Climate Action Plan gives template for cutting greenhouse gas, supporting clean energy

Think of what you do to reduce your carbon footprint – that is, carbon dioxide emissions: You recycle. You grow native plants. You reduce electricity use. You drive an electric or fuel-efficient vehicle. You use a rain barrel. You use permeable pavers in your driveway. You grow native flowers for pollinators.

Now think of those actions multiplied, powered by municipalities and counties working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and you have the Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region 2021, which represents more than 6 million people.

Two years ago, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus brought together 270 people from 175 organizations, representatives of 53 municipalities and four counties – Kane, Will, Lake and McHenry – that had adopted its environmental initiative, the Greenest Region Compact.

They took it a step further and created the Chicago Regional Climate Action Plan. It’s one of only three regional climate plans in the U.S. The other two are in the Kansas City region in Missouri and Washington, D.C.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns volunteered to work on it for the past 18 months.

“The Climate Action Plan is a set of strategies that guide us to take the most important steps to both slow the rate of climate change and prepare for changes already occurring,” Burns said. “What that means to you and your neighbors is that we are all required to do what we can with resources available to participate in executing this plan. ... The Greenest Region Compact throughout the Chicago area is the largest voluntary sustainability effort in America for Municipalities ... which has a broader focus, and the climate focus is sharper because it’s urgent.”

The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the Metropolitan Planning Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are hosting a free virtual launch event for the 2021 Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region from noon to 1:30 p.m. July 13, with registration available at www.metroplanning.org.

Called “Accelerating Climate Action: The Power of Regional Planning and Municipal Implementation,” the Zoom event has guest speakers including U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville; Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce Don Graves; Eero Ailio of the European Commission; and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Burns will moderate.

Burns said more than 530 people already have registered for it.

“We will walk through it with all the experts who helped prepare it,” said Edith Makra, director of Environmental Initiatives for the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. “Our next step after the plan launch will be to … convince other mayors this is the path we have to take and all get busy now. … The strategies are tailored for municipalities.”

Better building codes

Burns testified before the International Codes Council in December 2019 in Las Vegas. He said he is the only mayor ever to testify.

“I spoke on behalf of not just the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, I spoke on the Greenest Region Compact and felt comfortable enough to speak on behalf of all the mayors on … the challenges we are facing in a changing climate,” Burns said. “And how more efficient energy codes are within our purview to advance, adopt and recommend to fight significant climate change.”

Increasing building energy efficiency through codes has a doubling effect when applied locally to a region or even a state, Burns said.

Makra said getting efficient and clean-powered homes is the vision, as natural gas eventually will go away.

“The International Codes Council is updated every three years. This is an area that municipalities have a tremendous impact on energy efficiency and clean buildings,” Makra said. “If you move toward building homes like that in the future, the long-term impact of building codes is what makes them so powerful.”

To put it in perspective, the three-year cycle of updating building codes increases energy efficiency by 3%.

But after Burns spoke in Las Vegas, the new building code changes are expected to increase efficiency from 8% to 12%, Makra said.

When Burns told the conference, “The mayors got your back. I got your back,” it resulted in a standing ovation, Makra said.

“They had never heard that before,” Burns said.

Strategies to reduce emissions

Makra said two things government can do in the climate action strategies is how to drive the move to renewable and clean energy for investors and utilities.

The idea of upgrading building codes includes removing solar cost barriers for builders, which are not addressed in permitting and zoning, Makra said.

The city of Geneva, Kane County and the city of Aurora websites include all the information a contractor needs for solar installation, easing the process for permitting, she said.

SolSmart, a U.S. Department of Energy-funded national designation program, recognizes cities, counties and regional organizations for making it faster, easier and more affordable to go solar.

For example, since 2018, the village of Schaumburg issued more than 130 roof-top solar permits, representing an investment of more than $4 million in the community as participants have added more than 2,200 kilowatts of solar energy, according to its website.

But some people – such as Makra herself – have too much shade for solar installation.

Recognizing this, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus started the Community Solar Clearinghouse Solutions to pool municipal subscribers with community solar projects under development.

The first, Rainy Solar in Elgin, was completed in October 2019 and has eight community subscribers, resulting in a 10% electric-supply cost savings for the next 20 years.

The residential program, launched last September, allows residential customers to connect directly to an approved community solar subscription.

“I help support that investment with an annual or monthly subscription. ComEd pays me the value of that electricity and sends me a bill for credit,” Makra said. “It’s $100 for the average homeowner per year.”

Geneva, Kane County

Geneva and Kane County led the way in the region to work on countering climate change. Geneva was one of the early adopters of the Greenest Region Compact, and Kane was the first county to adopt and strongly participate in the climate action plan, Makra said

Kane County Executive Planner Karen Miller said the county embraced responding to climate change on a regional basis and created a sustainability plan for its government buildings.

“It’s very important – first of all – to address climate change,” Miller said. “As we are seeing, especially in our weather with the flooding and the heat waves, I think it’s very important to look at things on regional scale.”

But taking action on a regional basis is critical, as severe weather occurrences of drought, heat and torrential rainstorms affect the whole area, especially when the Fox River floods, she said.

“It does not just affect where the rainstorm hit. If it hits the headwaters in Wisconsin, it flows downstream – all that extra water goes all the way to where it joins up with the Illinois River in Ottawa,” Miller said. “We all need to work together so that we are coordinating our efforts. It’s more economically efficient doing it together and not individually.”

Ivy Klee, the county’s resource management coordinator, said it is her job to implement and update the operational sustainability plan.

“I think it’s important for not only for municipalities and people who work in government offices to understand that the Greenest Region Compact is a framework ... that is versatile, easy to understand,” Klee said. “It is a guide for all the things you can do – and may already be doing – to make you a more sustainable unit. It benefits the environment, it benefits the people and the economy.”

Tapping into residents’ passions

“Mayors and elected officials, regardless of the size of the community, should tap into resources of residents who are passionate and willing to challenge leaders to do more within the scope of what is achievable,” Burns said. “Our community relies on the Natural Resources Committee.”

Among its biggest achievements is the Wine, Trees and Cheese annual fundraiser to reforest the city after the emerald ash borer decimated its ash trees.

Officials also tore out part of its City Hall turf grass and replaced it with native and prairie plants.

“Talking about cost savings – and it’s beautiful,” Burns said. “It supports a healthy ecosystem, it supports pollinators – bees are buzzing during the day.”

Burns credited committee Chairman Jay Womack as “the architect of these ideas.”

But the region needs more than one city’s efforts to make a difference, he said.

“If Geneva is successful, but neighboring communities opt to do nothing, then the aggregate benefit is negligible,” Burns said.