Houston: from benchwarmer to benchmarker
by Charles Stillman, July 2006
Lacking leadership from the federal government, cities and local municipalities have taken it upon themselves to confront the issue of climate change in their own communities. The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities and the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives’ Cities for Climate Protection have been launched to formalize cities’ global warming reduction efforts.
More than 10 cities in Texas have joined one or more of these efforts to reduce emissions. Support from Texas cities is important because the state emits nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as any other state in the U. S. The long-term consequences of climate change, including the potential rise in number and intensity of natural disasters (droughts, floods, hurricanes) is a concern for many cities. City leaders also recognize that efforts to reduce greenhouse gases invariably lead to financial savings and cleaner air.
On Friday, June 30, more than 20 officials from across Texas, including the mayors of Austin, Dallas and Plano, met at the University of Texas-Arlington to take part in the Texas Cities for Climate Protection Forum. Climate and health experts discussed the benefits of addressing climate change, while city leaders exchanged thoughts on various emission-reduction methods. Officials agreed to join forces to resist efforts by TXU to build 17 new coal-fired power plants in the state. Coal plants are responsible for 88 percent of the carbon dioxide, 93 percent of nitrogen oxides, 96 percent of sulfur dioxides and 99 percent of mercury emissions produced from all power plants.
Officials from Houston did not make an appearance at the forum, but pledged to finance studies to determine the air-quality effects of the proposed coal-fired power plants.
As the mayors met in Arlington, Houston Mayor Bill White announced that the city had formally agreed to address its greenhouse gas emissions by becoming a member of the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP), a program of the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
ICLEI is an international group of local governments and associations committed to sustainable development. As a participant in the CCP, the city will commit to carry out five “performance milestones.” Susan Ode, outreach officer for ICLEI USA explains the organization’s role. “What we’ll be doing is helping Houston implement actions to reduce global warming and then helping the city to track their work using our software to quantify the results.”
In cooperation with ICLEI, Houston will conduct an emissions inventory, develop emissions reductions targets, adopt and implement an action plan to reduce emissions and monitor the progress of attaining the targets. Karl Pepple, the city’s Environmental Programming director, says these efforts will only apply to city operations initially, though emissions for the entire Houston region could eventually be included. This seems to be common practice among the cities involved in climate initiatives. Municipalities tend to concentrate on reducing greenhouses gas emissions from their own operations before moving on to tackle city emissions at-large.
Over the years, Mayor White has instituted a number of programs to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. More than 250 hybrid vehicles have been purchased for city employees. New city buildings are built according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) specifications to reduce energy use. Incentives are offered to city contractors to use clean construction equipment. Houston has subsidized city employees’ use of METRO, coordinated stop lights, and promoted carpooling in an effort to reduce traffic congestion vehicle emissions. The city has also been evaluating and attempting to refine its emissions reduction plan, and has added carbon dioxide to its emissions inventory.
Despite the city’s individual efforts, a growing number of groups and individuals have been calling on Mayor White to make a formal commitment to address climate change. "No other city in the nation has benefited more from the past century's petrochemical boom. For that reason, Houston has a moral responsibility not only to clean up its own act but to be a national and world leader in the fight to stop global warming,” says Greg Harman, editor for EarthHouston.net. Many have encouraged the city to join the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (USMCPA), which calls for signatories to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Last July, CLEAN wrote a letter to the mayor urging him to sign the agreement. White responded by saying that the city was already actively pursuing many of the USMCPA’s suggested actions for reducing greenhouse gases and would continue to work on reduction efforts. No mention was made as to whether the city would formalize those reduction efforts by signing the USMCPA or becoming a member of ICLEI’s CCP.
The Mayor’s sluggish response only seemed to make Houstonians desire for action stronger. Within the past year, two local groups have formed, concerned about the city’s reluctance on the issue. The Houston Climate Protection Alliance is educating Houstonians on climate change and has been active, along with CLEAN and the Sierra Club, in engaging the city on the issue. Houstonians for Global Warming Action was formed in recent months with the sole purpose of persuading Mayor White to sign the USMCPA. They have created an online petition where Houstonians can co-sign a letter urging the mayor to take action.
More than 275 U.S. cities have signed the USMCPA including Dallas, Austin, Arlington, Sugar Land and five other Texas towns. However, efforts to persuade Houston to sign have been met with resistance. When asked to explain the mayor’s reasoning for not signing, Pepple replied, “The City is interested in taking real steps toward reducing greenhouse gases, not just signing something about what should be done.” He is referring to the USMCPA’s non-binding nature. Participants in the agreement are merely called upon to “strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets.” The city has also been critical of the U.S. Mayors Agreement because it lacks formal benchmarks akin to the CCP’s five performance milestones which are used to document progress.
Proponents of the USMCPA, such as Brandt Mannchen from the Houston Regional Group of the Sierra Club, argue that the USMCPA is only an ineffectual pledge if its signatories choose to treat it as such by not following through with concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their communities. The City of Seattle, which took the lead in the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, reports that it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 percent below their 1990 levels. Mannchen admits he is a bit confounded by Houston’s resistance to the signing the U.S. Mayors Agreement, and hopes one day it will come around. He would also like to see officials move beyond the municipality’s immediate operations, and take account of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the Houston area, without delay.
In late May, Louis Smith of the Houston Climate Protection Alliance met with Karl Pepple and Elena Marks, the city’s director of Public Health, to discuss options for the city to pursue, including membership in ICLEI’s CCP. Smith says the officials were already familiar with ICLEI’s program and exhibited a good understanding of the issues as well as a genuine desire to take action. He commends the Mayor’s recent action saying, “I think Mayor White signing the ICLEI climate agreement reflects his strong commitment to doing something about climate change.” White’s refusal to sign the USMCPA is not a big surprise to Smith. He says it “typifies his character as mayor, in that he chooses to do things where there are clear benchmarks and performance standards.”
The city’s rebuff of the U.S. Mayors Agreement remains a concern to some who see it as the more stringent of the two campaigns. Gertrude Barnstone, a founding member of Houstonians for Global Warming Action (HGWA) points out that ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection program does not hold its participants to specific reduction goals or deadlines like the USMCPA. CCP members can set their own timelines and choose to reduce their emissions by as much or as little as they see fit. The U.S. Mayors Agreement, on the other hand, fashions its reduction framework after the Kyoto Protocol- setting both a specific emissions reduction target (at least 7 percent below 1990 levels) and a 2012 deadline to meet that target. Barnstone says she supports the city joining ICLEI’s CCP, but its unwillingness to sign the USMCPA leaves her skeptical that the city will commit to substantial reductions in a timely fashion.
"It's obvious that something needs fixing when Houston – the fourth largest city in the U.S., known as the Energy Capital of the World – doesn't join such an important collective effort to fight global warming," says Barnstone. She is concerned that rejection of the U.S. Mayors Agreement may reflect the city’s intensions to adopt reduction goals that would be less stringent than those pursued by USMCPA participants. By signing the U.S. Mayors Agreement, Barnstone says the city would provide itself with a reasonable timeframe and reduction targets to strive for.
More than 80 “Cool Cities” are currently participating in both the USMCPA and ICLEI’s CCP, including the Texas cities of Austin, San Antonio and Arlington. The Sierra Club’s Cool Cities program is essentially an umbrella initiative that requires its members to join the efforts of both programs.
As for claims that the Cities for Climate Protection program is less stringent (read: effective) than its USMCPA counterpart, ICLEI officials assert that the majority of CCP participants commit to significant reductions. Susan Ode, outreach coordinator for ICLEI reports that, “Most local governments [enrolled in CCP program] have identified targets that result in greater reductions than would be required by the Kyoto Protocol.” According to Ode, many of the CCP participants have emulated the reduction goals and timeframe of Toronto, which has committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 – that's nearly three times as effective as the Kyoto goals espoused by the USMCPA. To be fair, a number of cities that have signed the U.S. Mayors Agreement have already achieved or have set goals to achieve reduction targets that far surpass the Kyoto goals as well.
Whether the City of Houston will join with the majority of cities in ICLEI’s CCP program and choose to make substantial reductions is as yet unknown. At this point, the city has set no targets or deadlines. Officials are working to complete a baseline emissions inventory by the end of this fiscal year, which will be used to establish the city’s emissions reduction goals. Karl Pepple says, “Discussions about reduction commitments will begin after that inventory is completed. I do not want to put the cart before the horse.”
Reaction to Houston joining ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection program is mixed. Many are encouraged by the city’s moves and have faith that it will follow through with significant reduction efforts. Others believe that membership in the CCP program is not enough. Whatever their feelings are on the matter, Houstonians will undoubtedly be watching the city closely to see that it adopts adequate reduction targets and timelines in the near future.
