What Cities Can Do: Specific Climate Actions

Data.  Define Carbon Neutrality (CN) for your city.  CN in a general sense means having a balance between emitting greenhouse gases and absorbing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in carbon sinks.  Put another way, CN means that the GHG emissions associated with the activities that occur within the City’s local government area are equal to zero.  To determine if the CN goal is being approached or met, the City should carry out a GHG emissions inventory in accordance with the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories. www.ghgprotocol.org.  The Protocol was created and is managed by the World Resources Institute, Washington DC and Geneva, Switzerland. www.wri.org

Decarbonizing of City Buildings and Operations, Followed by Acting so as to Bring About the Decarbonizing of All City Sectors. 1.  Create a Climate Action Plan for City operations and for all GHG-emitting activities city-wide. 2. Develop a plan for the conversion of all of a City’s operations to all-electric operations, such as moving toward replacing all heating, cooling, water heating, and other HVAC operations to heat pumps 3. Take steps to replace City-owned fossil fueled vehicles of all types, as well as building and land maintenance equipment, with electric vehicles and equipment. 4. Determine where the City can replace building construction activities that use traditional concrete and cement with low-carbon alternatives.  For example, Paris, France has adopted embodied carbon requirements that include assessments of emissions from construction activities and materials, which must be applied to all new builds in that city. 5. Conduct a survey of all the lighting in City-owned and operated premises to determine if the most energy-efficient types of lighting are being used.  Replace all energy-inefficient lighting with LED or other comparable types of energy-efficient lighting. “USA’s Largest Urban Streetlight Modernization Project Announced in D.C.” www.cleantechnica.com 5/20/22. 6. Municipal utilities should attractively incentivize both residential and commercial customers to take actions that will result in the emission of a lower level of GHG emissions: rooftop and ground-mounted solar pv; VAWT windpower generation; building energy efficiency; the adoption of heat pumps for heating, cooling, and water heating; the replacement of gas stoves with electric induction cooking, etc. 7.  Move toward the City’s becoming certified at the highest levels in the USGBC’s LEED for Cities and Communities program. 8. Identify areas in the city where District Heating & Cooling (DHC) systems, powered by renewables or carbon-neutral fuels, or by nearby available waste heat,  could replace less energy-efficient individual building HVAC systems.  8. Commit the City to assisting in a community-wide energy efficiency retrofit of existing homes and buildings of all types. 9. Adopt your state’s Stretch Energy Code if it has one. “Stretch Codes” www.newbuildings.org . If state legislation allows, a City can create its own Stretch Code. 10. Adopt building performance standards. For assistance see: “Everything You Need to Know About the New Building Performance Standards Coalition”. www.ase.org 2/14/22. “What You Need to Know About Building Performance Standards”. www.facilitiesnet.com  and “How Local Governments & Communities Are Taking Action to Get Fossil Fuels Out of Buildings”. www.cleantechnica.com 8/12/22. 11. City governments should take steps to ban natural gas in new and substantially renovated buildings. “Eugene Becomes First City in Oregon to Ban Natural Gas” www.cleantechnica.com  7/30/22. “L.A. is Banning Most Gas Appliances in New Homes”. www.latimes.com 5/27/22. “California Cities Lead the Way on Pollution-free Homes and Buildings”. www.sierraclub.org 7/22/21. 12. Adopt a Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), similar to Boston’s. “Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure” www.boston.gov/departments/environment/building-emissions-reduction-and-disclosure  “Boston Enacts Building Decarbonization Ordinance”. www.smartcitiesdive.com 10/6/21. Cambridge MA has a similar ordinance. “Cambridge Building Owners: WegoWise Can Help You With the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance” (BEUDO). www.wegowise.com . 13. Make asphalt everywhere reflective. “Solar Reflective Coating” www.pavementsurfacecoatings.com/solar-reflective-coating/  “South Phoenix Streets Get Reflective Coating to Fight Excessive Heat”. www.phoenix.gov 10/21/21.  14. Cities should work with the boards of condominium associations and home owners associations so that their properties become more energy efficient and less dependent upon fossil fuels, such as by allowing the development of renewable energy generating and storage equipment on their buildings and land.  Many of these types of communities would be ideal candidates for microgrids.

Finance. Financial aspects of investments in climate-related projects, improvements, etc. 1. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. Local governments are encouraged to become aware of and to take advantage of the so-called “Direct Pay” provisions of the IRA to carry out such climate actions as the purchase of EVs, the undertaking of clean and other renewable energy projects, the creation of microgrids, etc. “Inflation Reduction Act: Clean Energy Project Eligibility for Local Governments”. www.nlc.org  2. Property-Assessed Clean Energy Programs (PACE). PACE financing solves the upfront cost barrier to energy conservation and renewable energy improvements by providing 100% financing for project costs.  PACE-enabling legislation is active in 38 states plus Washington DC. See PACE programs by state at www.pacenation.org/pace-programs/ . PACE-Nation is a national nonprofit association that advocates for PACE financing. www.pacenation.org .

Investment Policies and Practices. Urge that your City government divest itself of ownership of stock in fossil fuel-based companies. “Six Additional Cities Pledge to Divest From Fossil Fuel Companies and Invest in Climate Solutions”  www.c40.org 10/26/21 . The 6 cities referred to are Aukland, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Seattle.  Previously divested are London, NYC, Berlin, Bristol, Cape Town, Durban, Los Angeles, Milan, New Orleans, Oslo, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver.  Consider replacing these investments with, eg., the S&P Global Clean Energy Index and the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index.

Legislation. 1.  Adopt a carbon-reduction ordinance for existing buildings to require energy benchmarking and carbon performance of existing buildings over a certain size, such as 20,000 s.f. of building area. Require multi-family buildings to reduce fossil fuel usage by 15% in 5 years. Require all buildings to be fossil fuel-free by 2050. 2.  Cities should pass legislation that Home Owners Associations cannot prohibit solar installs. Perhaps the same with condo associations. “NC Supreme Court: HOAs Cannot Prohibit Solar Installs” www.cleantechnica.com 6/28/22. 3.  City governments should consider banning the construction of new gas stations, as is currently happening in California.  4. Cities should impose a ban on gasoline-powered land and landscaping tools, especially leaf blowers. “Lexington Residents Vote to Restrict, Eventually Ban Gas-powered Leaf Blowers” www.wcvb.com 3/8/22. “Leaf Blowers: Out of Gas?” www.rochesterbeacon.com 5/4/22.  Other cities that have acted in a similar manner include Brookline MA, Montclair NJ, Burlington VT, Washington DC, Chevy Chase MD, Long Beach CA, Greenwich CT, Naples FL, Ann Arbor MI, and Larchmont NY.

Munis. “Munis” are municipal utilities providing electric power – and sometimes gas – to a specific city. Sometimes known as Municipal Light Plants (MLPs). It may be operated as a City department, or by a separate elected or appointed board.  If your city has a muni, then read this section.  If not, then skip over it to the next.
1. Cities and their munis should work together to identify the most promising sources of clean renewable energy. The muni of the Town of Concord MA is a good example. It is committed to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030.  CMLP has been decarbonizing its power supply by purchasing renewable power from developers in MA, NH, CT and ME, and by purchasing RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates). In 2021 approximately 84% of CMLP’s electricity sales came from non carbon-emitting sources.  It also offers a wide range of rebate programs to help its customers offset the cost of improvements such as weatherization, high-efficiency lighting, rooftop solar pv, heat pumps for heating, cooling and hot water, purchases of EVs, and home EV charging systems.
2. MLPs that have not yet already done so should adopt a Power Supply Policy (PSP).  A PSP is an effective means of integrating clean and non-emitting resources into long-term planning. Such policies are a transparent way to establish clean energy mix goals, outline a REC retirement schedule, and provide a clear process for public input on revising and updating emissions reduction targets.  See the PSP of the Belmont MA MLP “Power Supply Policy” www.belmontlight.com 
  3. Munis should further decarbonize their grids by using battery storage to enable increased integration of renewable energy technologies. “1st Tesla Megapack Deployed in NYC, Nine Dot Launches Community-scale Bronx Battery Energy Storage Site” www.cleantechnica.com 8/13/22
  4. Munis should enter into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with large-scale solar power developers, purchasing power at a wholesale rate. “Power Purchase Agreements for Small to Medium Municipalities” www.communityenergyinc.com/munippas and “RMI Sees Potential to De-risk Municipal Power Acquisition in PPAs” www.utilitydive.com 3/30/21. 
5. Munis should encourage, and participate actively in the development of community-shared solar, or solar gardens, as they are sometimes termed. These are intended to benefit home and business owners who desire to utilize solar energy but whose own properties are not suitable candidates for on-site solar. See Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) www.smud.org/en/Going-Green/Community-Solar 
6. Munis can offer Performance-Based Incentives to solar system owners. “The Role of Municipal Utilities in Driving Solar Development” www.slideshare.net 
7. Munis should offer generous rebate and/or cash incentives to customers who purchase and install solar energy systems, both pv and thermal. “Cities That Have Policies or Programs That Help Citizens and Businesses Choose Renewable Electricity Options” www.usmayors.org 
8. City-owned electric utilities should look into creating Virtual Power Plants (VPPs).  Do this by encouraging and financially assisting residents, businesses, institutions, etc. to install batteries on their individual premises, or both solar pv and batteries. “Virtual Power Plant – How to Network Distributed Energy Resources” www.next-kraftwerke.com/vpp/virtual-power-plant and “Northeast Embraces First-of-a-kind Virtual Power Plant” www.eenews.net 10/12/22. Also, the state of Hawaii’s Battery Bonus (BB) program could be used as a model for something similar by munis. BB compensates individual solar-plus-battery owners for being in the business of supplying the power grid on an as-needed basis. “Hawaii is Paying Home Battery Owners to Help the Grid” www.canarymedia.com 10/6/22.
9. Another VPP model at the state level that could be adapted by a muni is Vermont’s Green Mountain Power VPP. “This Utility Keeps Customers Cool During Heat Waves, While Saving Them Money” www.canarymedia.com 8/11/22 and “The Power Grid Explained – Plus Demand Response, Virtual Power Plants and More” www.canarymedia.com 6/2/22.
10. A muni can continue to research and identify beneficial climate actions that have been carried out by cities having munis, at Utility Dive www.utilitydive.com  and at the website of the American Public Power Association” www.publicpower.org.
11. Municipal utilities should offer “time of use” electricity pricing that will allow EV owners, as well as homes and other buildings containing battery storage, to receive lower rates for EV and on-premises battery charging during off-peak hours.

Power Generation and Acquisition (Green Power).
1. Conduct an inventory of all locations within the city where increased renewable energy generators, and energy storage, can be achieved:underutilized open spaces, brownfields, rooftops and parking areas of large commercial, industrial and institutional buildings, farmland (for agrivoltaics), water body surfaces (for floatovoltaics), etc.
2. Commit to achieving 100% renewable energy in all City operations by a specific year.
3. Encourage what is generally referred to as distributed green energy (solar and wind) in all sectors of the city, as well as community solar/wind. Microgrids, district heating, and distributed energy storage should be included here as well. Some level of education of the general public as to the benefits of these technologies should precede the encouragement.
4. Strive to have your city become a recognized SolSmart community. SolSmart is a program that is funded by USDOE, whose goal is to make it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar. Its designations are Bronze, Silver, and Gold. www.solsmart.org .
5. Cities should look to join with neighboring communities to purchase renewable energy in bulk at wholesale prices. “Banding Together: How Aggregation Helps Cities Buy Renewables at Scale” www.cleantechnica.com 8/18/21. “Large-scale Renewables Aggregation Cohort – Building Renewables Aggregation Knowledge” www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4XUe6xZ7k. “Procuring Large-Scale Renewables Through Aggregation: a Guide for Local Governments” www.rmi.org . and “Rose to Valfortore: The Example of Small Villages” (Italy) www.the-beam.com .
6. Regional authorities, such as counties, and regional planning agencies can assist the communities they serve in coordinating the purchase of renewable power at wholesale prices. “Southern Maine Solar Collaborative” www.smpdc.org/solar.
7. School boards should be encouraged to enter into solar electricity production arrangements with area solar developers. PV installations would be mounted on both rooftop and ground sites.
8. Approach owners of commercial and multifamily residential properties to initiate solar and other renewable energy installations – such as VAWT – on their roofs and parking lots and garages.
9. City governments need to push their regional electric utilities to retire their fossil fuel generating plants and to add more renewable energy assets to their grids.
10 A city with a river whose current remains strong throughout the year can look into generating clean renewable power via the RivGen Power System, from ORPC of Portland ME. “New Resource for Microgrids – River Currents”. www.microgridknowledge.com 1/9/23 and www.orpc.co
11. An entire smaller city or town can operate successfully as a microgrid within the grid of its regional utility. “Solar Plus Storage Microgrid Now Operating in Hot Springs, NC” www.tdworld.com 2/2/23.
12. Make sure that your city uses such technology as Smart Grids and Smart Meters. A Smart Grid uses technology to enhance the communication, automation, and connectivity of the various components of the power network. The Smart Meters collect data on energy use and help power plants to better predict and respond to periods of peak demand. It is estimated that SG and SM could cut energy use and CO2 emissions by 12%. “How Smart Grid is Revolutionizing Cities” www.smartcitiesdive.com “Smart Meters For the Cutting Edge Smart Cities” www.smartcity.press/how-smart-meters-reduce-electricity-cost .
13. Host a community “Solarize” campaign, similar to the one in Cambridge MA. It allows residents to benefit from group discounts and affordable solar financing. “Sunny Cambridge Launches”. www.cambridgema.gov 4/8/16.
14. Community climate action activists can consult the Sierra Club’s Activist Toolkit for guidance in leading their city or town to achieving 100% clean energy. www.sierraclub.org/clean-energy-toolkit
15. Pursue creative finance and management scenarios to get solar built on city government properties, including schools. Example: “New Jersey School District Gets 390 kw of Solar Power on Two Schools”. www.cleantechnica.com 8/3/22.
16. Individuals and groups advocating for increased renewable energy projects need to know how to proceed to ensure maximum chances for success. “Reducing Local Opposition to Renewables”. www.cleantechnica.com 6/9/22. “Sources of Opposition to Renewable Energy Projects in the United States”. www.sciencedirect.com

Public Communications. It is beneficial for any kind of organization to let its public know of worthwhile activities in which it is involved. A city becoming involved in climate planning and action should initiate and maintain such an activity so as to garner the maximum level of support from the community.
1. Develop an ongoing program in which knowledgeable city climate staff go into the community to explain low- and zero-carbon energy options, as well as examples of how the city plans to decarbonize.
2. Design and build a website, or a distinct page of your city’s official website, which will tell the story of your city’s efforts to carry out climate-related actions. Give generous credit to any and all individuals, businesses, institutions, etc., who are involved in supporting the city’s climate activities. “Minneapolis Climate Action Plan” www.minneapolismn.gov
3. Initiate a program giving awards, perhaps on an annual basis, to winners of your city’s version of the Carbon Neutral Adelaide Awards www.carbonneutraladelaide.com.au/awards-2021 Categories could include: Energy and the Built Environment, Low-carbon Transport, Waste and the Circular Economy, Business/Professional Leadership, Community Involvement, etc.
4. Send out news releases to all local and metropolitan media and appropriate forms of social media providing up-to-date information on what your city is doing re. climate, clean energy, decarbonization, improved waste management practices, etc.

Purchasing. City purchasing offices should be aware that some of the products and services that a city buys are environmentally preferable to others.
1. City purchasing offices should pursue Green Public Procurement. By using their purchasing power to choose goods and services with a reduced environmental impact, local governments can make an important contribution toward sustainability goals. “Green Public Procurement” www.oecd.org/gov/public-procurement/green/ .
2. “Prioritize Climate-smart Purchasing and Contracting” www.pathtopositive.org
3. “Climate Mayors Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative” www.driveevfleets.org

Staffing/Consultants and Local Governance.
1. If one does not already exist, the mayor or city manager should designate a City Council committee on climate action. Direct this and any other relevant council committees to become both active and interactive in climate action: eg., carry out an inventory of greenhouse gases, begin to work on a Climate Action Plan, and recruit some form of steering committee, working group, task force of citizens and community leaders to work with the City in these efforts.
2. The City should create and staff an office or department of climate action or sustainability. This position should not just be assigned to some current city staffer or department head who already has a full-time job.
3. Direct City officials, department heads, and supporting staff to fully cooperate with, and support the work of the climate office. “Why Would a City Need a Chief Climate Officer?” www.governing.com 8/26/22.
4. City climate staff should work with building management professionals and consultants to determine how Building Automation Systems (BAS) can enable City-owned properties to save energy. “Building Automation Systems” www.drawdown.org/solutions/building-automation-systems
5. Cities which will be likely to experience increasingly hotter than normal summer temperatures should act as Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Miami have, and create a Chief Heat Officer position. “Los Angeles Becomes Latest City to Hire ‘Chief Heat Officer’” www.smithsonianmag.com 6/21/22.

Transport. There are numerous ways that a city can play a role in reducing emissions from motor vehicles.
1. Survey all of the City’s transportation and work vehicles. Begin to carry out a program to replace vehicles powered by fossil fuels with EVs and hybrids. If school busing is contracted for with a private company, initiate discussions and negotiations that are aimed at the company’s switching over to electrically powered student transport within a specified number of years.
2. Require that fast-charging EV chargers be installed on all new residential and commercial construction and substantial rehabs.
3. Planners should use the best available tools in selecting sites for EV charging stations. “New Model Finds Best Sites For Electric Vehicle Charging Stations” www.cleantechnica.com 6/7/22.
4. Cities can locate EV chargers on light poles as well as in other public locations. “National Grid Installs Pole-mounted EV Chargers in Massachusetts” www.cleantechnica.com . “Seattle Offers Utility Pole EV Chargers to City Residents” www.cleantechnica.com 6/20/22.
5. City governments can enter into arrangements with EV charging station manufacturers to install charging stations across their cities. “Volta & Hoboken, NJ, Partner to Install 25 New Public EV Chargers” www.cleantechnica.com 8/14/22.
6. Cities should be encouraging major retailers and shopping centers to install EV chargers for their customers.
7. Cities should require owners/operators of private parking facilities to install a minimum number of EV charging stations, or pay a fine”. “Vancouver Requires Gas Stations & Parking Lots Without EV Chargers to Pay $10,000 Per Year”. www.cleantechnica.com 5/24/22.
8. Work with the City’s or the region’s public transit agency to more quickly achieve a fleet of all-electric buses and other vehicles.
9. Expand the range of carbon-free mobility devices in your city: conventional bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, golf carts, etc. “a Bike-sharing Model to Get More People Moving” (Hangzhou, China) www.markdouglaswessel.com
10. City governments can get into the owning and managing of their own EV car-sharing programs. (Minneapolis & St. Paul). “Evie Carshare is the Nation’s 1st City-owned Electric Car-sharing Network” www.motorbiscuit.com
11. A muni (municipal utility) might offer its customers a rebate on the purchase of an e-bike or similar electrically powered small vehicle, or operate an e-bike-sharing or lending program. “Oakland Electric Bike Library Program” www.ktvu.com .
12. “EV Charging Network: 8 Ways US States & Cities Can Make it Work” www.cleantechnica.com 6/25/22.
13. A Complete Streets program should be part of every city’s Climate Action Plan. “Complete Streets” www.smartgrowthamerica.org
14. If a City owns its own school buses, commit to replacing all fossil-fueled school buses by 2035 or earlier. “Electric School Bus Education” www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_school_buses.html “Boston Will Move to 100% Electric School Buses by 2030” www.electrek.co 4/13/22.
15. Cities should replace some of their curbside parking with bicycle parking facilities – 10 bikes per each car parking space. “Clever Low-cost Way to Improve & Increase Biking in the City” www.cleantechnica.com 9/2/22 and “What is a Protected Bike Lane?” www.cleantechnica.com 5/21/16.

TruCarbon.  Does your city or region contain farmland?  TruCarbon (from Land O’Lakes) advises farmers on how to sequester more carbon through measures such as planting and over-wintering cover crops, and no-till planting.  TruCarbon can also help farmers to generate and sell carbon credits to private sector buyers.  “Land O’Lakes Truterra Launches TruCarbon Carbon Program”. 2/3/21. www.agriculture.com

Urban Rewilding/Greening/Carbon Sequestration.  Cities should aim to utilize their existing available resources as carbon sinks: its forested areas and other tree canopy, grasslands, salt marshes, wetlands, peatlands, agricultural land, sea meadows, etc. And to create more areas capable of removing carbon and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere – greenways, street trees, green roofs and walls, reclaimed brownfields, vertical farms, and more.
1. Urban Rewilding. UR looks to restore natural processes and to reintroduce nature on a city scale. UR has a wide range of benefits, from improving health to helping to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises. “Rewilding Cities: Why It’s Needed and How You Can Help” www.mossy.earth/rewilding-knowledge/rewilding-cities . “Here Are Some Ways the World’s Cities Are Rewilding” www.rewildingmag.com 6/9/22.
2. Carbon Sequestration. “Carbon Capture Gardens: A Nature-based Solution For Managing Urban Brownfield Soils” www.thenatureofcities.com 2/7/16. “Estimating Carbon Storage In Urban Forests of New York City” www.naturalareasnyc.org 10/5/21. “Carbon Sequestration and Storage Potential of Urban Green in Residential Yards” (a case study in Helsinki) www.sciencedirect.com . “Turning Urban Wastelands into Carbon Capture Gardens” (UK) www.sciencedaily.com 12/13/16. “Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sink Than Trees” www.ucdavis.edu. “Top 5 Most Efficient Ecosystems For Carbon Storage” (tundra, seagrass meadows, mangrove forests, salt marshes, and tropical forests) www.sdu.dk 10/29/18.
3. Trees. Identify areas where your city’s tree canopy can be expanded. “Expand Your City’s Tree Canopy” www.c40knowledgehub.org . “Expand Tree Canopy Cover” www.sustainablecode.org . “U.S. Forest Service Urban and Community Forest Program” www.fs.usda.gov . Arbor Day Foundation’s “Tree City USA” program www.arborday.org/programs/treecityusa/ . Seattle’s “Trees For Neighborhoods” program. www.seattle.gov/trees/planting-and-care/trees-for-neighborhoods . “Sarasota Wants Residents to Plant More Trees” www.usf.edu . “Our City Forest Planting the Future” (San Jose CA) www.ourcityforest.org . “City Trees and Soil Are Sucking More Carbon” www.bu.edu . Biochar. The City of Stockholm has started to use its park and garden waste (any wood waste will do) to produce biochar via pyrolysis (see this website’s page on Emerging & Underutilized Technologies). The biochar is then applied to urban growing media and structural soils for tree plantings, which results in higher quality soil with greater levels of carbon sequestration. “Planting Urban Trees With Biochar” www.biochar-journal.org/en/ct/77  City governments may be able to generate revenue from planting trees by selling credits (carbon offsets) to buyers seeking to offset their own carbon emissions. This may (may!) also be able to be extended to a city’s maintaining forests, grasslands, and other natural areas able to sequester carbon.  Check out: www.carboncredits.com/urban-forest-carbon-credits/, www.cityforestcredits.org/carbon-credits/ , “King County Urban Forest Preservation Project” and “Cities Net $1 Million From Carbon Credit” www.axios.com 4/4/22. “Granite City Adds More Trees and Will Be Able to Sell the Carbon Credits” (St. Louis area) www.news.stlpublicradio.org 5/27/22. “Dallas Renews Plans to Look Into Selling Carbon Credits from the Trinity Forest” www.dallasnews.com 8/1/22. 
4. Regenerative Soil Management. If agriculture is a prominent activity in your city or region, then farm practices involving tilling of the soil, monoculture crop practices, synthetic fertilizers, and livestock feedlots are all contributing to your community’s being part of the carbon problem, rather than part of the solution. “What Are Regenerative Farming Practices?” www.motherearthnews.com “Soil & Land” www.organiclandcare.ca/resources_soil . 
5. Golf Course Management. Cities owning and managing public golf courses should become familiar with sustainable golf course management techniques. “The Role of Golf Courses in Carbon Sequestration” www.eigca.org 2/16/21 . “Sustainable Golf Course Management” www.greenbusinessbureau.com 12/29/21. “How to Make Golf Courses More Sustainable and Climate Resilient” www.golfindustrynetwork.ca .
6. Buildings as Carbon Sinks. Can a city’s buildings be transformed from net-plus-carbon to climate-neutral, or even carbon negative? “Technology That Could Turn Buildings into Climate Fighting Tools” www.bloomberg.com 11/11/21. This article describes the Urban Sequoia concept, developed by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).  “A Blueprint for Sustainable Architecture” www.inhabitat.com . “Buildings Must Become the Earth’s Sixth Carbon Sink” www.aia.org   Biocrete. Uses biochar added to the concrete mix to produce “a Carbon Negative Concrete” (in Norway) www.snohetta.com and www.biocrete.no .

Waste. Waste, especially organic waste, is a significant part of the world’s volume of GHG emissions.
1. Encourage your city’s mayor and council to become a Circular Economy (CE). Embrace CE in all department throughout the City. www.deladenergi.se .
2. Determine what percentage of your city’s waste goes to landfills or incinerators. Pledge to reduce that number by a lot. “Towards Zero Waste Accelerator” www.c40.org
3. Cities should collect food and other organic waste separately and operate their own composting operations, as opposed to simply trucking it away to landfills and incinerators. “Residential Food Waste Collection Programs by State” www.biocycle.net
4. Encourage your city’s officials to ban all single-use plastics – clamshells, plastic drink accessories, single-use plastic bags, etc. “16 Times Countries and Cities Have Banned Single-use Plastics” www.globalcitizen.org 4/25/18.
5. Update your city’s waste-handling methods by determining how best to involve robotics and AI in the process. “Waste Robotics” www.wasterobotics.com .
6. City government should pursue powering its wastewater treatment plant with renewable energy (solar, or biogas generated on the site). “Novel Waste Treatment Efficiently Converts Sewage to Biogas” www.wsu.edu .
7. Adopt a Pay-as-you-Throw (PAYT) policy for urban trash, where compost and recycling are the standard waste collection service, and trash is charged by the weight/size of the trash container chosen by the customer. www.payasyouthrow.org .
8. Require all multifamily buildings and businesses to recycle and compost. “Multifamily Recycling Requirements” www.austintexas.gov  “Collection for Businesses & Large Buildings” www.minneapolismn.gov .
9. “Require minimum waste diversion rate for construction and demolition as part of the building code for those products that have viable end markets, such as cardboard, clean wood, and metal. “Construction and Demolition Debris Program” www.woodsidetown.org .
10. Cities can create compost from the aerobic processing of food waste and making it available to local farms, nurseries, etc. “Charleston County’s Composting Program” www.charlestoncounty.org .
11. An increasing number of cities are making biogas and other useful products out of tons of food waste via anaerobic digestion. “Turning Food Into Fuel” www.politico.com 11/21/19.
12. Explore the local use of vermiculture (involves worms) to make compost from food and other bio-waste materials. “Vermiculture Improves Urban Farming in Argentina” (city of Rosario) www.idrc.ca and “Vermicomposting For Municipal Organic Waste Disposal” www.kerrcenter.com .
13. Cities should separate out clothes, shoes, and other textiles and leathers from general trash, and partner with companies such as Helpsy (www.helpsy.co) .  The higher grade textile items collected by Helpsy are resold to thrift stores and second-hand markets. The lower-grade items are converted into rags for industrial use. For information on a similar program, contact Town of Arlington MA Recycling Coordinator Charlotte Milan cmilan@town.arlington.ma.us or www.arlingtonma.gov/recycle .
14. San Francisco Leading by Example. “San Francisco Reaches 80 Percent Landfill Waste Diversion” www.sfenvironment.org .
15. Recommendations of Boston’s Zero Waste Advisory Committee. www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/embed/file/2019-06/zero_waste_bos_recs_final.pdf .
16. The Bin-e Smart Waste Bin (Poland). It is designed for use in public spaces and enables simplified recycling.  It sorts glass, plastic and metal, compresses the waste automatically, controls the fill level, and processes data for convenient waste management  by the City or its waste contractor. www.bine.world .
17. “Examples and Resources For Transforming Waste Streams in Communities” (Examples 1 – 50 and Examples 51 – 100). www.epa.gov .
18. Waste Dive. An online magazine to help you keep up with what’s happening to improve the world’s waste-handling operations. www.wastedive.com .