. Develop and implement green purchasing and procurement guidelines for all city and city-funded agencies.

Specific Policy Recommendations

• Restructure Oakland's Municipal Code, Garbage Franchise Agreement, and Residential Recycling Service Contracts and rates to (1) provide incentives for families, businesses, and collections service providers to reduce waste; (2) require the collection of composting and yard-waste for all buildings.
  
• Require Commercial Building Owners/Managers to Provide Tenants with Access to Recycling and Composting Services.
  
• Require Recycling and Waste Reduction Plans for all Large Public Events, Festivals, Fairs, etc.
  
• Expand Oakland's Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling Ordinance to include a broader range of projects, and add incentives for deconstruction and salvage.
  
• Adopt Zero Waste Policies and Practices in the City's own operations, facilities, and capital improvement and maintenance practices, including strict implementation of the City's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy.
  
• Promote Reduction of Product Waste through producer responsibility to drive improvements in product design, and through fostering enhanced local reuse, refurbishment, and repair opportunities.
  
• Remove polluting recycling centers from residential neighborhoods to industrial areas.
  
• Ensure consumption and waste reduction employees are protected with strong safety and public health standards and require a living wage for all employees.
  
• Centralize non-polluting recycling centers to include a variety of recyclable materials so that such facilities are accessible to Oakland residents who rely on recycling collection for survival.
  

4. Food, Water and Urban Agriculture/ Forestry

Encourage sustainable consumption by significantly increase the amount of local healthy food, reduce the consumption of carbon-intensive foods, increase water conservation and expand urban forestry initiatives. Ensure food security for communities that lack grocery stores, healthy food and green, open spaces.

Specific Policy Recommendations

• Promote urban forestry by providing residents with free street tree planting to reduce a specified quantity of building energy consumption and provide potential carbon sequestration benefits. Phase in this program geographically beginning with areas where trees and green space are lacking.
  
• Install rainwater harvesting, permeable paving, and greywater systems to meet a required reduction of municipal water use (TBD) while prioritizing this work on Public Works Projects. Provide subsidies and rebates to low-income homeowners and renters and ensure that low-income residents benefit from cost savings from municipal water use reductions.
  
• Create a Training and Certification Program for new low-tech/low-cost greywater plumbers and food microenterprises including urban micro-farming, processing and distribution.
  
• Promote Urban and Regional Agriculture by making unused public land within city limits (including school grounds, city land, and park land) accessible for long-term use for personal, non-profit, and micro-enterprise organic and sustainable food production for consumption within city limits prioritizing projects that create green collar jobs for low-income residents and direct food produced to low-income communities through retail, food banks, and schools. Require and supply assistance in soil testing and remediation.
  
• Support the Development of existing and new Food Markets by requiring all food businesses (retail outlets, restaurants, government facilities, hospitals and health care facilities, etc) to locally source a required percentage (TBD) of the food they sell. Provide support to small businesses owned by Oakland residents by creating new ordinances that support producing local food.
  
• Support the development of ‘closed loop' local food-based microenterprises including production, processing and marketing by creating five small-scale commercial kitchens in underserved areas of Oakland by 2015 in order to stimulate local food microenterprises, increase food literacy, reduce GHG emissions and waste, and create green collar jobs.
  

5. Community Engagement

Launch a public engagement campaign designed for populations that are traditionally left out of planning processes such low-income communities and communities of color. Conduct this process in full partnership with community-based organizations, business, labor, environmental organizations, and public educational institutions.

Specific Policy Recommendations

• Actively engage and solicit input from Oakland's diverse communities especially low-income communities of color to move beyond just disseminating information. The ECAP should develop a community engagement campaign that makes and encourages space for community discussion so that community members can engage with local officials and one another. Utilize community expertise for outreach including community-based organizations, neighborhood associations, churches, schools, etc.
  
• To meet the stated goals of actively engaging and soliciting input from the Oakland community, particularly those historically underrepresented in policy development and implementation, it is essential that the city is able to secure and disburse funds to support active engagement. An appropriate allocation must be budgeted to fund diverse public outreach strategies using the existing community-based infrastructure and new methods for communicating and actively engaging the many sectors of the Oakland community.
  
• Call for demonstration projects that are developed and led by the community to reduce greenhouse gases by (1) expand local food security, (2) strengthen local habitat, (3) lower energy consumption, (4) lower water consumption, (5) reduce landfill, disposal and clean up costs, (6) support public transportation and other alternatives to driving, and (7) expand community education, awareness, engagement and transition. These projects may be funded by the city and must demonstrate innovative approaches and be representative the diverse community and perspectives of Oakland (especially low-income communities for color and immigrant communities).
  
• Pilot evaluation tools and indicators to measure the impact of ECAP programs in meeting climate targets, basic human needs and sustaining local ecologies. The City should produce an annual progress report and include the findings in the Mayor's State of the City. [Examples of alternative indices include the Genuine Progress Indicator and Index of Sustainable Human Welfare.].
  
• Each major decision making body in Oakland pertaining to land use, plannin, transportation, building and energy use, education and public health would create an advisory seat for an Environmental Sustainability ombudsman to cast advisory votes. The ombudsman will also serve as a liaison to CBOs, quasi-governmental organizations (QGOs) on to communicate the impact of that body's decisions and to receive community input and reports via agenized items the body's regular calendar.

6. Climate Change Adaptation Planning

Develop and adopt a climate change adaptation plan that fully funds adaptation strategies to manage unavoidable climate change impacts. This plan should including disaster preparation, protective infrastructure to guard against sea level rise, health insurance and evacuation plans. This plan should also provide for long-term food security, water security and energy security, as well as public health needs for Oakland's most vulnerable communities. Finally, this plan should be created in partnership with the community engagement strategy outlined above.

Specific Policy Recommendations

• Require a significant amount of funding from revenue generating ECPA policies be reserved for Climate Change Adaptation Planning.
  
• Ensure Oakland residents - especially those most vulnerable - are protected with infrastructure to guard against sea level rise.
  
• Ensure health care, food, water, shelter, and cooling centers are available in preparation for and during a climate crisis.
  
• Utilize the existing social networks to move beyond disaster preparedness and achieve disaster resilience. This includes a comprehensive training component that empowers community members to lead climate change adaptation efforts.

We strongly urge the City of Oakland to adopt these actions and the policies associated with them. Such action will help position Oakland as a model city that is addressing climate change in a way that is economically vibrant, environmentally sound, and socially just.