October 2024
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October 2024

A New Direction for Decarbonization – Rebecca Evans

City Sustainability Director Rebecca Evans shared the recent shift in the direction of Ithaca’s climate action plan, explaining how it will reframe the effort to meet the commitments of the Ithaca Green New Deal.

• Rebecca began by providing an overview of her talk:

1. Human-centering
2. Hierarchy of needs
3. IGND sector shift
4. 2030 goals
5. What’s next

• Rebecca asked participants to pretend they are talking to Joe about climate change – Joe is struggling with secure housing and finding a stable job. How would you convince Joe to care about climate change?
• Understandably, concerns about climate change have always come down to how they will impact people:
  • Hurricanes
  • Sea Level Rise
  • Droughts
  • Affordability
  • Wildfires
  • Economic Collapse
  • Disease Flooding
  • Air Quality
  • Food Scarcity
  • Power Outages Migration
  • Infrastructure
  • Homelessness
• It’s always been about us – if this is true, then why don’t our climate goals reflect that? Localities all over the world have climate-related goals and they all put net carbon reduction as their #1 priority.
• Why is this a problem?
  • Inherently nebulous
    • GHG emissions, and therefore progress, cannot be measured by the layperson
    • Impact is slow-moving (positive or negative)
    • Often hard to grasp “future generations”
  • Unrelatable
    • Many don’t see themselves represented in the climate movement
    • Many don’t  consider themselves impacted by climate change until it’s too late
    • Trying to induce panic doesn’t work
  • Lacks empathy
    • Human priority of need begins now, not when disaster strikes
    • Human experience is diverse
    • Humans respond to emotion before logic
  • Most people are struggling with their basic needs
    • Physiological: food, water, shelter, sleep, air
    • Safety & security: health, employment, stability, family
• Focus on climate adaptation connects with these basic needs because it’s an immediate threat
• Also climate change is already here so we should be emphasizing climate adaptation
• What does this mean for the IGND? Taking a more human-centered approach
  • Plan to address social and economic problems that have climate outcomes
  • Prioritizes human dignity in climate and urban planning
  • Respects that climate is not #1 priority for most people
  • Prepares for worst impacts of climate change
  • Acknowledges that the climate crisis is multifaceted
• Dignity, toward decarbonization sums up this new approach
  • Labor: good, living wage jobs that are protected from the impacts of climate change
  • Housing: safe, comfortable, and resilient housing for all
  • Racial justice: the undercurrent of IGND
  • Public health: minimizing exposure through preventative care and mitigation
  • Emergency response: rapid response plan for all sectors, for all people
  • Electric reliability: resilient, independent, and decentralized
• Previous approach
  • Racial justice: insuring IGND benefits are shared among all communities
  • EER-TLE: energy efficiency retrofit and thermal load electrification
  • DERS & Grid: decarbonization of grid, fuel mix, and deployment of energy storage
  • Transport: electrification and micromobility
  • Waste: shift to circular economy and source reduction
  • Carbon capture: natural and technological carbon sinks
• Nothing really changing – just different way to connect with people and different narrative
• Not abandoning climate goals – we’ve come this far, why would we drop them?
• Instead, trying to reframe IGND as net benefit scenario
• Our 2030  net-zero  goals  have  not  changed  and  we  remain  committed  to them – our existing programming remains the same, too!
• Because the climate crisis is multi-faceted, our approach must be, too
• That means we must prepare for what’s happening now and in the near- and far-term future
• Our responsibility   is   to   both   future   and   current   generations – maximizing net-benefit of programming
• Society was not built to grapple with the challenges of climate change
• Two possibilities:
  • We can spend time rebuilding system now
  • We can alter our approach to work within and around system we have to align with the existing priorities, while pushing for systemic change
• Priorities align with:
  • Council Legislative Priorities
  • Comprehensive Plan
  • Resident Priorities of all Income Levels
  • External Department Priorities
  • Economic Priorities
  • Public Safety
• New approach is strategic in terms of narrative forming and also strategic in terms of getting necessary buy in from people who make decisions so funding can be allocated to get proposed projects off the ground
• What’s next for IGND?
  • Listening sessions
    • Listening to community members about concerns, hopes, networks, and resources
    • How do we get more resident engagement in process?
    • Hearing about this issue more than anything else – people want to participate in shaping IGND
    • Will carry out focus groups at many different levels: resident, city staff, city and county leadership
    • Hope to better understand what people need and what do they want to see from IGND – also come up with new, crowdsourced solutions
  • Risk assessments
    • Assessing how climate change impacts each sector of climate action plan
  • Mapping solutions
    • Identifying and mapping multi-sector solutions that provide opportunities for residents to thrive
  • Returning to roots of IGND: grassroots, community-led effort based on trying to serve this community here and now
  • IGND may not be scalable but still some learnings to tease out of our experience here

Discussion/Q&A (picked up after Anna’s session)

• Ingrid Zabel: What should we say if we’re asked whether Ithaca is giving up on its 2030 climate goals?
• Rebecca: No we’re not giving up on our 2030 goals but we’re also planning on our goals for 2025 – adding in a narrative about climate adaptation
• Peter: What happened in Asheville is instructive – we thought it was a safe haven and it turned out not to be – can’t just assume Ithaca is a safe haven
• David Kay: There was a time when we could possibly think we didn’t have to deal with climate adaptation questions, but not true now – Asheville just one example of how we need to grapple with adaptation
• We’re not just changing narratives, we’re adding new work so there will have to be tradeoffs
• We need to mobilize more people outside of City Hall to engage in IGND work
• Sheila Out: What about dredging the flood control channel?
• Rebecca: My understanding is that project is stuck at state level with DEC – I’m not involved with that work – falls more in the wheelhouse of Public Works
• Clearly, dredging would create more space for flood waters to drain
• As part of drafting new climate action plan, I’ll be interviewing staff members to make sure I’m working with up-to-date information
• Irene Weiser: How would you attempt people who are struggling to make ends meet that they should care about climate change?
• Rebecca: I’d say I’m not trying to change your priorities because I think the solutions to your priorities are also the solutions to climate change
• As of last night’s budget meeting, City officially met Justice 50 goals, allocating 50.2% of capital funds to climate justice communities – worked exactly as envisioned

 

Climate & Clean Energy Priorities in the Upcoming Legislative Session – Anna Kelles

Assemblymember Anna Kelles (D -125th District) discussed some of the key bills regarding climate and clean energy to be taken up in the next legislative session, which will get underway in January.

• Want to share some of things I’m working on and want to prioritize because I’ve been working on them for years
• Two really important pieces of legislation in NYS right now
  • Climate Change Superfund – requires polluters to pay for damage they’ve already inflicted – backwards looking
  • Cap & Invest – forward looking
    • Anna sponsoring bill that outlines version of Cap & Invest has guardrails included
    • Have to be cautious about energy-intensive industries that might leave state if too much pressure exerted – need, however, to put cap on number of years they get to make energy transition
    • State will create credits that industries using a lot of energy will have to buy to stay under allowed GHG emissions
  • No indications so far whether governor will sign superfund bill, which made it through both houses at end of last session – need to keep up pressure on governor to make sure she signs it
  • Tends to hold off signing more controversial bills until after elections take place
  • Will be one of most important environmental bills signed into law in long time
• We’ve passed lot of environmental bills in past few years, but governor has largely disregarded them – backing off on congested pricing is one of more recent examples
• Need to hold governor accountable and not let her back off the way she has recently – need to hold her feet to fire
• Cap & Invest was supposed to be in place by end of this year but we don’t even have draft proposal yet
• We have to hold ourselves accountable for legislation that’s already been passed – have to make sure they get implemented, such as CLCPA
• Need to put floor under allowances in Cap & Invest so they push change, not just make it cost of doing business as usual
• Have to keep it from simply becoming cap & trade that creates secondary market for allowances
• Need to avoid designing system that generates even greater corporate consolidation
• Part of problem with NY HEAT Act is that there are lot of pieces that are pretty confusing – without changing it’s primary purpose it could be rewritten so it’s less convoluted
• Lot of new assembly members so there will be lots of reshuffling when it comes to sponsoring bills and chairing committees
• Another important piece is the Just Energy Transition Act (JETA) – Anna is chief sponsor of that bill – hasn’t received as much public attention as NY HEAT or Climate Change Superfund
• Because advocacy groups haven’t been pushing JETA, hasn’t received much attention from assembly leadership
• Bill creates blueprint for retiring 6GW of fossil fuel peaker plants – Anna modified bill so that it pulls in 29 power plants already retired to take advantage of fact that they are already tied into grid to build out renewable energy projects at these sites
• Could then take peaker plants offline as renewable energy infrastructure is developed on site of retired power plants
• Can’t just focus on peaker plants and take them offline all at once because it would destabilize grid – bill designed to take sidestep, then forward step
• Two retired power plant sites where renewable energy projects have been developed: Danskammer and Ravenswood – so we’ve already developed model and demonstrated its feasibility
• Can use solar and wind to carry out electrolysis for production of hydrogen, which then becomes a kind of energy storage
• Next important priority is GAP Fund Act – would fund foundational upgrades such as new roof or black mold removal for LMI households that would then allow them to qualify for EmPower+ program to fund tightening envelope, adding insulation, replacing windows, etc.
• Program intended to help remove barrier to entry into existing electrification programs
• Will be focus of much outreach and advocacy in upcoming legislative session – Anna has been working closely with Lisa Marshall and Jessica Azulay on this bill
• Hope Climate Superfund and Cap & Invest could help finance this effort – perhaps also some IRA funding
• Fashion Act is another important bill – got very close to getting it passed in last session but thrown off track by congested pricing controversy right at end of session
• Very few other industries as unregulated globally as fashion industry and are also among greatest contributors to GHG emissions
• Although legislation would be confined to NY, it would create mechanism for global regulation
• Stipulates that if you want to sell your fashion products in NYS, you have to map out your supply chain and GHG emissions using international GHG protocols
• Have to directly measure rather than just estimate emissions and have to establish baseline for both emissions and chemical inputs and outputs
• Seeks to mitigate both climate and water impacts – need to demonstrate substantive and consistent improvements over time – if not, can be fined up to 2% of your gross global income
• NY one of most important fashion capitols in world and eighth largest economy – no major actor in fashion industry would say we just won’t sell in NY
• EU just put in place due diligence regulation much like that being proposed in Anna’s Fashion Act, so makes it more likely that NYS legislature will pass it in upcoming session – now NY will be playing catchup rather than leading pack
• Fashion industry responsible for up to 8% of all global GHG emissions – could double or even triple by 2050
• Amount of slave labor used in fast fashion is shocking
• Anna also working on issue of circular economy in construction – only 16 years left of available landfill space in NY
• Will have to either lower standards of landfill operations with ensuing environmental harm or export most of our waste at tremendous cost to taxpayers
• Wants to start development of circular economy with building sector – has been working with Cornell Circular Economy Lab and CR0WD for last couple of years
• Deconstruction rather than demolition key to this approach
• Will be introducing bill in upcoming session with Sen. Kavanaugh as sponsor in other chamber
• First piece of legislation provides model ordinance for local municipalities to adopt – will provide grants to municipalities that adopt the ordinance
• Grants could be used to establish hubs for storage of deconstructed materials and to developers to offset additional cost of using these materials
• Second piece of bill will create a state certification through Dept of Labor to certify contractors who’ve attained the training to carry out deconstruction v. demolition
• Third part of bill is to modernize current process DEC has in place for reporting waste that goes to landfills or recycling centers – would create data base that requires standard measures for reporting
• Way for people to identify what deconstruction materials are available around state for their projects to help create marketplace
• Creating robust circular economy would help stabilize our supply chain and overall economy and create jobs

Discussion/Q&A

• Peter: One of key barriers to building utility-scale renewable energy projects is siting issue – can avoid issue by placing these projects on sites of retired power plants – makes complete sense
• Also makes sense to fund basic upgrades for LMI homes so they can qualify for NYSERDA’s energy efficiency and electrification programs
• Similarly, deconstruction as a step towards building a circular economy makes total sense
• Sarah Carson: Do you think state agencies are adequately resourced to carry out their implementation and oversight duties to ensure state meets its CLCPA duties?
• Anna: No, their not – one of greatest challenges in state – we have not provided enough funding for agencies like DEC and PSC for adequate personnel
• Really impressed with work they do carry out with the limited resources they have available – people think agencies have so much more power than they really do

September 2024

Recent Findings on Methane, Blue Hydrogen and LNG – Dr. Bob Howarth

Bob Howarth is the David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell and he is a member of the NYS Climate Action Council. Professor Howarth will discuss his recent work on LNG, methane, and blue hydrogen.

Methane

• Methane emissions have been rising rapidly since 2010
• My research suggests 33% of this increase since 2007 is due to shale gas in US – but not all researchers agree
• Methane matters – some of us, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have been saying this for quite some time – IPCC position has strengthened in recent years
• Earth now is about 1.4 degrees C above pre-industrial baseline and we’re moving rapidly to 1.5 to 2 degrees
• Carbon dioxide has contributed .75 degrees of warming and methane .50 degrees
• Warming from methane has contributed 33% of all warming greenhouse gases for entire time since the 1800s
• COP21 Paris Accord target: “well below 2 degrees C” – clear recognition that warming beyond 1.5 degrees C is dangerous
• Methane reductions are critical; cannot reach COP21 target with CO2 reductions alone
• We’re clearly on wrong trajectory
• Carbon dioxide has long-term impact on global warming well into future – methane, in contrast, has no influence beyond 40-50 years into future
• Need to focus on a 20-year time frame when talking about methane – most people, however, use a 100-year time frame – overlooks earlier impact of methane
• 100-year time frame used by almost all governments but this severely understates damage to the climate from methane – IPCC says it’s an arbitrary choice
• 20-year time frame used by States of New York, New Jersey, and Maryland (and in my lifecycle assessments)

Blue Hydrogen

• During Climate Council hearings, natural gas industry was pushing blue hydrogen as a more practical alternative to electrification and use of heat pumps – claimed it had nearly zero emissions
• Bob became interested in what its actual footprint might be
• We’ve been making hydrogen for over 100 years using fossil fuels – currently, 96% of hydrogen globally comes from fossil fuels
• In North America & Europe, virtually all hydrogen made from natural gas
• Natural gas is mostly methane, and this is the feed stock for hydrogen
• Under high heat & pressure, methane plus steam (water vapor) is converted to hydrogen & CO2 (steam methane reforming, or SMR).
• Natural gas also burned to provide the heat & pressure – product is called “gray hydrogen”
• “Blue hydrogen” is traditional gray hydrogen from steam methane reforming of fossil natural gas combined with carbon capture and storage
• Term first used by Air Liquide in 2015, highly promoted since 2017 by the oil & gas industry, particularly by the Hydrogen Council (a group established by BP, Shell, Total, & other oil & gas companies in 2017)
• Only two commercial blue hydrogen facilities globally (Texas & Alberta)
• Bob worked with Mark Jacobson at Stanford to analyze GHG footprint of gray and blue hydrogen – first to include methane in addition to CO2
• One of very few peer reviewed analyses assessing question of how green blue hydrogen actually is – paper published in August 2021
• Blue hydrogen turns out to have smaller footprint than gray hydrogen, but it’s not zero or anything close to zero
• Methane emissions actually greater in blue hydrogen than in gray hydrogen due to use of natural gas in process of trying to capture carbon dioxide
• GHG footprint of blue hydrogen turns out to be larger than natural gas – would be better to just burn natural gas to make hydrogen
• Analysis is very conservative – need industry wouldn’t like it and would be looked at very carefully
• Paper is very transparent and based on only four assumptions:
  • Emission rate for upstream, fugitive methane from using natural gas
  • Global warming potential to compare methane emissions to CO2
  • CO2 capture rate from steam methane reforming
  • CO2 capture rate from energy needed to power steam methane reforming and carbon capture
• Used best available data for estimates in our baseline analysis and performed detailed sensitivity analyses on these estimates – used value of 3.5% in estimates
• Impossible to avoid release of methane into atmosphere when producing shale gas
• Some sources of “upstream and midstream” methane emissions:
  • Releases during well drilling (in regions with past history of oil, gas, and coal)
  • Venting from storage & processing facilities
  • Unlit flares, and incomplete combustion by flares
  • Incomplete combustion by pipeline compressors
  • “Blow-downs” for pipeline maintenances
• Blue hydrogen not much better than gray hydrogen and considerably worse than just plain natural gas
• Industry sources and social media immediately attacked paper when published – critics claimed estimate of methane emissions was too high
• But almost all of estimates they used were within range of Howarth & Jacobson paper
• Over past hundred years, hydrogen used almost entirely as chemical feedstock (oil refineries, plastics, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer), not as fuel
• Progressive energy planners have seen role for green hydrogen as fuel in future for “hard to decarbonize” sectors (air travel, steel manufacturing) -- also perhaps for storage of surplus electricity from wind and solar
• Green hydrogen made from renewable electricity and electrolysis of water
• Since 2017, blue hydrogen heavily promoted by oil & gas industry (Hydrogen Council, etc.) to include blending with natural gas in pipelines, for use to heat homes, etc.
• Beginning in 2021, industry stopped talking about blue hydrogen and came up with term “clean energy,” confusing green and blue hydrogen
• Significant concerns with blending hydrogen into gas pipelines that serve homes and apartments:
  • Hydrogen is very leaky, far more than methane; hydrogen leaks contribute to global warming
  • Hydrogen makes gas pipelines more brittle, posing catastrophic risk – California Air Resources Board recently called for no more than 5% hydrogen/95% methane
  • Existing gas appliances (stoves, furnaces, water heaters) not designed for hydrogen-methane blends – would need to be replaced for blends beyond 20% hydrogen/80% methane
  • Energy density of hydrogen is far less than for methane – blending 20% hydrogen/80% methane reduces GHG emissions by only 7% (not 20%) for 100% carbon-free hydrogen.
  • Using renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen, which then heats homes very inefficient compared to using that electricity for heat pumps – for same quantity of electricity, heat pumps deliver 6 to 10 times more heat than does burning green hydrogen
  • Hydrogen is significantly more expensive than fossil natural gas, so blending any hydrogen into distribution system increases costs

LNG Exports from US

• Most of Bob’s work recently has focused on export of LNG from US -- LNG in US made largely from fracked shale gas
• US banned export of LNG from lower 48 states until 2016 – increase in shale gas production after 2016 led to lifting of ban
• Now world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas -- most of global increase in natural gas production over past 15 years has been shale gas in US
• This increase in US shale gas production responsible for estimated one-third of total increase in atmospheric methane globally over this time period
• Methane has contributed 33% of all global warming since the 1800s
• Bob has peer-reviewed article on GHG footprint of LNG exports from US coming out soon – doesn’t usually share his work before publication in a journal
• Bill McKibben urged Bob, however, to make his findings about the climate impact of LNG exports public
• McKibben wrote about it in New Yorker and Nation – Biden administration made decision in January 2024 to pause LNG exports
• Fracked shale gas energy intensive, with significant emissions of CO2 (beyond those released when fuel is burned) from production, processing, and transport
• For LNG, considerable energy needed to liquefy and regasify, as well as for transport by tanker
• LNG and shale gas power energy needed to liquefy and regasify – LNG usually powers tankers as well
• High use of LNG and gas to power liquefaction and tankers means considerably more shale gas needed than simply gas finally delivered as LNG
• Increases upstream emissions of both CO2 and methane in US shale-gas fields
• Also more methane emissions from tankers – most modern tankers (which are far more fuel efficient, so lower CO2 emissions) emit more methane due to unburned methane in exhaust from 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines
• Most of LNG exports come from Texas and Louisiana – Pennsylvania not big exporter
• Total LNG greenhouse gas emissions are far greater than simply CO2 emitted as fuel is burned
• Longer cruises (China vs Europe) increase emissions, but type of tanker not that important – more modern fuel-efficient tankers have lower CO2 emissions but greater methane emissions
• Upstream and midstream emissions of methane and CO2 make up almost half of GHG footprint for LNG (38% for methane plus 9% for CO2) – GHG footprint of LNG 33% greater than for coal
• Right after Biden decision to pause LNG exports, Bob started to get lots of pushback – Wall St. Journal published profile of Bob – not hatchet job
• House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology issued report criticizing his research as based on a “flawed methodology” and criticizing him as advocate without scientific rigor
• Sign-on letter from over 130 scientists, including Michael Mann, Mark Jacobson, and Sandra Steingraber, in support of Bob’s LNG research sent to DOE and Treasury secretaries
• Closed-door event held just few days ago to discuss LNG with US Senators who are members of Climate Task Force and their staff, chaired by Sen. Ed Markey – several congressmen also attended – got very favorable reception

Q&A

• Martha Robertson: Is Biden Administration going to hold off on making final decision about LNG exports until after election and how permanent will decision be?
• Bob: Good guess that it won’t make decision until after election – pause in kind of legal limbo due to federal court opinion in Louisiana
• DOE looking at both GHG emissions and economic impact of pause – one of experts who testified with Bob at US Senate event said lifting of ban on LNG exports has cost US consumers $100B in increased energy prices
• Bob anticipates that DOE will fall back on 100-year time frame for measuring methane impact – thinks it will be hard, though, to make counterargument about increased energy prices for US consumers
• Lisa Marshall: Is anyone in NY government agencies looking at how gas utilities are using ratepayer money to build infrastructure that will facilitate LNG exports and is this issue being raised elsewhere?
• Bob: Not aware of who in state government is looking at issue – hearing similar things in other parts of country, though
• Bob thinks LNG export business in US will implode of its own accord because economics are just not there
• bethany ojalehto mays: What do you think proper response should be to researchers who are receiving significant funding from the fossil fuel industry?
• Bob: If funding for research is coming from oil and gas industry, at very least we should have full disclosure – we don’t do good enough job of that at any university
• Cornell not among worst – MIT, Columbia, and Stanford are probably, though
• Should make sure that we don’t have institutes at universities that are simply mouthpieces for fossil fuel industry
• Dave Bradley: LNG exports set domestic price of methane – if you want to quash methane production and marketing, stop LNG exports – fracking for oil produces such vast quantity of methane that it far exceeds actual demand for it – need LNG exports to support price of methane
• Bob agrees with this line of argument
• Irene Weiser: One reason fossil fuel industry is pushing blue hydrogen is to take up slack generated by excessive methane production
• Biden administration has put in place enormous incentives for carbon capture and storage, which is associated with production of blue hydrogen
• Bob agrees and thinks blue hydrogen industry will also collapse of its own weight, like the LNG exports
• Carbon storage underground has to occur in places that are geologically capped to be safe – very few such places in US

 

Discussion: CLCPA and the Work Ahead – All

The last legislative session in Albany was disappointing when it came to climate and clean energy policy. In addition, Governor Hochul has indicated that the state is unlikely to achieve its goal of 70% electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Progress has been slow in other areas as well. Let’s discuss how we can work to push the Governor and legislature to become more aggressive on the climate and energy transition fronts.

• Martha Robertson kicked off this portion of the meeting by asking Bob about steps being taken by Climate Action Council members to encourage actual implementation of CLCPA
• Bob: Climate Action Council has not met since December 2022, when it approved final scoping plan
• Governor’s office clearly does not want further Council engagement in planning – Bob doesn’t foresee it meeting anytime soon
• But scoping plan has to be updated by law every five years – it’s a two-year process since once there’s a draft plan, it’ll take a year to revise – so they’ll have to call a meeting within next year and a half
• Of the 20 remaining on the council, 11 report to governor and two more work for fossil fuel industry – haven’t figured out yet how the remaining members can be effective
• Peter: Speaker of House is one of major obstacles to further progress on climate front
• Bob: People need to figure out how to reach Heastie
• Lisa Marshall: State has just kicked off their required energy planning process earlier this month – unlike scoping plan, this plan is legally binding – Doreen Harris heads up this effort
• We need to engage with this process to ensure state moves forward – there will be hearings on this all over state next summer, along with opportunities to make comments and organize around it
• Bob agrees with Lisa but also thinks CLCPA makes scoping plan binding, at least on Public Service Commission – part of problem is PSC is understaffed and under supported politically
• PSC needs to be pushed from outside and other agencies need to do a lot more – building heat decarbonization most important thing and nobody is doing anything on it
• Lisa: Will be difficult to make progress without passing NY HEAT Act – Hochul and her staff are standing in way
• Brian Eden: Worried that energy planning process will be end run around Climate Action Council – Hochul is pushing nuclear and CAC wasn’t very sympathetic to this idea
• Historically, state energy planning process has been very agency-centric -- moving away from more publicly-involved process like the scoping plan  
• Peter noted that the Climate Can’t Wait report card was brutal, and justifiably so – goes through point by point on how Hochul has fallen dramatically short of what needs to be done
• He shared his observation that the draft of the 2024 building energy efficiency code seemed to be supportive of the All Electric Buildings Act passed in the 2023 session of the legislature
• Also observed that it appeared Cornell is trying to do end run around the local energy code supplement
• Brian agreed, specifically regarding the $110M renovation of McGraw Hall – Cornell also prevailed on the artificial plastic turf issue
• bethany: Fight not over yet – town planning board required Cornell to show that materials being used were free of PFAS – group of Cornell faculty reaching out to discuss this issue with administration
• Irene thought unless code officer could be persuaded to step in, Cornell will likely be allowed to move ahead – appears as if Cornell and town planning board talking past each other
• Irene commended bethany and Zero Waste Ithaca for role they played in educating planning board about PFAS
• Brian pointed out, however, that none of SEQR provisions regarding life cycle analysis were taken into account – very applicant-centric process and clear planning board not interested in hearing from third party experts such as scientists
• Moving back to state level, Martha noted that fall crucial period in which agencies developed their proposed budgets
• Also need to be ready to push governor hard after upcoming election to sign Climate Change Superfund Act and to strengthen her support for climate actions that will move state towards meeting its commitments under CLCPA
• Peter suggested that NY HEAT Act particularly important piece of effort to implement Climate Action Council’s scoping plan
• Reminded folks that TCCPI is member of NY Renews and Renewable Heat Now campaigns as well as Climate Can’t Wait coalition
• Represents new direction for TCCPI – have become more of an advocacy organization over last couple of years
• To be effective, we need folks to be active participants in these various efforts to get legislation passed – upcoming session will be especially critical – important that we keep pressure up on governor and assembly – senate less of an issue
• Martha said she thought many of assembly members were closer to senate on many of the relevant issues – key problem is leadership of assembly, not rank and file members – also observed that governor’s approval numbers not very good
• Bob noted that we are currently at 1.4 degrees C over pre-industrial baseline – we’ll be consistently above 1.5 in next 2-3 years and on current trajectory we’ll be breaking 2 degrees pretty consistently within ten years, plus or minus two years
• Beyond that most of models indicate we’ll end up at around 3-3.5 degrees – Bob reminded people that 2 degrees would be hugely damaging
• Risk of hitting thresholds that are irreversible in climate system at 2 degrees significantly greater: fundamental changes in ocean circulation and loss of vegetation in Amazon and of boreal forests in Siberia and Canada
• Already starting to see some of these things taking place – not looking good – slowing of ocean currents, for example, hinders uptake of carbon dioxide
• Historically, ocean responsible for 25% of carbon dioxide uptake
• Bob contended that what we do in NY can have global impact – if we demonstrate here that we can move away from fossil fuel economy in ways that benefit state’s citizens, it will be hugely important
• Martha observed that Bob’s work has made major impact on climate action conversation – role of scientists as public advocates has been sea change and Bob has been instrumental in making that happen
• Peter said it was why it’s so important that TCCPI members step up their participation in climate action over next few months

August 2024

Climate Change in the News – Peter Bardaglio

In keeping with past tradition, if it’s August, then it’s time for a review of the year’s climate change developments. Extreme weather events have become so frequent in the past few years that the climate crisis has become climate chaos. This year was no exception.

• Atmospheric CO2 hit another record high in 2024
  • In May, Mauna Loa Observatory recorded average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at 426.9 ppm, compared to 315 ppm in 1958
  • Increase of 2.9 ppm since May 2023 – fifth-largest annual increase and 50% higher than pre-industrial levels
  • CO2 levels were consistently around 280 ppm for almost 6,000 years of human civilization
• Rate of increase in emissions over past 60 years more than 100 times faster than when last ice age ended
• Annual emissions have increased every decade since mid-20th century – from 11 billion tons of CO2 per year in 1960s to over 36 billion tons in 2022
• Now in territory not seen for more than 3 million years – at that time global surface temperature was 4.5-7.2°F warmer than during pre-industrial era
• Despite decades of negotiation, global community unable to significantly slow, let alone reverse, annual increases in atmospheric CO2 levels
• July 2024 warmest July in 174-year NOAA record – January to July global surface temperature was 2.30°F above 20thC average, making it the warmest such period on record
• Global surface temperatures last month 2.18°F above 20^th-century average – very likely 2024 will be among top 5-warmest years on record
• 14th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, which itself is a record
• As Van Jones points out, we have three alternative futures: Eco-Apocalypse, Eco-Apartheid, or Eco-Equity
• Currently on road to Eco-Apocalypse – Eco-Apartheid just a speed bump on way to Eco-Apocalypse
• Only viable option is Eco-Equity
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Tonga earlier this week: “Only by limiting warming to 1.5°C do we have a fighting chance of preventing the irreversible collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets – and the catastrophes that accompany them.”
• Means cutting global emissions 43% compared to 2019 levels by 2030 & 60% by 2035 – but last year global emissions rose 1%
• “Surging seas are coming for us all” – global sea levels rising at rates unprecedented in the past 3,000 years
• Climate apartheid: According to IEA report last year, top 10% of world’s carbon emitters responsible for almost 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions 
• Ndileka Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter: “Apartheid has been exported into the heart of the entire global system” (Dec. 2023)
• Half global population lives on less than $6.85 a day – smallest carbon footprint on our planet but the most climate-vulnerable.
• People in Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and small island developing states are 15 times more likely to die from climate-related disasters
• Most sobering climate change news of year: Earth exceeded 1.5°C warming every month for entire year
  • Every month has broken temperature record of previous month for past 12 months
  • Streak was in part driven by El Niño – but planet will probably continue to heat up even as El Niño ends
• With rises of 1.5°C, world's climate edges closer to multiple tipping points that could set off runaway climate change
• Copernicus, EU Climate Program: "The last 12 months have broken records like never before — caused primarily by our greenhouse gas emissions and an added boost from the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific“
• Runner up: Climate change slowing earth rotation
  • Climate change so massive it’s slowing down planet – causing days to get longer
  • As ice sheets melt, water moves towards equator, making Earth wider at its center
  • Similar to how an ice skater slows down when they spread their arms out
• Changes are small – only milliseconds a day – but could slow down even more if emissions remain high
• Lengthening of days could cause problems for global time-keeping, GPS satellites, and digital infrastructure
• Report: “In barely 200 years, we will have altered the Earth’s climate system so much that we are witnessing its impact on the very way Earth spins”
• Recent extreme weather events once again called attention to accelerating climate crisis
• Record-breaking heatwave in West Africa in mid-February – region’s heat index hit 50°C (122°F)
• Nigeria and Ghana issued warnings about high temperature, but many other affected countries did not prepare for dangerous heat
• Ivory Coast carpenter: “When it’s this hot, mixed with humidity, time stands still.”
• High temperatures and lack of rain damaged crops – cocoa factories in Ivory Coast and Ghana stopped or reduced processing because they could not afford to buy the beans
• Attribution scientists in WWA report: Heatwave would have happened less than once a century in world without climate crisis – now once-a-decade event
• Greece has experienced one of its hottest and driest summers on record
• Wildfire broke out around Athens at height of Greece’s tourist season two weeks ago, forcing mass evacuations
• Wildfires common in Greece this time of year, but they’re becoming more frequent and intense as weather gets hotter and drier due to climate change
• Last year, Greece experienced largest wildfires ever recorded within European Union
• Deadly monsoon floods left millions stranded in Bangladesh earlier this week
• Floods triggered by torrential rains have swamped large parts of low-lying Bangladesh
• At least 23 people have been killed and 5.7 million affected by floods in eastern part of nation
• Around 470,000 people have taken refuge in 3,500 shelters in the flood-hit districts, where around 650 medical teams on ground to provide treatment
• Vast areas of land are submerged, posing a significant threat to crops if floodwaters linger for an extended period
• Water levels receding very slowly, so flood conditions could persist if monsoon rains continue
• Path to net zero narrow but achievable -- IEA released update of its 2021 report on “Net Zero by 2050” in Sept. 2023
  • By 2035, emissions need to decline by 80% in advanced economies and 60% in emerging market and developing economies compared to 2022 level
  • Ramping up renewables, improving energy efficiency, cutting methane emissions, and increasing electrification can deliver more than 80% of emissions reductions needed
  • Cutting methane emissions from energy sector by 75% by 2030 one of least expensive opportunities to limit global warming in near term
  • World needs to increase its current $1.8 trillion investment in clean energy to about $4.5 trillion a year by early 2030s
• How do Americans view climate change in 2024?
• Yale annual survey, “Climate Change in the American Mind”: Seven in ten Americans (70%) think global warming is happening
• 13% of Americans think global warming is not happening – 17% say they don’t know if global warming is happening
• 52% of Americans are either “extremely” or “very” sure global warming happening
• 7% are “extremely” or “very” sure global warming isn’t happening
• 59% of Americans understand global warming is mostly human-caused – 29% think it’s due mostly to natural changes in environment
• 50% of Americans say they have personally experienced effects of global warming – 49% of Americans say they haven’t experienced effects
• 64% of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming
• 28% of Americans say they are “very worried” about global warming – has trended upward since survey began in 2008
• 2 in 3 Americans (66%) say they “rarely” or “never” discuss global warming with family and friends – 1 in 3 (34%) say they discuss global warming “occasionally” or “often”
• Pew Research Center Survey, May-June 2024: Two-thirds (66%) of Republicans say prices for everyday goods would get worse if U.S. greatly reduced fossil fuel energy production while increasing production from renewable sources
• Washington Post-UMD Poll, July 2023: 74% of Americans say they’ve experienced extremely hot days in past 5 years
• Only 35% of Reps/Lean Reps say climate change major factor – 85% of Dems/Lean Dems say so
• Partisan divide persists with other extreme weather events – droughts severe storms, flood, and wildfires
• Republican views have changed little since 2019, while Democratic percentage has increased from 79% to 85%
• About same share (65%) say transition would increase home heating and cooling costs
• 59% expect reliability of electrical grid would get worse in major shift toward renewable energy
• Ready for some good news?
• NY Times in May: Thanks to rapid build-out of wind and solar power plants, esp. in China, global emissions from the power sector set to decline this year
• 2023 report from Climate Analytics: 70% chance emissions start falling in 2024 if current clean technology growth trends continue & some progress made to cut non-CO₂ emissions
• Would make 2023 the year of peak emissions
• Continued explosive growth of wind and solar would push fossil fuels out of power sector, leading to peak coal in 2023 and peak gas in 2024
• Peaking emissions on its own, however, not enough to limit warming to 1.5°C
• Global peak must be followed by a sharp and sustained fall in emissions over following years to meet Paris Agreement goal
• Success of the IRA two years on: Political picture complicated but IRA has accomplished much of what it set out to do
• Since its passage in 2022, incentives provided by law helped drive $332 billion in new investments in clean energy and transportation
• Almost all of that private investments, generated by $48 billion in federal tax credits
• Investments in clean energy and transportation accounted for 44% of all investment growth in fixed assets like plants, property and equipment in U.S. economy last year
• Batteries and electric vehicles big winners – $114 billion in new projects in those industries have been announced
• Will have significant impact on reducing GHG emissions
• The global renewables landscape: Global power mix will be transformed by 2028
• IEA executive director: “The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it’s unstoppable”
• Over next five years, several renewable energy milestones are expected to be achieved:
  • In 2024, wind and solar PV together generate more electricity than hydropower
  • In 2025, renewables surpass coal to become largest source of electricity generation.
  • Wind and solar PV each surpass nuclear electricity generation in 2025 and 2026 respectively
  • In 2028, renewable energy sources account for over 42% of global electricity generation, with share of wind and solar PV doubling to 25%
• Naomi Klein, 2018: “Change or be changed, right? And what we mean by that is that climate change, if we don't change course, if we don't change our political and economic system, is going to change everything about our physical world.”
• In short, one way or the other, things are going to change – can we change the way we go about our business fast enough to hold off runaway climate catastrophe?

Q&A

• Dawn Montanye: In current presidential race, we’re not hearing much talk from the Democratic candidates, Harris and Walz – they understand it’s not resonating with people and not high on their list of issue priorities
• Equity dimension is very important, though – making energy transition equitable is key part of work we do at Cooperative Extension
• Peter: As you say, it’s not just about making the energy transition, it’s how we make it and who we leave behind or don’t leave behind
• Regarding presidential race: not talking about climate change and energy change is mostly tactical decision, not strategic one – based on Harris-Walz record, clear that they will make these priority if they win election
• Important to recognize there’s level of climate apartheid not just between nations but within nations, between different social classes within nations
• Gina Cassidy: We need to recognize we can’t simply focus on how climate change affects people – also need to pay attention to how its impact on plants and animals
• Even if we don’t care that much about plants or animals, we need to understand the extent to which our fate is intertwined with theirs – good example is issue of how climate change is influencing pollinators and process of pollination and how that affects our food system
• Also explosion of ticks and mosquitos and diseases caused by those vectors – also rabies more common in warmer weather
• Brian Eden: “Make polluters pay” seems to be a theme that resonates – rather than the general public paying for the damage inflicted by climate change, make the folks who are responsible for climate change pay at least some of that
• Fossil fuel industry is pushing back on the CLCPA and recommendations from Climate Action Council – Governor is backing off because of this pressure
• Several economic studies carried out for Scoping Plan that showed there would be positive economic and health benefits from carrying out energy transition
• Affordability has become chief vehicle for defeating progressive ideas

 

Climate Change, the Energy Transition, and Local Municipalities – Dan Lamb

Dan Lamb is the deputy supervisor for the Town of Dryden, senior lecturer at Cornell's Brooks School of Public Policy, and a member of the TCCPI steering committee. Dan provided an overview of how the Town of Dryden has tackled the issues of climate change and the energy transition, providing a model for other local municipalities.

• Many of things we’ve talked about today are what drove me to get into public service 30 years ago
• Lot of great ideas at state and federal levels but we don’t often get to see those ideas advance – can be very frustrating
• Worked for federal government for 16 years as congressional aide – also worked for state and county government
• Most action I’ve seen on climate has been at local level
• Not going to be a lot of federal activity in next few years unless it’s incentive-based – won’t be sweeping federal legislation we’ve seen in earlier years because of recent US Supreme Court decisions such as the Chevron case
• Found 8 years I’ve worked in town government to be more rewarding when it comes to environmental policy – what we’ve been able to do in Dryden is significant
• Tools available in local government: zoning, planning, permitting, moratoriums, courts, and government programs
• Topics that can be addressed include infrastructure, municipal broadband, solar siting, development, multi-use trails, and intergovernmental relations
• Dryden is town that stopped fracking in NYS
• We got out front early on and we were vocal – ban enacted through our zoning law withstood legal challenges and drove industry away
• We didn’t stop there – dawn of new era in Dryden
• Climate Smart Community since 2019 along with 290 other communities representing one-third of state population have partnered with state government to build resilient, low carbon future
• Dryden secured bronze-level status, one of 31 in NY – has enabled town to secure several hundred thousand dollars in state funding for local renewable energy projects and improvements in infrastructure that have helped to reduce GHG emissions
• Town approached in 2017 by Distributed Sun, founded by Cornell graduate – wanted to establish two sites, 18 MW and 10 MW
• Required special use permit from town involving full review and permitting by town board -- had more solar than any other town in NY for several years
• Took lot of effort but brought massive benefits to local residents
• NYS PSC approved remote net metering in 2011 and community distributed generation in 2015, which allowed groups to buy in on solar farm
• Took election to bring about support for this change – have to be able to sell your ideas to public
• Dryden negotiated PILOT at $6,000 per MW before Tompkins IDA established countywide rate of $4,200-$4,600 per MW
• Over 30-year life cycle of projects estimated $7 million paid to local taxing authorities
  • Schools: 73%
  • County: 21%
  • Town: 6%
• Dryden school board opposed projects but never turned down any of money
• To bring more dollars to local community, Sales Tax Offset (STO) created by state legislature to allow towns to tax state forest lands
• With STO, town raises its property tax rate and county lowers theirs – county retains proportional sales tax revenue previously shared with town
• Solar and new tax rates on forest lands generated $60,000/year of new revenue for town – increases every year
• Residents also received 10% savings on electricity bills instead of usual 5%
• Important for public to understand solar can’t go everywhere – existing electrical grid limits where it can be sited
• Has to be fairly close to existing transmission lines because costs $1 million plus to upgrade grid
• Long after projects permitted town was in court to defend its process – ended up at state’s highest court – legal challenges intense so you have to have proper representation
• Lessons learned:
  • All projects require tradeoffs, which can be argued and litigated
  • Government has clear role in review, deliberation, and education
  • Few projects get sited in NYS because of challenges
  • Solar projects led to referendum-style town election in 2017
  • Feelings got hurt
  • NYS siting laws have since changed, reducing local control
• Recently had another proposed solar project at Caswell Rd. landfill that failed – NYSERDA realize it would be too expensive to connect farm to grid
• But another solar project on Morris Rd. that is going forward
• Once you get people in town to support a big project or two, it’s easier to do other projects
• As result of successes in fighting fracking and building solar, we gained credibility to carry out other important projects related to sustainability
• Nothing more important at any level of government than sustainability, how you enter intergenerational compact that sets up government programs to carry on and benefit public
• Dryden Rail Trail, for example, addressed issue of growing traffic in town by giving people another way to get across town, especially to Cornell
• Secured state and federal funding that totaled close to $4 million
• Provides people with recreational resource as well as alternative to using cars for commuting
• Dryden Fiber another important recent project – first and only town owned and operated internet service in NY – over 100 subscribers at this point and expect to be well over 200 by end of year
• Received big boost via state in June when we received grant of almost $9 million from American Recovery Plan, big Covid recovery program
• With affordable, reliable internet, we reduced need for people to commute as much because people could work from home productively – both a sustainability and equity issue
• Task forces and committees in town allow for more inclusive governance
• Most recently we’ve had to deal with issue of crypto-mining – downstate individual purchased property in town with intent to establish crypto-mining
• Town put moratorium in place to keep project from going forward while we take a serious and thoughtful look over next 18 months to see if crypto-mining and data processing are compatible with our comprehensive plan
• Very energy intensive and could prevent us from carrying out other economic development initiatives such as affordable housing
• Have found ourselves back in court again defending our town actions
• Another issue that came up involved Bolger Station, a large gas compression station in Dryden – they wanted to do an upgrade a few years ago
• We were concerned about what that would mean for increasing carbon emissions – required a very quick study
• Dan reached out to several experts and tried to understand the situation – with input from Mothers Out Front, we decided to use our land use authority and permitting process to get a national energy company to meet some local needs
• If they wanted to upgrade the station, we wanted them to use more modern equipment that would reduce what EPA calls criteria pollutants such as benzene and perchloroethylene that cause asthma, cancer, and other serious illnesses in return for our building permit
• We made it clear to them that we had this authority in a letter we sent in 2018 to put them on notice that they were going to need a special use permit
• Resulted in a $60 million upgrade that dramatically reduced these pollutants and increased tax revenue for the town and school district
• Project took a lot of community communication and public meetings – lots of skepticism about whether we could secure these concessions
• Reductions independently verified – now they’re required to produce annual reports about the emissions and show up in person before the Town Board
• We also addressed the issue of affordable housing n Dryden – we wanted the right kind of housing in right kind of places
• Working with developers, we made clear what our priorities are – now when they show up they know that they need to avoid using fossil fuels in their housing – important contribution to sustainability of community
• Comprehensive planning not required in NYS but it’s strongly encouraged – we began our process the year before last while Covid taking place – presented its own challenges when it came to getting valid community input
• Couldn’t put together an acceptable plan without this input – you have to develop it in public with a lot of meetings and surveys – some of meetings very difficult
• Once it’s in place, it will guide community for next 15-20 years – our last comprehensive plan was in 2005 so it was time
• 2005 plan did not include section on energy or sustainability – energy only mentioned twice in our 2005 plan
• In our updated plan (Dryden 2045) energy mentioned 99 times and we have whole section energy and sustainability with climate action plan built into it
• It’s way to justify a lot of our decision making going forward – long and difficult process but it’s worth it
• Now in midst of changing our zoning based on comprehensive plan – allows us to make sure we’re incentivizing good land use
• Prioritizing housing in way that moves us away from single-family lot
• Important to make sure you have the right people involved – making sure we’re using our appointment authority to get broad representation and not be insular – need to have different viewpoints to make sure you get community buy-in

Q&A

• Peter: Makes a great case study – you should write it up for submission to Journal of Public Administration or something along those lines
• Dan said he plans to do this – hopes he conveyed message that you can accomplish a lot at local level – state and federal governments not going to get us change we’re looking for
• Incremental change is usually the way things move forward – not a switch you can flip – more like dial
• Peter: You showed incrementalism can accomplish a lot but you have to be persistent and smart
• Dan: You also have to have good people around you – perhaps the most important thing we do is to attract good people to work with us as staff and as volunteers on our advisory boards
• If you want to hold on tight to power and you want control and credit, you’re not going to get good things done
• Chuck Geisler: Thanks so much for everything you’ve accomplished, Dan – eight years of your energy has gone a long ways
• I remember when we were working on fracking we collaborated a great deal with Ulysses and other towns – do we continue to collaborate with other towns in county
• Dan: Definitely, and with county as well – key example of our collaboration is with Dryden Fiber – worked with Caroline on this project – thought our chances of securing state funding would go up if we entered into this kind of intermunicipal partnership – turned out to be true
• Another example of partnership took place with emergency management services reform – working with other towns through Council of Government to bring about reform in how we provide ambulance service
• Roxanne Marino: Collaboration during fracking involved Dryden, Ulysses, and Town of Ithaca – drew up memorandum of understanding that really galvanized coalitions of citizens across towns – eventually got more than 50 municipalities in NYS to pass resolutions in support of home rule
• Dan: Really important to work across municipal lines

July 2024

EarthForce at New Roots – Tina Nilsen-Hodges

Tina Nilsen-Hodges is the principal and superintendent at New Roots Charter School in Ithaca. Tina shared details about the new EarthForce initiative, an innovative program providing opportunities for young people to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to support our region’s transition to greater sustainability.

• Greater awareness of impacts of climate change – we’re ready at New Roots to support youth and help them become part of the region’s movement to become more resilient and sustainable
• New Roots is Central NY’s regional, tuition-free, public charter high school in Ithaca – some background:
  • Authorized by SUNY to open in 2009
  • First whole school model of secondary education for a sustainable future in NYS
  • Green Schools National Network Accelerator School
  • S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School
  • 91% graduation rate with 55% poverty rate, 36% with IEP or 504 plans in 2023
• Offer full academic program:
  • NYS Regents and Advanced Regents diploma options
  • Regents exam preparation
  • Honors projects for all students
  • Advanced science and mathematics courses
  • College credits through Tompkins Cortland Community College
  • Interdisciplinary, real-world projects
• Academics for a sustainable future
  • Meets or exceeds NYS graduation requirements
  • National Education for a Sustainable Future Standards
  • Real world, community-based learning
  • Interdisciplinary anchor projects: inquiry, collaboration, and problem-solving through 4PBL (phenomenon-, place-, project-, and problem-based learning)
  • Senior Team Capstone Projects: research and action on local issues aligned with U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
  • Integrate social justice and environmental sustainability in student learning
• Preparation for college AND technical careers
  • Our goal: Every young person graduates with college credits, college acceptance, and a resume that qualifies them for a living wage entry-level job as a member of our regional green workforce
  • We don’t want students to feel they have to choose one or other
  • Growing demand both regionally and nationally for people qualified to move into green careers
• New Roots has recently established EarthForce as new program to create green career pathways for sustainable future
  • Start off offering Roots of Success in grade 10 – offers environmental literacy certification through US Dept of Labor – college-level course with students receiving course credit through TC3
  • Growing out of Roots of Success are career pathways in grades 11 and 12 featuring college courses and paid internships in green jobs sector
• Strong partnership with SUNY as a SUNY-authorized school – also Green Pathways align New Roots coursework with certificates, associates, and bachelor’s degrees necessary to prepare for jobs in demand in this region in partnership with TC3 and SUNY Morrisville
• Roots of Success Module Topics:
  • Environmental Literacy
  • Energy
  • Water
  • Waste
  • Transportation
  • Building
  • Health, food and agriculture
  • Community organizing and leadership
  • Financial literacy and social entrepreneurship
• Building out pathways at New Roots for students to explore each of these areas
• One example: students researched ways to redesign Triangle Park to incorporate mitigation strategies such as rain gardens, permeable pavement, and open meadow
• Another example involved reimagining Seneca Street incorporating elements such as median designed to capture stormwater, dedicated bike lane, bioswales, etc., and other features to make street more pedestrian-friendly
• Cayuga Wetlands Restoration Project launched in 2016 – initiated through student capstone project
  • Students worked with leaders from Cayuga traditional nation to learn about how to use native wetlands species to mitigate runoff pollution
  • Resulted in multiyear project involving science classes to monitor water quality
  • Grants from Park Foundation and DEC supported establishment of Youth Ecological Conservation Corps – summer program with paid internships to establish planting sites
• For food and agriculture learning, New Roots has taken over Kestrel Berry CSA at EVI with new lease
  • 3-acre farm also includes vegetables grown for farm-to-school program and to sell at DeWitt Farmers Market
  • Want every student to have experience working at farm to understand where their food is coming from and to have experience of working with their hands
• Youth Entrepreneurship Market another initiative at New Roots to help students learn skills necessary to start small business
  • Entrepreneurial thinking one of core competencies for education for sustainable future
  • Integrate it throughout New Roots courses
  • YEM open to any student who attends school in Tompkins County
• Focused currently on building out green energy career pathway
  • What workforce needs does the green energy sector anticipate in our region?
  • What training is optimal?
  • What internship opportunities can we create for students?
  • What funding sources can support this programming?
• How can you help us grow our local EarthForce?
  • Support our efforts to identify specific local employment needs
  • Identify internship and project opportunities for students
  • Be a resource for a senior team capstone project
  • Identify funding sources for interns
  • Help us spread the word!
• Roughly 50% of students come from within ICSD boundaries and rest come from 15-20 different school districts outside city – truly a regional school
• Hoping in our next charter term to expand offering to include grades 7 & 8
• Working intentionally to offer students opportunities to connect across their differences and to embrace them
  • Lot of work done in teams and circles to encourage this
  • Strive to create safe space where students can step out of their comfort zone
• Local & National Honors Received by New Roots
  • 2021 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School Award
  • One of five charter schools nationally with this distinction in 2021
  • 2021 NYS Department of Education Green Ribbon School Award
  • One of three schools in NYS honored with this distinction in 2021
  • 2019 Best of Green Schools Award, Transformation
    Cayuga Wetlands Restoration Project, a partnership with the Cayuga Nation and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
  • 2017 Catalyst Network Top 10 Green Schools
    Recognized by the Green Schools National Network as leader in education for a sustainable future
  • #1 Youth Project, People’s Choice Signs of Sustainability Award
    Sustainable Tompkins (2017)
  • 2016 First Human Rights Friendly School Nationally certified by the Dorothy Cotton Institute (DCI) and Human Rights Educators USA
  • 2012 Top Green High School Award
    NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Q&A

• Peter noted that many of people who participate in TCCPI meetings could be a valuable resource for New Roots – students could really benefit from hearing about micromobility issues from Center for Community Transportation, work of Southern Tier Clean Energy Hub, Climate Reality’s work at local and national levels, etc.
• Dawn Montanye: Interested in strengthening ties between New Roots and Cooperative Extension – will look for possible student opportunities for team capstone project – will also connect Tina with CCETC’s Way2Go program, which does regional transportation troubleshooting and help with ways to make transportation more accessible for New Roots students and parents
• Karim Beers: Would be great if New Roots students could work with CCT and BikeWalk Tompkins to help expand access for every middle school and high school student to bikes
• Also students could help with building community solar farm locally for low-income and underserved households, drawing on their Roots of Success training as well as Energy Warrior program participants and using surplus solar panels donated by Cornell
• Perhaps students could also become involved with Clean Energy Hub’s volunteer energy navigator program
• Peter observed that Don Haas at PRI has done outstanding work with teachers around climate change and earth systems education
• Don and Ingrid Zabel met recently with David Streib at New Roots about ways to strengthen collaboration in this area – teacher workshop coming up later this summer that would be good opportunity for New Roots faculty
• Guillermo Metz: Is anybody connected or working with Federal Climate Corps – you can register to become local host group but not aware of anyone who has done this

 

The Ithaca 2030 District Annual Progress Report – Peter Bardaglio

Peter is the executive director of the Ithaca 2030 District, the flagship program of TCCPI. He reported on the progress that the 2030 District made in 2023 regarding its effort to reduce the carbon footprint of commercial buildings in downtown Ithaca.

• TCCPI & Ithaca 2030 District
  • The Ithaca 2030 District is flagship project of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI)
  • Builds on TCCPI model: provides non-competitive, collaborative environment built on trust and mutual respect
• What are 2030 Districts?
  • Goal: Improve energy and water performance of commercial and mixed-use buildings & reduce transportation emissions
  • Private-sector led – voluntary collaboration
  • Based in market realities, building business case for sustainability
  • Collect, benchmark, and analyze data to track progress

• Now 24 districts in U.S. and Canada – Ithaca is by far the smallest city in network
• Existing Building Targets
• 50% reductions in energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by 2030
• New Building and Major Renovation Targets
• Immediate 50% reductions in water consumption and transportation emissions, with energy use in the design year reaching carbon neutrality by 2030
• Why focus on buildings?
• Built environment responsible for about 42% of annual global CO2 emissions
• Of total emissions, building operations responsible for about 27% annually
• Embodied carbon of just four building and infrastructure materials – cement, iron, steel, and aluminum – responsible for another 15%
• Ithaca 2030 District launched in 2016
• TCCPI’s primary vehicle for engaging business community in effort to reduce GHG emissions
• Effort to build culture of benchmarking
• Members include building owners, community organizations, government agencies, and professionals
• Current advisory board members:
• Terry Carroll, County Chief Sustainability Officer

• Rebecca Evans, City of Ithaca Sustainability Director
• Andrew Gil, HOLT Architects
• John Guttridge, Urban Core, LLC
• Susan Holland, Historic Ithaca Executive Director
• Conrad Metcalfe, NYS-BPCA (ret.)
• Guillermo Metz, CCETC Energy Team Leader
• Jan Rhodes Norman, Local First Ithaca Co-Founder
• Ethan Skut, Project Engineer, Taitem Engineering

• NYSERDA Planning Grant – 2015
  • Issued market analysis report, district strategy plan, and public outreach strategy
  • Developed financing guide and energy efficiency services guide
  • Conducted recruitment workshops on benefits of 2030 District and training sessions on Portfolio Manager
  • Created energy, water, and transportation baselines for 2030 District
  • Created website at 2030districts.org/Ithaca
  • Officially launched District in June 2016
• Current Ongoing Activities
  • Collect monthly energy and quarterly water data for property owners and upload them to Portfolio Manager
  • Build online building performance dashboard for each property owner to track progress
  • Carry out annual transportation surveys to track commuter carbon emissions
  • Hold quarterly meetings of District Partners and publish quarterly e-newsletter
  • Issue annual District progress reports

• Use Portfolio Manager to collect energy and water data and then upload to dashboard
• Baselines and performance metrics used to track District’s progress are listed in the table below:

 

	ENERGY	WATER	TRANSPORTATION
Baseline Type	Regional Baseline	Local Baseline	Local Baseline
Baseline Source	2003 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)	2014-2016 Water Consumption Data Provided by the Ithaca Water and Sewer Division (IWSD)	2012 Ithaca Commuting Survey Results for City Workers, Data from the EPA and EIA
Baseline Considerations	Climate Zone, Space Type(s), Occupancy	Climate Zone, Space Type(s)	Location
Impact Metric	Annual Energy Use Intensity (EUI)	Annual Water Use Intensity (WUI)	Carbon Emissions per person per trip per year
Units	kBTUs/square foot	Gallons/square foot	kgCO2/person/trip/year
Data Tracking Method	NYSEG + Energy Star Portfolio Manager	IWSD + Energy Star Portfolio Manager	Annual Transportation Emission Survey

• Currently, there are 55 member buildings and 922,298 square feet of committed space, compared to 33 buildings and 417,089 square feet in 2021
  • 66% increase in the number of buildings and 121% growth in committed square footage
• For 2023 annual report, we focused on 30 property members, 43 buildings, and 583,269 sq ft
• Property type breakdown by square footage:
• Office – 28.5%
• Educational/Cultural – 22.0%
• Retail – 18.7%
• Mixed Use – 22.8%
• Restaurant – 4.5%
• Hotel/Inn – 2.5%
• Other – 1.0%
• Current property members can be found at https://www.2030districts.org/ithaca/members
• District reduced its energy consumption by 37% from district baseline in 2023
• In addition, used 46% less water than baseline last year
• 2022: 27% in energy savings and 40% in gallons avoided
• 2023 first year we met 2025 performance targets for both energy and water
• Slight improvement in commuter emissions – decreasing from 1706 kg CO2e/commuter/year in 2021 to 1403 in 2023
• 7% reduction and significantly below 2019 emissions level of 1,603
• As of 6/30/24, there are 55 member buildings and 922,298 sq ft of committed space
  • 33 buildings and 417,089 sq ft in 2021
  • 66% increase in number of buildings – 121% growth in committed sq ft
• Energy update: 2023 District Baseline EUI, calculated as weighted mean of individual buildings’ energy baselines: 101.64 kBTU/sq ft
• At district level, the aggregated EUI in 2023 was 63.84 1kBTU/sq ft
• Significant improvement over 2022 results, when aggregated EUI was 76.51
• 27 of 43 buildings in 2023 met 2020 target of 20% reduction from their building baselines compared to 23 the year before – number achieving the 2030 target of 50% rose from 13 to 17
• Energy results
  • Energy cost avoided: $361,000
  • CO2e emissions avoided: 3.9 million lbs.
  • Equivalent number of young trees planted: 305,744
• Water update: 2023 District Baseline WUI, calculated as weighted mean of individual buildings’ water baselines: 25.19 gal/sq ft
• At district level, the aggregated WUI in 2023: 13.56 gal/sq ft – exceeded 2025 target -- reduction of 46% from the baseline, well within striking distance of 2030 target of 12.59
• 25 properties met 2020 target of 20% reduction from their building baselines – 16 of those properties met 2030 target
• Water results
  • Water cost avoided: $165,000
  • Gallons saved: 6.4 million
  • Equivalent number of showers saved: 377,000
• Transportation emissions benchmarked as annual emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per commuter
• Baseline for District in 2023: 1501 kg CO2e/commuter/yr
• Actual in 2023: 1403 kg CO2e/commuter/yr, well above 2020 target but significant reduction from 1706 in 2021 (17.7%)
• Before COVID, only 10% of respondents worked at home – with 2020 spring lockdown, proportion of remote workers jumped to 45%
• Even with reopening in second half of year, 32% of respondents continued to work remotely
• Taken as whole, in 2020 the District achieved 1172 kg CO2e/commuter/yr, below 2020 target of 1200 kg CO2e/commuter/yr
• Proportion of remote workers declined in 2021 to 28% -- percentage of commuters who drove alone jumped from 39% during 2020 lockdown to 51%
• This trend continued in 2023, with the percentage of remote workers dropping to 15% and the rate of commuters driving solo increasing to 55%
• Ithaca Green New Deal

• City committed to achieving community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030
• Latest GHG inventory: buildings make up estimated 58% of emissions in Ithaca – commercial sector contributes 38%

• Energy efficiency and electrification in built environment key to achieving carbon neutrality
• 2030 District’s focus on improving performance of commercial buildings can clearly help accelerate reduction of community’s carbon footprint

Q&A

• Sheila Out: What are the main ways to reduce water use in commercial buildings?
• Peter: Dual flush toilet, other water saving devices such as water efficient shower heads and sink faucets – especially in mixed use buildings where there is retail on first floor and apartments on the floors above
• Laura Vineyard: How are you measuring transportation emissions?
• Peter: We do an annual, online survey for commuters in each of the district member buildings – ask building owners to help us with this
• About six different questions – takes less than 5 minutes to complete
• We’ve made good progress in the Ithaca 2030 District but we should be doing this as a city, not just a district in the city
• We should urge Common Council to move in the direction of monitoring the building performance of existing buildings – other cities have been adopting performance standards
• We have strong requirements in place for new construction, but we need to also pay attention to existing buildings, which make up the vast majority of the built environment

June 2024

The Upstate NY Grid – Marguerite Wells

Marguerite Wells is the executive director of Alliance for Clean Energy New York and former Vice President for Renewable Development at Invenergy, LLC. Marguerite provided an overview of how the upstate NY grid operates.

• Overview
  • On annual average, upstate NY grid is the cleanest in nation, >90% of the power is generated from nuclear and hydro
  • Adding new electric loads to grid still causes combustion of gas to serve that new load by plants in NYS disadvantaged communities
  • Efficient electrification of transportation and HVAC should proceed in coordination with clean electricity and equipment life cycles
  • In case of a district energy system in transition, electrification can be timed so as not to increase gas usage
• NY grid divided into zones A-K from Buffalo to end of Long Island
• Big hydro at Niagara Falls, also in northern NY – smaller hydro plants throughout Adirondacks
• Three big nuclear plants on Lake Ontario – gas plants all over state with bunch in Albany area – others in Syracuse and Catskills
• Wind farms and solar mostly in northern and western NY – most of solar not utility scale yet – bunch of projects planned but only two under construction
• Vast majority of solar at this point behind meter
• Upstate energy production is 92% carbon free – 84% nuclear and hydro – very small percentage of energy production in upstate is gas or oil
• NYSIO definition of upstate NY doesn’t include Capitol District or Hudson Valley
• Downstate energy production is 95% fossil based – state as a whole is roughly half fossil generation and half carbon free
• Electric generation dispatch order in NY:
  • First: Renewables and nuclear plants run at their full capacity
  • Second: Gas plants ramp up and down to meet changing load
  • Third: Fuel oil plants run in extreme circumstances – very expensive to run so only turned on when everything else is maxed out
• Hydro and nuclear provide base load for grid
• March 12^th of this year most solar NY grid has even seen – 21% for couple of hours – all behind meter: rooftop and community solar
• When solar becomes available during day it pushes gas and dual fuel down and then at around 6 pm gas and dual fuel move up
• What is Carbon Intensity of Electricity in NYS?
  • Inventory (Attributional/Allocational) accounting framework uses average emission factors to proportionally allocate responsibility for emissions in a geographic region
  • Project (Consequential) accounting framework uses marginal emission factors to quantify actual changes in emissions as a consequence of specific projects and operational changes
  • Upstream emissions are included for all fossil fuel electricity but not nuclear
• Some of larger combined cycle and peaker plants in upstate NY
• Independence - 1254 MW, Oswego NY
  • Summer Peak Capacity: 958 MW
  • Capacity Factor in 2022: 28%
  • Owner: Vistra
  • Commissioned: 1994
  • Combined Cycle
  • Adjacent to NYS disadvantaged community identified by the NY Climate Justice Council
• Oswego Harbor,1803 MW, Oswego NY
  • Nameplate: 1803 MW
  • Capacity Factor in 2022: 1%
  • Owner: Generation Bridge
  • Commissioned: 1975
  • Steam Boiler run on fuel oil primarily, natural gas backup
  • Within NYS disadvantaged community identified by the NY Climate Justice Council
• CPV - 770 MW, Middletown NY (Catskills)
  • Summer Peak Capacity: 680 MW
  • Capacity Factor in 2022: 64%
  • Owner: DGC Operations, LLC
  • Commissioned: 2018
  • Combined Cycle
  • Within NYS disadvantaged community identified by the NY Climate Justice Council
• Bethlehem - 893 MW, Glenmont NY (near Albany)
  • Summer Peak Capacity: 811 MW
  • Capacity Factor in 2022: 68%
  • Owner: PSEG Power NY
  • Commissioned: 2002
  • Combined or Simple Cycle: Combined
  • Adjacent to NYS disadvantaged community identified by the NY Climate Justice Council
• We do have very clean grid upstate – no coal – but we still rely on gas
• Every time we add MWh, combustion of gas to serve that new load has actual emissions impact of ~1000 lbs/MWh in NYS disadvantaged communities
• Hopefully as renewables come online, they’ll drive gas plants out of market
• But current situation makes it tricky as electrification of buildings and cars ramps up – grid has to respond to increased demand and gas plants step up to fill gap in response

Q&A

• Peter: What happened when Indian Point nuclear plant shut down?
• Marguerite: Gas plants, including peakers, ran at full bore
• Bob Howarth: If you replace a gas furnace in your home and you replace it today with a ground source heat pump, even if 100% of electricity comes from natural gas power plants, your total GHG emissions go down immediately
• Even though we should be aiming at zero emissions grid, there’s no reason to wait

 

Cornell Climate & Energy Update – Bert Bland, Sarah Carson, and Wayne Bezner Kerr

Bert Bland, the associate vice president for Energy and Sustainability at Cornell, Sarah Carson, director of campus sustainability, and Wayne Bezner Kerr, project manager for Earth Source Heat updated  the group on the Cornell Climate Action Plan, including the campus district energy system, recent developments regarding energy efficiency and renewables, and the latest on the Earth Source Heat project.

Sarah Carson

• Goal of Cornell’s climate action plan is to transition campus’s energy systems to be fossil fuel free
• Overall strategy is to leverage campus’s technology and resources to explore the lowest carbon solutions that could be groundbreaking and scaled beyond Cornell
• Have already cut campus energy use intensity by 25% and increased efficiency by 50% by making electricity on campus and capturing waste heat for buildings
• Have also built largescale solar that produces electricity to grid and displaces natural gas production, much of which is adjacent to or in disadvantaged communities
• We’ve shared our data and everything we’ve learned with peers and community
• World-class team of researchers and practitioners working on solutions
• Play short segment of Cornell’s Carl Sagan testifying to Congress in 1985 about threat of climate change
• Guiding questions for presentation today:
• What is district energy? • How much energy does campus use?
• Guiding Questions
• What is district energy?
• How much energy does campus use?
  • Where does it come from?
  • How clean is it relative to the alternatives?
• How do we get to a fossil fuel free district energy system?
• How do we get to a fossil fuel free district energy system?
• Campus district energy system made up of steam heat, chilled water, and electricity – 150 buildings connected to this system connected to network of buried pipe and electrical lines, including 12 miles of buried steam lines, all of which is connected to central generating facilities
• There is also hydroelectric power plant and lake source cooling

Bert Bland

• We need to stop burning cheap fossil fuels which are abundant and electrify everything
• Goal of entire energy transition team is, first, to keep the lights on and our campus spaces heated and cooled, then rapidly decarbonize our system to create fossil-free district energy system
• Bert played brief video explaining what a district system is and why it makes sense
• Cornell’s central coal-fired energy plant went on line in 1923 – in 2009 coal replaced with gas-fired combined heat and power – increased energy efficiency by 50% and cut stack emissions by half
• If Cornell purchased electricity from grid, carbon emissions would increase significantly
• We’re reducing peak demand on grid in summer when less efficient peaker plants come online
• Hydroelectric plant first started up in 1904 – takes water from Beebe Lake – just replaced turbines – makes about 3% of power used on campus
• Lake source cooling started up in 2000 – uses about one-sixth of energy use to make chilled water for campus district energy system
• On a day when it’s about 9 degrees F, total campus electricity demand is 27 MW, and total campus steam flow is 262 kLb/hr
• Roughly equivalent to boiling 10 barrels of water per minute for peak heating
• Using electric power equivalent to 40K work horses pulling nonstop

Sarah Carson

• Carbon action plan: carbon reduction framework
  • Avoid carbon-intensive activities
  • Reduce energy demand with building retrofits and engagement programs
  • Replace fossil fuels with lowest carbon renewable energy
  • Remove carbon through campus land management and other mission-related actions
• Carbon-free district energy system vision: earth-source heat along with largescale solar, hydroelectric, lake source cooling, and energy conservation – will also include thermal energy storage
• Make almost all heat & electricity on campus
• Need to transition heat distribution system from steam to hot water – will result in significant energy efficiency gains – progress will not be linear
• Zero-Carbon Firm Capacity needed for a challenging winter week in 2050
  • Significant overbuild of Li-ion batteries, solar, and wind will be required in extended periods of high load and low solar and wind generation
  • CLCPA Scoping plan calls for 18-23GW of Dispatchable Emission Free

Resources (DEFRs) to fill the gap

• Recent analyses have shown that Zero-Carbon Firm Capacity needed for a typical winter week in 2050 closer to 40GW
• As we work toward electrification, peak load likely to shift from summer to winter
• The NYS grid transition will:
  • Shift to a winter peaking system
  • Increase peak load 2-3 times current levels
  • Significantly lower reliability margins

Wayne Bezner Kerr

• Campus uses tremendous amount of energy – everything we can do to reduce size of load on grid makes possibility of building reliable, dispatchable zero-carbon grid more possible
• As we move toward mid-century, biggest portion of increase in demand is from building electrification – right thing to do but we need to be careful about how we carry out transition
• Geothermal: Earth Source Heat (ESH)
  • Replace fossil fuels on campus
  • Highest efficiency of any system
  • Lowest electricity, lowest emissions, and chemicals used to operate it has lowest global warming potential (GWP)
  • Supports grid reliability
  • No refrigerants in system
  • Demonstrates Enhanced Geothermal Systems technology to world that can be deployed widely
• Electric Heat Pumps: A possible solution to Cornell heating and cooling needs
  • Air-Source and Ground-Source options
  • Require high GWP refrigerants
  • Displace Lake Source Cooling at significant cost in emissions
  • Substantial increases in electricity demand
  • Approximately 9000 boreholes required
• First ground source heat pump on campus: Cornell Child Care Center 2024
  • Decommissioned gas-fired infrastructure
  • Childcare center not on district energy system
• Earth Source Heat is the lowest electric demand
  • Using ground source heat pump would use twice as much electricity and air source heat pump and electric boiler would use six times as much
• What did we learn from CUBO?
  • Safe drilling environment
  • Ideal temperature for connecting to district energy – 185 degrees F at bottom of hole
  • Insights into deep geology and new technology make working at depth more attractive – drilled to 9,750 feet
  • Turned out to be easier engineering environment to work in than expected
• Cornell team has strong relationship with Fervo
• Fervo is the global leader in enhanced geothermal development
• Uses oil & gas technology to make electricity in high heat areas without subsurface water
• We are using these techniques to build system that can produce efficient heat almost anywhere
• Next steps:
  • 2025: Collect data for design
  • 2027: Working demonstration system
  • 2029: Expand locally and support partners
• Closing Thoughts about Low-Carbon Heat
  • A reliable, achievable source of decarbonization that limits stress on winter peaking electric grid
  • Deployable in many regions
  • Workforce development that utilizes expertise from the oil and gas industry and transitions to decarbonization

Sarah Carson

• Solar farms and hydro currently produce 22% of power -- have agreements in place to get to 100% before 2030 – studying crop integration
• Since 2020 on sunny afternoons 100% renewable in given hour or moment
• Cornell works with RGGI: Gas generation displaced by retiring carbon allowances from NYS carbon cap & trade program (RGGI) with RECs

Bert Bland

• Aggressive energy conservation program – campus has grown 20% since 2000 but kept energy demand of campus flat
• Beginning process of converting from steam to hot water distribution to get ready for ESH – also have constructed thermal energy storage tank

Sarah Carson

• Recap: There is a climate emergency
• We need to be fossil fuel free
• We are pursuing the lowest carbon solutions
• District energy creates the lowest carbon opportunities
• Our decisions are aligned with NYS grid status
• We need policies that enable solutions

Q&A

• Peter: Seems to be division between two schools of thought on how best to proceed: 1) on one hand, provide heat pump systems to individual buildings; and 2) proceed with ESH
• But there is third option: campuswide geothermal exchange system like ones constructed at Ball State, Swarthmore, and Princeton that have lots of boreholes across their respective campuses
• Why has the focus been on drilling one deep hole?
• Wayne: Pursuing that option, which lots of our peer institutions have, would double electricity demand on campus compared to ESH
• Martha Robertson: It sounds as if CUBO has been successful and you got the information you were looking for – is that right?
• Wayne: Yes but still facing hurdle of finance – in process of responding to new DOE grant opportunity – working with Sen. Schumer’s staff
• Martha: If physics work, then money will follow – wish you’d spent more time about apparent success of CUBO
• bethany ojalehto mays: It seems like we’re all on the same page as far as understanding energy transition is going to be extremely hard – but why aren’t we asking question of what costs to future generations will be of failure? Doesn’t this acknowledge we’ll be participating in a 4 degree higher world? Shouldn’t elite institutions such as Cornell be communicating this message?
• Dan Antonioli: Are there any pre-1970 buildings that have been renovated or retrofitted to be an efficient building?
• Bert: We definitely have examples of that and I’d be happy to show you some of them
• Sarah: Energy intensity of our campus is down 25%
• In closing, Peter urged folks to focus on stopping expansion of fossil fuel industry – we also need to put pressure on governor to get her to change her direction on climate and energy issues as well as General Assembly – last legislative session was very disappointing
• Bob Howarth and Climate Action Council put together plan on how to get where we need to go and we’ve been diverted from that road by governor

May 2024

Cornell on Fire – bethany ojalehto mays

A former faculty member and cofounder of Cornell on Fire, bethany is a cofounder of Cornell on Fire, a coalition that seeks to hold the university to its stated climate commitments and to respond in a just and comprehensive way to the climate emergency. She shared the recent work Cornell on Fire has been carrying out, including the findings outlined in their Beyond PR Climate Action Plan Report.

• We’re in middle of decisive decade – Elizabeth Kolbert: "...will be consequential in a more or less permanent way. Global CO2 emissions are now so high...that ten more years of the same will be nothing short of cataclysmic. Unless emissions are reduced, and radically, a rise of two degrees Celsius will be pretty much unavoidable by 2030."

• World has failed to reduce emissions despite all pledges to the contrary, and is on track for 3-4C temperature rise by 2100
• Promising examples set by Ithaca Green New Deal and NYS Climate Act – both aspire to deliver on a 1.5 degree pathway
• Cornell should lead way – it led way on Kyoto as first major nongovernmental institution to voluntarily commit to Kyoto Protocol standards for GHG emissions reduction – resulted from student activism
• Sustainability Module for all incoming freshman: Cornell uniquely positioned to operate at speed, scale, and scope needed to confront climate change
• Cornell on Fire believes plan adequate in ambition, scope, & urgency would:
  • Halve current emissions by 2030
  • Get to zero by 2035
  • Cover whole campus economy
  • Use high-confidence, equitable strategies
  • Lead with insights from climate justice communities
• Essential that Cornell deliver on its pledges
• Four areas where more urgent action needed
• Honesty in emissions reporting – no cost win that will set precedent for other elite institutions
  • Actual performance does not meet its projected goals in emissions reductions, even in last three years when campus operations disrupted by Covid
  • Cornell should acknowledge this
  • Reported emissions not full picture
  • Cornell’s reported baseline emissions shows it has reduced emissions by 50% from 2008 baseline
  • Reason for drops in emissions twofold:
    • Transition from coal to natural gas
    • Covid-19 disrupted operations
  • We know emissions already rebounding in post-Covid period – did not reflect permanent shift from way Cornell uses energy
• Actual impact from methane emissions enormous – Cornell’s reporting should be updated to align with standards of 2019 Climate Law
• Upstream methane emissions should be included and they should be reported on 20-year time horizon – Bob Howarth instrumental in getting these included in Climate Law
• Ithaca and Tompkins County quickly updated their emissions reporting – city completed comprehensive GHG inventories that capture full life cycle of methane and emission from electric grid
• Cornell has not updated its accounting in same way – when Cornell on Fire updated reporting for Cornell, emissions increased by nearly factor of two
• When viewed this way, Cornell has not reduced emissions at all since they began tracking progress in 2008 – and these emissions are still not full picture
• Procurement huge portion of Cornell's overall carbon footprint – Cornell needs plan to address emissions from procurement
• Cornell's current level of consumption is unsustainable – cultural shifts need to start happening on campus
• Cornell reported emissions in 2019 at just over 200K tons of GHG – but when you take into account upstream methane and procurement, actually just under 750K tons
• Not an academic exercise – defines what effective action looks like
• Second area: Current plans won't get Cornell where it needs to go
• Cornell's Climate Action Plan seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2036
• Carbon neutrality by 2035.
• But carbon neutrality dangerous trap: "offsetting" emissions inadequate approach
• Cornell’s proposed strategies preserve current levels of consumption – we think Cornell should reduce its energy usage
• Renewable electricity not displacing fossil fuel use – also Earth Source Heat has 50/50 chance of success, at best – also several years delayed
• Should not be used as reason to delay action on other fronts
• Cornell relying on carbon sinks & sequestration as major way of offsetting emissions – inherently uncertain and does not address need to reduce emissions
• Depends on land use patterns that could change dramatically – such as wildfire
• These strategies account for only fraction of overall emissions
• Calling on Cornell “to light the fuse that leads to an explosion of ambition in 2025”
• High-confidence, equitable strategies address the root causes of carbon pollution in addition to technological solutions
• Cornell is relying on technological solutions that allow them to swap one thing for another thing and continue to do what it always did
• Cornell needs to accept limits to energy supply and move to a model that matches Cornell’s energy use with real-time renewable energy procurement
• Another strategy would be for Cornell to export its power to grid based on GHG emissions rather than profits
• Cornell should stop expanding campus – in last 10 years total square footage has increased 20% in new construction
• New construction largest source of toxicity and building sector largest single source of emissions
• Cornell should go beyond code with deep energy retrofits of existing buildings
• It should also reduce its travel – should not simply offset emissions
• Every decision on campus should be viewed through lens of climate emergency – need to be honest about entire scope of problem
• These changes are radical because there is no non-radical future
• Climate crisis closely linked to excessive consumption of wealthy lifestyle – lifestyle changes necessary for globe's polluter elite
• How will Cornell avoid carbon intensive activities? Facilities, construction, transportation, food& beverage, and research supplies are most intense
• Not yet reported: investments and student travel
• Is it possible to change? Possible because Cornell changed dramatically when Covid struck to address this public health crisis
• Will they do the same for the climate crisis?
• Cornell can commit to full climate accountability for 1.5 degree world -- lack of current commitment hurting our community
• Key issues:
  • Stop echoing Big Oil climate doublespeak – gap between Cornell's rhetoric and action on climate, and it follows Big Oil's playbook
    • Cornell on Fire has just published report Beyond PR Report: Big Oil + Big Red Climate Doublespeak
  • Cornell should stop pretending it's extraterritorial
    • Refusing to report full scope of emissions from methane gas
    • Requesting amendments to Ithaca Green Building Code
    • Submitting disinformation in favor of artificial turf fields
    • Refusing to invest its fair share in community
  • We need Cornell's full climate accountability
    • Lead the way in renouncing Big Oil's doublespeak
    • Take full climate accountability in emissions reporting and action plans
    • Embrace the Ithaca Green Building Code – in fact, go beyond code
    • Maximize climate benefits with organic grass fields
    • Adjust spending priorities
  • Later is too late – we’re already halfway through decisive decade

Q&A

• PB: Agreed there is no non-radical future, both on campus and in larger community
• Hopes that Cornell would commit to having one or two of its buildings in the Ithaca 2030 District
• Dave Bradley pointed out in chat that Cornell should look into pumped hydro storage as way to ensure it always has sufficient solar and wind power – addresses issue of intermittency
• Bob Howarth: Good thing that Cornell is being pressed on these issues – thinks Cornell starting to pay attention
• NYS use of natural gas growing faster than any other state in U.S. – almost all of it is fracked gas – ironic given the ban on fracking in NYS
• Taking proper account of emissions associated with use of natural gas involves keeping track of upstream emissions not just emissions associated with onsite consumption
• Also important that accounting carried out using 20-year timeframe, not 100-year timeframe
• Cornell agreed to use 20-year timeframe back in 2015 – used it in public reporting for year or two
• Tompkins County and City of Ithaca adopted 20-year timeframe – used this to leverage the approach into state law
• Discouraging that Cornell has backed away from reporting emissions in this fashion
• Brian Eden: Relatively good relations between environmental groups and Cornell up until proposed construction of North Campus in 2018 – thought they could be more energy efficient
• Hopes things can get back on track with less adversarial relationship
• Peter noted that Cornell sustainability office has asked for time at next meeting to talk about its climate action plan
• No way out but through – which is another way of saying there’s no non-radical future – collaboration absolutely essential to meet challenge of climate emergency

The Climate Reality Project – Tom Hirasuna and Diane Stefani

Diane and Tom, cochairs of the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Climate Reality Project, provided an update on the work of the organization, both nationally and locally. They are both trained Climate Reality Leaders.

• Local Chapter of Climate Reality Project for Central NY founded in 2020, in middle of pandemic –167 members – first virtual chapter in NY
• Tom took training in 2019 and had to join Hudson River chapter
• Big virtual training in summer 2020 & enough people from CNY that they could start their own chapter, Finger Lakes Greater Region
• Established NYS coalition of local chapters
  • Capital Region
  • Finger Lakes Greater Region
  • Hudson Valley/Catskills
  • Long Island
  • NYC Metro
  • Westchester
  • Western NY
• NYS part of Climate Reality Northeast Region
• Climate Reality has made big effort to reach out beyond U.S. – 10 other international chapters
• Holding virtual trainings and meetings has helped facilitate this expansion
• Four main areas of activities this year:
  • Reducing emissions – first area Climate Reality go involved in
  • Calling out greenwashing
  • Financing just transition
  • Strengthening international cooperation on climate
• Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth inspired founding of Climate Reality – sequel came out 11 years later, Truth to Power
• Tom moved into advocacy after he retired and joined Climate Reality Leadership Corps, which started in 2006 with 50 people in Al Gore’s barn – now has 50,000 people worldwide
• Tom attended training in Atlanta in 2019 – 1200 people participated – big group from NYS
• Atlanta meeting turning point for Climate Reality – formally introduced climate justice and environmental justice into program
• Training in NYC this past April that Tom attended – 60 mentors and each mentor responsible for 40 people – got to meet Gore in person
• Tom co-leader with Laura Faulk of NYS Coalition – NY has become model for rest of country
• Big effort to get younger people involved – 40% of group in NYC 30 years old or less
• Also 20 to 25% of people from frontline communities
• Diane picked up with discussion about goals of Climate Reality – she did her first training, which was virtual, in 2019 after she retired
• Gave her sense of purpose and opportunity to interact with incredible people
• Getting the word out is challenging – collaboration is key – fundamental mission is to educate others about climate as well as solutions
• Put together number of different presentations
  • Home & auto electrification – what financial incentives are there at state & federal levels?
  • Climate science – based on Al Gore’s presentation – developed a model for middle-schoolers
  • Ithaca Green New Deal Scorecard
• Also facilitate several different kinds of discussions
  • The Week – new way to talk about climate change
  • Carbon Crew Project – interactive way to create personal climate plan
  • Climate Action Now – online app – personal & group action
  • Regular book discussions
• Also work on state and federal policy – primarily advocacy for things like Build Back Better/IRA, stopping CO2 fracking
• Most of it virtual but also have days in Albany for in-person lobbying
• As chapter members work on local issues
  • Green New Deal Scorecard
  • Plastics
  • Local impact legislation
  • Local opportunities and issues
• Collaborate with City of Ithaca, Beyond Plastics, Energy Hubs, Frack Action, Cornell & Binghamton University, TCCPI, and many others

Q&A

• bethany: To what extent is Al Gore’s carbon-intensive lifestyle relevant to his work on environmental justice?
• Diane: I assume he flies to get to the various conferences – what I get from his work is the incredible scope of his experience – he’s an incredible resource to be able to learn from
• Tom: Gore leaves on a farm and practices regenerative agriculture – for all the trainings carried out in person by Climate Reality they purchase offsets for travel and lodging
• Peter noted that he’s been pushing for the 2030 District annual summits to be virtual, as they were during pandemic
• Tom believes there’s a big difference between live meetings and virtual meetings
• Diane pointed out that Climate Reality does both in-person and virtual training sessions – it’s definitely tradeoff
• Margaret McCasland: Performance Systems Development in Ithaca hired to go down to Gore’s farm to work on reducing its carbon footprint through energy retrofits
• David Kay: Really appreciates this kind of discussion in this kind of group because we’re all wrestling with how radical are the changes we can make – everything we do involves tradeoffs of various kinds
• Can’t lose sight of importance of collective policy – individual action doesn’t have same kind of impact, important as it is
• Bethany: We need to keep in mind that decisions we make as part of developed world have very steep cost for those who live in places like Panama, where she worked with indigenous communities – people there will never fly anywhere as part of Global South but they live with consequences of decisions we make
• We have to shift framework from what’s best for us to what’s best for everyone
• As a wrap up, Peter asked Brian Eden to provide an update on where the various bills involving state climate and clean energy stood as the legislative session moves into its final days for the year
• Climate Superfund Act is one of bills that Brian has spent most time on this session – effort to hold oil and gas companies responsible for at least some of the climate damage they’ve inflicted on state
• Also NY HEAT Act, which would eliminate obligation to serve removed from Public Service law
• Third bill is Packaging Reduction Act – really an energy bill due to oil industry push for plastic packaging
• All three of bills have majority of assembly members as sponsors – speaker of house is main obstacle to bringing these bills to floor for vote
• Brian urged people to write speaker to urge him to allow votes on this legislation – also encouraged people to write AM Kelles and Sen. Webb for their strong support of these bills

April 2024

The Humphrey Fellows Program – Hyomi Eom & Bossombra Kouamé

Hyomi Eom is a Senior Officer at the Ministry of Environment in South Korea and Bossombra Kouamé is a Professor of Economics at the Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé in Côte d'Ivoire focusing on climate change mitigation through forest conservation. Hyomi and Bossombra shared their experiences in the Humphrey Fellows Program at Cornell and their respective work on environmental and climate issues in South Korea and Côte d'Ivoire.

Hyomi Eom

• The Ministry of the Environment established in 1967
  • Structure: Minister, Vice Minister, 10 Bureaus, and 8 Regional offices
  • Employees: 2,519 people (2022)
  • Budget: $10.3 billion (2023)
  • Roles: Achieving carbon neutrality, Environmental conservation, Climate change mitigation, Improving air quality for blue sky, Creating a circular economy, etc.
• Humphrey Fellowship
  • Engaging in hands-on work with counterparts in US
  • Enhancing our professional experiences
  • Minimum of six weeks
  • Worked with TCCPI, 02/26/2024 to 04/30/2024 – updated and revamped website
• Ministry of Environment
  • Established in 1967
  • Includes Minister, Vice Minister, 10 Bureaus, and 8 Regional offices
  • 2,519 people employees (2022) & budget of $10.3 billion (2023)
  • Roles: achieving carbon neutrality, environmental conservation, climate change mitigation, improving air quality for blue sky, creating a circular economy, etc.
• Hyomi focuses on pollution damage relief
  • A hydrofluoric acid leak accident in 2012 led to deaths of 5 people and 18 injuries, long term litigation
  • In response, act regarding environmental relief and liability signed into law in 2016
• Key concepts guiding this work
  • Prompt and fair relief for victims from environmental pollution damage
  • Ensuring a sustainable business environment for companies
  • When responsible people for environmental pollution unknown, incapable, or liability limit is exceeded, the government directly assists victims financially and legally
  • Aside from Japan, Korea only country that provides direct compensation to victims of environmental damage
• Example of financial support: Geomuldae-riVillage
  • Due to reckless development caused by deregulation of factory location
  • Heavy metals such as nickel and lead released into the air and soil – led to occurrence of related diseases such as cancer
  • Government launched detailed epidemiological investigation
  • Held deliberation meeting & acknowledged individual damages, financial support
  • As result, 196 victims recognized, 37 types of diseases recognized, and $500,185 provided in support
  • Virtually impossible to identify factory that caused problem because hundreds of factories had sprung up around village, so government provided direct support
• Legal Support Overview
  • Purpose is to support damage claims lawsuits filed by vulnerable groups who have suffered environmental pollution damage
  • Support provided in form of legal advice, litigation representation by environmental professional lawyers, and legal cost support
  • Focuses on low-income people, the elderly, disabled, women with career breaks, veterans, etc.
• Example of legal support: Morae Village
  • Villagers harmed by iron oxide fugitive dust generated from nearby shipyards
  • Besides health issue, violation of housing rights
  • Lost in the first trial, then applied for litigation support
  • With help of professional environmental lawyer, they won the second trial as well as appeal
  • Carried out field verification, environmental pollution assessment, medical expert advice, etc.
  • First case won by litigation support initiative – very difficult to win environmental lawsuits in Korea
• Climate Change Policies
  • Temperature has risen by 1.8 ℃over 106 years (1.4 ℃over 30 years)
  • Precipitation has increased by 16.3mm per decade over 106 years
  • Summers getting longer and winters getting shorter over 30 years (summer ↑19 days, winter ↓18 days)
  • Occurrence of record-breaking cold waves and heatwaves
• Act On Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis passed in 2021
  • Goal: Achieve carbon neutrality by 2050
  • Established target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2018 levels
• Transition to Electric and Hydrogen Vehicles
  • 5 million electric and hydrogen vehicles by 2030 with subsidies and tax reductions
  • Public organizations to introduce new vehicles exclusively as electric or hydrogen cars
  • Establish a fast and convenient charging infrastructure (over 1.23 million units by 2030)
• Promotion of Waste Reduction and Recycling
  • Installation of reduction facilities and process improvements at businesses that produce large amounts of waste
  • Deposit system for disposable cups (Sejong City, Jeju Island)
  • Recycling for used electric vehicle batteries and solar panel waste
  • Technology development for new materials that substitute fossil fuels
• Transition to Clean Energy
  • Abolition of coal power plants designed for operational lifespans of over 30 years
  • Expansion of nuclear power as carbon-free energy source – current administration considers it key to reducing GHG emissions
  • Increase in renewable energy ((2022) 9.2% -> (2030) 21.6%)

Bossombra Kouamé Epse Koffi

• Background
  • Bossombra’s home country is Côte d'Ivoire, where she is an economics professor at Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé
  • She was a Humphrey Fellow for the entire 2023-24 academic year
  • Teaches regular students Public Economics and professional students Green Economics
• Research focuses on deforestation and forest conservation in Côte d'Ivoire, located in western Africa – country is covered mainly with tropical forests
• Huge deforestation after 1950s – nation has lost 90% of its forests
• Began a policy of implementing protected forests – 231 since 1960s
  • Challenging to manage these forests due to illegal settlement of people
  • Goal is to preserve these forests, in part because they sequester carbon
  • The dilemma: removal of people threatens human rights while illegal settlement of people poses threat to forest conservation
• Côte d'Ivoire is top cocoa producer in the world – cocoa is raw material of chocolate
  • Country has lost 26% of its humid primary forest from 2002 to 2020 – significant portion of deforestation attributable to cocoa farming expansion
  • Cocoa farms have moved from eastern to western portion of country both because of deforestation and climate change
  • Globally agricultural, forestry, and other land uses responsible for 24% of greenhouse gas emissions – electricity and heat production generates 25 % of emissions and industry 21%
  • In Côte d'Ivoire forestry and other land uses are by far largest contributor to GHG emissions – 26 million tons vs. just less than 6 million in agriculture
• New forest code implemented in 2019 – policies promote cocoa agroforestry
• Goal is to restore degraded land and improve forest cover, while at same time promoting sustainable livelihoods and agriculture in classified forests and rural zones
• Effort undertaken to put in place participatory management of protected forests
  • Working to strengthen inclusive management of protected forests to achieve the objective of forest coverage of 20% of the national area by 2030
  • Composition of committee: representatives of local communities residing along classified forests and those living within, youth and women's associations, state technical services, NGOs, and religious groups
  • At least 15 committees have already been established
• Benefits of Participatory Management
  • With move from centralized management to participatory management, conservation effort moved from repression to incentives
• Challenges
  • Land tenure rights on forest lands not well established
  • Participation in decision making should go beyond simple adhesion
• Private Sector Actions to Conserve Forests
  • Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) have been developed in country
  • Cocoa & Forests Initiative (CFI) just one example
  • Involves governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana as well as 35 cocoa & chocolate companies in effort to end deforestation and restore forest
  • Another example: collaboration between CEMOI, a chocolate company and SODEFOR, state farm company in charge of forest protection
  • Working together to raise awareness and train of cooperatives affiliated with the CEMOI Group – facilitated by experts from SODEFOR
• Effects of Climate Change: Heatwaves
  • In 2024, Cote d'Ivoire experienced significant increase in temperature
  • Dangerous heatwave in Southern West Africa, including Cote d'Ivoire – reported to be about 4°C hotter due to climate change
• Consequences for people
  • Dehydration: as the body loses fluids through sweating
  • Respiratory Issues: air pollution, asthma and chronic pulmonary disease.
  • Hot and humid conditions can also strain respiratory system
  • Cardiovascular Problems: risk of heart attacks and strokes, particularly in vulnerable populations including elderly and people with pre-existing heart conditions
• Adaptation to Heatwaves
  • Hydration: drink water constantly and carry water bottles
  • Cooling Strategies: stay indoors, at shade of trees during the hottest hours, using fans or air conditioning if available, and wearing lightweight and breathable clothing.
  • Awareness and Education: Increasing awareness about heat-related health risks and educating the population on how to recognize and respond to heat-related illnesses can help people in Cote d'Ivoire adapt to heatwaves
• Effects
  • GHG emissions
  • Threat to cocoa farming (cocoa loop shifting)
  • Heatwaves
• Solutions
  • Law enforcement (New forest code, 2019)
  • Participatory policy (committee)
  • PPP (CFI)
  • CSA (Agrofrorestry)
• Still challenging but conserving forests is mitigating climate change, saving our planet from global destruction
• Humphrey Fellowship Experience
  • Before coming to Cornell, took course at University of Illinois to improve English speaking skills
  • Hosted by CALS, especially Global Development Department
  • Included visiting classes, taking E-Cornell courses, and attending seminars to build her capacity
  • Guest speaker in undergrad course on Planning for Change and on panel for international Earth Day, Verdant Views: Global Climate Stories
  • Served as mentor in undergrad course on climate smart agriculture and on selection committee for New York Youth Institute forum
  • Volunteered in Foreign Language Institute Program (FLIP) at Willow Glen Elementary School teaching French & providing opportunity for cultural exchange
  • Attended workshop on climate change in Ohio and on food security in Iowa
  • Field trips to Niagara Falls, Adirondack Park, Alfred State College, and Cornell Dairy Barn
  • Professional affiliation experience with TCCPI, including steering committee meetings and monthly meetings – also 2030 District meetings
• Take aways from this unique experience
  • Build my capacity
  • Extend my network
  • Build relationships
  • Improve English
  • Serve local community
  • Collaboration with US organizations
  • Leadership experience

Q&A

• Ingrid Zabel: Now that you’ve had a chance to observe how we deal with some of our environmental issues, what thoughts do you have about approaches in your home countries that you think are better?
• Hyomi: South Korea does a better job regarding direct compensation to victims for environmental damage and pollution – but US has more resources to protect public lands
• Bossombra: Impressed with how community here reaches out to involve local people and to advance energy transition and reduce GHG emissions
• In Cote d'Ivoire, we don’t have same kind of coalitions of local people working on their own to deal with environmental and climate issues
• Private sector and local farmers are involved with forest conservation but they’re not at same table working together to plan for future with climate mitigation
• But we are more advanced in our thinking about ecosystem services provided by our forests and working to develop agroforestry in our country

 

Hudson River Watershed Alliance – Simon Gruber

Simon Gruber is an environmental planner, policy analyst and educator based in Orange County, NY who's been working on a range of environmental and community planning issues in the region since 1990. His work focuses on water resources and watershed planning, energy, land use and health, and he's recently been involved in transportation and transit planning. From 2005 to 2019, he was a cofounder and later chair of the Hudson River Watershed Alliance. He's an appointed Fellow of the Institute for Sustainable Cities at Hunter College, CUNY, and chairs the Moodna Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council in Orange County. Simon discussed his work on water resource issues, including with the Hudson River Watershed Alliance, as well as potential collaboration with water resource organizations in our region.

• How did the Hudson River Watershed Alliance come into being and how does it work with local organizations?
• Hudson River is tidal up to Troy – considered to be estuary south of the dam there
• Hudson River Estuary Program evolved over time – headed up by Fran Dunwell who served for many years as coordinator of the program in the DEC
• Folks working with the DEC program decided it would be good to have a nonprofit that would work with government as partner – could bring in more people and energy
• Conferences convened at Mohawk Mountain House in Ulster County – at 2005 gathering idea of Hudson River Watershed Alliance developed and steering committee formed – incubated by Pete Seeger’s organization Clearwater
• Operated by consensus – didn’t even have chair for a while – started spinning off from Clearwater and became 501c3 years later
• Simon stepped down as chair and left board in 2019
• Over last two decades at least 30 local watershed organizations formed – many are still operating
• Simon has been most involved with the watershed group associated with Moodna Creek in Orange County – 15 municipalities plus county water authority have entered into formal intermunicipal agreement – every watershed group is different
• Peter pointed out that as a tidal river Hudson not only affected by extreme precipitation events like the terrible flooding that took place last July but also rising sea level – climate change is clearly affecting watershed itself
• Simon noted that change in rainfall has been very dramatic over last seventy years
• Watershed is whole land area that drains to certain point along stream – each has their own identity and are separated from adjacent subbasin
• We looked at map of Cayuga Lake watershed and the dozens of streams that flow into it on both east and west sides of lake
• Simon said he’d be happy to be a resource for Cayuga Lake watershed organization and would like to stay in touch
• Peter noted that southern part of county is in Chesapeake Bay watershed because of Susquehanna River – watersheds connect us all together – kind of connective tissue
• Simon: Indigenous people thought it terms of watersheds they lived in, where they would hunt and fish
• We haven’t set up our municipal and state governance lines in terms of watersheds – if you want to work on watershed scale as part of managing water, you need to go outside those boundaries
• One of reasons why watershed groups have important part to play – thinking in terms of watershed provides important perspective
• Climate change unfolding much quicker than even scientists predicted
• Regi Teasley: Concerned about general public’s lack of preparedness for flooding – need to raise awareness about this threat and what to do about it
• Need to put together our own network of nonprofits that would plan for the rapid climate changes already taking place
• Simon: A lot going on here directly relevant to this concern – Scenic Hudson biggest environmental organization in based in Hudson Valley
• Started years ago doing charettes in towns along Hudson on sea level rise issue – now turning to flooding
• Peter: Sawmill Parkway runs right along river and will need to be raised – will cost something like $70 million per mile to do this – also rail line that runs next to it
• We’re going to have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on projects like these
• Ithaca itself is at risk given the hills around downtown – like a ski area – rain bomb could wipe out downtown much like what happened to Penn Yan several years ago
• We’ve got to learn how to collaborate across these different regions
• Brian Eden: Have any of these watershed alliances formed formal watershed districts? Talked about this ten years ago because Ithaca flatlands subject to waters rushing out of hills around city
• We need to have all of upstream and downstream working together to figure out how to reduce pace of water and maximize ecosystems services of each stream – need to keep sediment upstream as much as possible
• Other issues with Cayuga Lake involve farm runoff into lake and salt mine under lake – both affecting water quality of lake
• Simon: We should consider starting regular dialogue, with Zoom meetings every two or three months to talk about how we can collaborate – lots of lessons learned that could be shared
• Peter: Exactly the kind of thing we were hoping would come out of this meeting – maybe we could promote this kind of exchange to share information, knowledge, and insights -- need to figure out how this could unfold
• Simon: Climate mitigation, which was main focus of 2019 CLCPA, obviously important – at local level, however, we need to focus on impacts of storms and extreme heat
• Organizations in Great Lakes have been working together for years and have attracted significant financial resources
• Peter: Hilary Swartwood. sustainability planner of Town of Ithaca, points out in chat that Finger Lakes Regional Watershed Alliance terrific resource
• Simon: Let’s plan another conversation relatively soon – Simon, Peter, Hilary, Regi, and Brian
• Brian: We’re all aware that we need to work together more closely – conversation that has been going on for long time
• Bossombra: Thinking about ways climate and weather information could be more widely shared
• Peter: State just released in February its report on climate impacts – study more focused on adaptation and resiliency than state’s previous reports – lot of research and reporting at state level on what climate impacts are
• Simon: Also lot of climate work going on with faith groups
• Regi: One of missing pieces in all of this is ordinary resident – great that this research and reporting is going on but are they getting to ordinary residents who are really on front line? Are residents being involved in planning and conversation about how to respond and prepare?
• Peter pointed out that Cornell Cooperative Extension doing a lot of this work while helping residents make their homes more energy efficient and resilient

March 2024

The Cozy Basements Program – Jaden Beck

Jaden Beck, Clean Energy Project Associate of BlocPower, presented on the recently launched Cozy Basements weatherization program. This new initiative, started with Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County (CCETC), includes paid on-the-job training for up to 30 homes this year.

• BlocPower is the program manager for the Efficiency & Electrification Program with Ithaca Green New Deal
• Our goal is to fully decarbonize Ithaca’s buildings by 2030 by pursuing 3 core programs
• Efficiency & Electrification Program actions
  • Replace inefficient or fossil fuel-reliant equipment with modern, all-electric tech – address 40% of Ithaca’s GHG emissions
  • Provide financing, including low or no-money-down lease offers and no liens on buildings – accessibility provides scales, which lowers risks and costs
  • Train local community members for jobs in the green economy – benefit community and drive economic growth by creating 400+ new jobs
• BlocPower works with stakeholders
  • Government & public entities, private capital providers, local contractors, community, Fortune 500s & foundations
• Workforce development
  • Support the development of a new workforce to match the needs of the electrification program
  • Ensuring benefits are shared by all
  • Job readiness support & pathway development
  • Providing hands-on job training
  • Prioritizing climate justice communities
• Green Career Pathways
  • Entry-level roles open doors to multiple career pathways
  • Residential, commercial, energy auditing, engineer fields
• Cozy Basements program
  • Traditional classroom instruction with a critical hands-on component to round out a real job experience
  • Training and experience in basic weatherization through air-sealing, caulking, rim joist sealing
  • Access to network of green trades experiences and training
  • 3-4 weeks
  • $20/hour
• Why Cozy Basements?
  • Trainee: core building science training, simple and safe installation, exposure to on-site, and client etiquette
  • Homeowner: reduced basement air leakage, more consistent indoor temperatures year-round, reduced moistures, lower energy consumption
• Jaden described the Cozy Basement addition as a convenient new way for people to gently explore state or local programs, providing a less intimidating entry point
• Example of participants
  • Keegan, Cozy Basement graduate, said they learned weatherization with BlocPower and are now efficiently collaborating as a team
  • Anthony, homeowner, commented that the work done made a real difference, maintaining a warm home despite a power outage after their service
• Cozy Basements trainees motivated by job stability, community involvement, environmental impact, and home efficiency learning
• Their career goals are stable community jobs, green energy professional advancement, and founding their own green businesses
• Who is qualified?
  • Homeowner in Tompkins County
  • Basement with uninsulated sill plate rim joist
  • Income-qualified based on EmPower + guidelines
• Enrollment at http://ccetompkins.org/energy/cozy-basements

Q&A

• Peter: How many homes have you provided job training for so far this year?
• Jaden: Around 8 or 10 projects so far
• Dave Bradley (chat): What if we don't have a basement?
• Jaden: The program currently specializes in basements, making it unsuitable for those without one, but there are plans to expand beyond basements in the future
• Dave (chat): Are air-to-air vents or heat exchangers necessary when a home becomes "too airtight"?
• Jaden: The program hasn't dealt with overly airtight homes yet, and installation of air-to-air vents or exchangers is a job for a professional contractor
• Margaret McCasland (chat): Do you have a way of addressing moisture if a basement has a dirt floor that is damp year round?
• Jaden: The program doesn't resolve existing moisture issues but can prevent worsening
• Damp basements might require a dehumidifier or manual water removal before the crew can work

Green Workforce Development in Tompkins County – Aloja Airewele

Aloja Airewele, Green Energy Workforce Training Center Coordinator at CCETC, heads up the Green Career Pathways Project (CPP) at CCETC as part of the Energy Warriors program. The CPP is a collaborative workforce training and employment connection program in Tompkins County that helps low-income individuals, returning citizens, veterans, and people from underserved (frontline communities) enter sustainable green jobs. Aloja discussed the opportunity for meaningful career pathways in the green economy, the work here in Tompkins County, and the ongoing challenges of recruitment and engagement with individuals from underserved communities.

• Aloja mentioned that he represents a team and not just himself, acknowledging colleagues from Cornell Cooperative Extension, including Don, Harrison, and Keegan
• Aloja referenced Moby Dick to stress the need for courage in tackling climate change, underscoring that facing the reality of the threat is more crucial than debating its existence
• Aloja said Energy Warriors Program aimed to provide participants with knowledge about environmental threats and opportunities, thus allowing them to contribute meaningfully to climate mitigation efforts while gaining valuable career skills
• The training program aims to include individuals of varying educational backgrounds and challenges, reflecting the diverse workforce they'll encounter
• The program includes detailed modules that educate participants on climate change, its causes, and the opportunities to use technology, finance, and social networks
• The excitement comes from having advanced green technology, prompting questions about why we can't shift away from fossil fuels
• These topics are discussed in training classes, which are part of a paid program that also provides certifications, supported by various community and private foundations
• This initiative, including ideas like Cozy Basements, emerges from collaborations with private entities that fund these transformative projects
• The training program includes a diverse range of participants who, upon completion, earn certifications like OSHA Ten and skills in heat pump installation
• They follow a nationally recognized curriculum enhanced with specialized training in green and energy pathways from the Energy Warriors program
• The program teaches participants to manage their wealth beyond just money, using established knowledge and collective wisdom to shape the curriculum
• Participants are expected to excel when given opportunities, learning essential skills like teamwork and respect for diverse viewpoints through practical experiences
• This approach, which Aloja called “self-dignification” rather than soft skills, helps them function effectively as a cohesive group in the workforce
• In Tompkins County, various organizations collaborate to provide meaningful work opportunities
• Finger Lakes for Youth offers training in customer relations and material reuse, while TST BOCES provides heat pump training and GED completion
• This collaborative effort helps maximize resources and scale up training to meet the demand for skilled workers needed to decarbonize homes in Ithaca
• Our program's work is challenging, particularly in meaningful recruitment – participants have highlighted the complexities involved
• A major issue is the skepticism within impacted communities, who feel they've been used in the past for research or personal gains of others, leading to distrust in new initiatives
• In overcoming recruitment challenges, I rely on personal integrity and genuine connections
• It's crucial that our efforts provide tangible opportunities, not just training
• Offering on-the-job training and diverse career options ensures participants are not left hanging - your continued support is invaluable
• We value your diverse connections and welcome your ideas. In community engagement – setting aside ego is key—it's not about us, but about serving the community

Q&A

• Peter thanked Aloja for his engaging storytelling and insightful points, highlighting the importance of integrity in collaborative work
• Peter: How much is the wider school district, including the Ithaca City School District, engaged in programs like New Roots and Energy Warriors?
• Aloja: We're exploring collaboration with the wider school district, tapping into programs like New Roots for environmental education and workforce training
• I'm excited about expanding energy assessment initiatives to schools district-wide, especially with Senator Schumer's support
• Let's focus on building our collective capacity and seeking support from influential community members to enhance collaboration
• Fernando de Aragón (chat): How are participants selected for the training?
• Aloja: Participants are selected through various outreach methods and an online application process on our website
• We screen applicants to ensure alignment with program goals and community needs
• While we aim to diversify cohorts, we're particularly interested in engaging women, indigenous individuals, youth, and career changers
• As capacity grows, we're open to broader outreach and presentations to expand participation opportunities
• Peter mentioned that we could utilize folks in this group who provide leadership in their own groups, sectors, and communities
• Hyomi Eom (chat): What are the outcomes of trainees connecting with jobs after training? And how satisfied are the trainees?
• Keegan Young: The training was fulfilling - it covered both familiar and new environmental concepts, and exploring green career options was enlightening
• The hands-on weatherization projects in the community felt impactful
• Harrison: The training was impactful, blending my passion for environmental issues with new insights
• Doing hands-on weatherization work in the community felt especially rewarding, knowing we were making a difference
• Marcel Lamb (chat): Are you already familiar with NYSERDA’s OJT program for green energy jobs?
• Aloja: We're looking to scale up from Cozy Basement to Cozy Homes, leveraging our team's expertise and connections through the Southern Tier Clean Energy Hub
• Our aim is to expand beyond rim joist work to full home weatherization - need assistance to make that happen
• Jaden: It's crucial to address the barriers we face – potential funding opportunity, NYSERDA PON 3982
• Despite its promise of $8,000 per new hire for on-the-job training, the paperwork is excessively burdensome
• Marcel: I've worked with them before, having helped over 50 people apply, and it's straightforward once you've done it - I'm available to guide you through the process
• Jaden: Regardless of the paperwork or program structure, a significant challenge we've faced is that many contractors require workers to have a driver's license
• Marcel: We usually just need an ID and proof of residence, so asking for a driver's license seems excessive - I’m happy to step in and advocate for them
• Transitioning from training to employment with a business could be streamlined – any businesses face hurdles, they can contact me for assistance
• Carol Chock: It would appear to be a suitable fit for you and the Tompkins County Workforce Development
• Aloja: The county has been supportive, with Rich John as the liaison to the Career Pathways Project
• There's another collaboration with Cornell's Office for Sustainability for training resources & exploration of solar energy avenues
• The collective efforts of individuals, including advocates like David Kay and Brian Eden, have contributed to progress despite occasional uncertainties and challenges
• Carol: Tompkins County Workforce Development could greatly benefit from your perspective and advocacy for the participants
• Brian Eden: Aloja’s role is challenging, and many would walk away once they realize its complexity - kudos to him for persevering and handling it all with care
• Peter noted the importance of recognizing challenges – despite facing opposition from the fossil fuel industry, grassroots efforts like ours offer a hopeful path forward in our communities
• Aloja compared collective action to strengthening a basket with water, emphasizing the significance of individual contributions
• He stressed the unstoppable shift towards renewable energy and advocated for proactive engagement
• Peter acknowledged the challenge of fighting for change, particularly in influencing state-level policy
• Brian underscored the ongoing struggle for resources in disadvantaged communities, expressing hope for positive outcomes in current negotiations
• Peter: Despite having a Democratic governor and majority in the legislature, progress is stalling due to the immense influence of the fossil fuel industry
• It's frustrating and challenging to fight against this imbalance, but we must engage and bring about real change
• David Kay offered his appreciation for the Cooperative Extension's efforts and acknowledged the challenges they face in addressing climate issues
• He emphasized their local work's significance, noting its potential to inspire broader action beyond Tompkins County
• Mike Straight: We should focus more on energy efficiency – also asked about DIY energy projects
• Aloja: While our main focus is workforce training, we're open to supporting DIY energy initiatives if feasible
• Brian noted in chat that the County Legislature passed a resolution supporting a climate package of 8 key bills in Albany

February 2024

NYS Climate Impacts Assessment – Allison Chatrchyan

The latest state climate impacts report was released earlier February. Allison Chatrchyan, a research associate at CALS and adjunct professor of law at the Cornell Law School, helped lead the team that focused on agriculture. Allison provided an overview of the report, and she also shared her experience as co-chair of the agriculture team

• Allison is environmental social scientist – engages in cross-disciplinary research – came to Cornell ten years ago and before that worked at Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Especially interested in stakeholder engaged research involving climate change – NYS Climate Impacts Assessment great example of this approach – much richer assessment as result
• Works with Cornell -- climate-smart farming program at Cooperative Extension
• Ag assessment will feed into work at this program
• Stakeholder includes technical working group, advisory group, larger assessment team, Cornell extension team, etc.
• Co-chaired Ag chapter with Deborah Aller – task of committee:
  • Sep 2021 – Feb 2024
  • Assess climate impacts to the agriculture sector
  • Use a rigorous assessment methodology, traceable accounts
  • Identity climate change adaptation strategies by sector
  • Greater focus on underserved farmers, climate equity, justice concerns
• Assessed climate impacts to agriculture sector since ClimAID (2011)
• Used rigorous assessment methodology like IPCC or US national climate assessment, drawing on secondary literature
• NYSERDA-led project – assignment was to update ClimAID report – carried out extensive review of literature on agriculture in NY and US
• Included findings from interviews with farmers, reports, US agriculture census, and many other sources
• Identified climate change adaptation strategies in agriculture sector and focused more than previous study on underserved farmers, Indigenous communities, and climate equity and justice concerns
• Allison led focus in chapter on underserved groups and communities – all chapters in report paid close attention to issue of adaptation
• Assessment was broken up by regions, which can be found at https://nysclimateimpacts.org/explore-by-region/
• Since 1901, average temperatures in NYS have increased by about 2.5 °F – at a higher rate than the US average
• Temperatures of NY could rise between 5 - 11 ° F by the 2080s
• Allison highlighted climate report 10 years ago couldn’t make as strong of a statement about precipitation, but now we can see increased precipitation
• Total annual participation in NYS increased from 1901 to 2022 – varies more widely from year to year
• Total precipitation is projected to increase about 9 – 12 % by the 2080s
• Largest increases projected for Long Island, NYC, Champlain Valley, and St. Lawrence Valley
• Extreme events such as precipitation is particularly difficult for the agriculture
• With warmer winters and longer growing seasons, plant hardiness zones are shifting northward across NYS
• Also seen changes in pests – e.g., Kudzu (invasive weed), spotted lantern fly, increase in ticks
• Changes of pests, diseases, weed pressure are particularly difficult for farmers
• Dale Stein, well-known farmer leading the NYS agriculture said No.1 adaptation tool for farmers is cover crops - it makes the most difference right away quickly
• Other tools include improving soil health, using drought-tolerant crops and varieties, improving drainage, no till or low till, creating buffer zones around waterways to reduce erosion and runoff, deploying integrated pest management, double cropping and intercropping, hail netting for perennial fruit crops, wood chips, wind machines to protect against frost after warming periods
• Key Finding #1 (Severe impacts)
  • Severe impacts - extreme precipitation, short-term drought, heat stress, warmer winter, last spring freezes, increased pest and production costs
  • Droughts and heat stress decrease crop yields and create water scarcity, while unseasonal freezes cause significant losses
  • Expected to intensify as temperature and precipitation extremes become more common
• Key Finding #2 (Multiplier)
  • Climate change is a threat multiplier for agriculture – farmers already face many stressors like tight profit margins and labor shortages
  • Unexpected costs and reduced farming periods disproportionately harm economically strained rural and marginalized communities
  • There are opportunities to lessen the adverse effects by adapting to climate shifts and improving management of existing stressors
• Key Finding #3 (Awareness)
  • Farmers and other agricultural stakeholders show awareness and acknowledgment of climate change impacts on agriculture
  • Damages and reduced operational times compound hardships particularly in rural areas and for communities
  • Strategic climate adaptation and tackling non-climatic challenges can alleviate agriculture's negative impacts
• Key Finding #4 (Resilience)
  • Farmers are implementing and investing in practices that make their farm businesses more resilient to climate extremes
  • Improvements such as enhancing soil health not only prepare farms for climate change but also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • These may not completely counteract the projected climate impacts in NY, but they are crucial in strengthening farm resilience
• Key Finding #5 (Support)
  • Enhanced technical support, financial assistance, research are crucial to increase the adaptive capacity
  • Farms will face greater risk of physical, social, and economic losses
  • Active engagement between policymakers, farmers, stakeholders can help shape realistic policies and programs for farm businesses
• Case studies
  • Based on interviews with 6 farmers around NYS
  • Dairy, perennial fruit, viticulture and wine making, field crops, urban Ag, Indigenous community
  • Detailed stories can be found at http://nysclimateimpacts.org/explore-the-assessment/case-studies/#Ag
• Allison also heads up Cornell Climate Stewards Program – trains NYS residents on science, impacts, and solutions to climate change – support municipalities taking part in Climate Smart Communities
• Trained 94 climate stewards from 15 counties – pre- and post-assessment of learning outcomes

Q&A

• Peter: What was the biggest difference between the report produced 10 years ago and this report?
• Allison: The recent report differs from the previous one primarily in its stakeholder engagement process, involving input from various groups, including Indigenous communities
• It emphasizes the identification and representation of underserved populations, particularly in agricultural regions facing poverty
• This approach brought to light the challenges of farming communities in poverty-stricken areas like the Mohawk Valley
• Peter: What was biggest surprise that you encountered?
• Allison: The biggest surprise for me was hearing farmers themselves speak about cascading impacts, a concept I often teach
• It was so impactful that we made it a central finding of our report
• Ariel Ortiz Bobaya, a Cornell agricultural economist who focuses on climate impacts, helped us illustrate how climate change amplifies economic challenges in agriculture
• Irene: Can you specify how many farmers are adopting these practices—10% or 80%? What educational and incentive programs are available to support this?
• Allison: The adoption of cover crops and no-till farming is much higher than 10% now, likely around 50%, representing a significant increase over the last ten years
• Adopting these practices can be challenging for farmers due to the need for new equipment and potential initial yield drops
• Cornell is supporting this transition through extension work, with the Soil Health Program conducting research to help farmers understand and improve soil health
• Matt Ryan and Janice Dugney from Cornell are notably involved in these efforts, providing valuable research and on-the-ground training to aid farmers
• Irene Weiser: Do you know if it's state or federal law providing incentives and funding for these agricultural practices, given the delay in yield improvements?
• Allison: Funding is available from both federal sources like NRCS and the New York State Climate Resilient Farm Program – provides cost-sharing
• The current extension and educational efforts need substantial expansion beyond the 15 farmers currently reached
• Dawn Montanye: In developing adaptation strategies, how much did you consider with the integration of mitigation strategies, given agriculture's reliance on fossil fuels?
• Allison: We were directed to focus primarily on adaptation, not mitigation – made it challenging to highlight the dual benefits of strategies like improving soil health that also reduce emissions
• Despite this, there's a significant opportunity to explore these co-benefits further in future research
• It's important to approach discussions with farmers sensitively, recognizing their challenges and avoiding placing undue blame for climate impacts
• We should focus on protecting farmland and promoting sustainable farming practices to further reduce emissions
• Dave Bradley (chat): Considering the decline of New York's dairy industry, what alternative crops could farmers in the state switch to?
• Allison: Choosing alternative crops would depend on the specifics of each farm
• A dairy farm in Madison County faced flooding issues, leading to the sale of most cows and a shift to selling pasture-raised meat, while keeping a small dairy herd
• They are exploring sustainable practices and possibly diversifying into field crops or grain
• Their transition is supported by their involvement in the climate-smart farming team, emphasizing the need to help dairy and small farms adapt to changing conditions
• Brian Eden mentioned the problem with excluding mitigation from discussions, noting it is unhelpful and ignores the challenges farmers face
• Allison: We're not excluding anyone; we're training 15 dairy farmers on mitigation plans through a USDA project, so it's definitely on the table
• Dave proposed that dairy farmers explore alternative bulk crops like sunflowers or hemp to diversify protein sources and boost profitability
• Allison: Most dairies in NYS grow forages for their cattle, often with guidance from Cornell advisors or paid consultants to optimize cattle feed and reduce methane
• We’re introducing a new crop that can double as cover and feed, supporting sustainable practices like crop rotation and soil health through Cornell's programs
• Bossombra Koffi (chat): What strategies are available for farmers to cope with the short-term drought?
• Allison: We have strategies to help manage short-term drought, including selecting drought-tolerant crop varieties and using practices such as cover crops or no-till to retain moisture
• For crops like berries and tree fruits, it's important to use efficient irrigation systems to avoid wasting water and ensure it's used effectively
• There’s a good tool, the US Drought Monitor. It can be found at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

 

TCCPI and the Current State Legislative Session – Brian Eden and Peter Bardaglio

Following up on AM Kelles’ review of the key climate and clean energy bills at last month’s meeting, Brian and Peter facilitated a discussion of how TCCPI could help secure approval for this legislation

• Peter: Kelles gave an impressive presentation, on several key legislative acts including the Fashion Act, Climate Superfund Act, Just Transition Act, and the Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act
• She discussed how the Fashion Act aims to improve transparency in the fashion industry's global supply chain and hold it accountable, similar to the oil and gas industry
• She highlighted the need for legislation that holds companies accountable for both current and historical environmental damages, through the Climate Superfund
• She also emphasized the importance of moving away from investing in natural gas infrastructure and eliminating substantial subsidies to fossil fuel industries
• Brian: Kelles strongly supports the Business Packaging Reduction Infrastructure Act, stressing plastic's environmental and health impacts
• She addressed challenges from the American Chemistry Council's lobbying, expressing resolve to overcome them with diligent weekly efforts
• In addition, Kelles aims to shift from discussion to activism, recognizing remote advocacy challenges and proposing direct engagement in Albany for legislative progress
• Peter mentioned attending a meeting to improve the bottle bill, noting challenges faced by participants traveling to Albany and the importance of in-person advocacy
• Tom Hirasuna: People can get involved locally right away because there are existing coalitions for the mentioned bills
• Brian: We're all part of small groups, but we're not uniting effectively for change
• Historically, larger coalitions had hundreds of people advocating together, which had a bigger impact
• Peter highlighted the significance of gathering people face-to-face, emphasizing its impact on legislators
• Brian: It's essential to engage with youth to build the future movement effectively
• Irene: Unfortunately, my capacity for Albany trips has declined over the years, despite past efforts organizing buses with strong financial backing
• Instead, I propose a local focus on initiatives like the Green New Deal
• We could convene on Earth Day at Stewart Park to unite various environmental and sustainability groups and brainstorm community mobilization strategies
• Guillermo Metz: While many groups are already engaged, organizing in person around specific topics would be beneficial
• We have an Earth Day event planned on the commons and see value in supporting your efforts. Let us know how we can help
• Brian: It's crucial to engage with Cornell, considering their presence and potential impact
• We recently had five resolutions passed through the board and adopted by the county legislature, mostly advocating for statewide issues
• Maintaining community involvement is essential for implementing policies like the Ithaca Green New Deal, which has proven to be financially positive for the city
• Supporting the sustainability director's work is vital for achieving these goals

January 2024

2024 TCCPI Priorities – All

The steering committee has proposed the following priorities for 2024:

• Advocate for state climate and clean energy policies
• Strengthen climate resilience
• Support the Ithaca Green New Deal
• Work on improving equitable multimodal transportation options
• Continue to grow the 2030 District

The group discussed these recommendations and shared thoughts about how to move forward.

• Steering committee is hoping these priorities provide a framework to guide our work and discussions for the coming year
• The turn toward advocacy for state climate and clean energy policies represents a new direction for TCCPI
• Peter has been spending a lot of time on this activity – as soon as last session ends, organizing for the new one begins, but it really picks up in December in anticipation of the new session opening in early January
• Meeting on regular basis with coalitions that TCCPI is involved with: NY Renews, Renewable Heat Now, Climate Can’t Wait, etc. – also, beginning in January lots of virtual lobby meetings with individual legislators in Albany and engagement in social media campaigns
• Important that TCCPI be involved in this work as effort to implement 2019 climate law and recommendations of Climate Action Council
• Peter asked Dominic Frongillo to talk about his work with Elected Officials to Protect America, where he serves as co-founder and executive director
• Dominic: Working in NY on Climate Change Superfund Act, which would require fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damage inflicted on NY and strengthen climate resiliency in local communities
• Right now taxpayers on hook for covering cost of this damage and upgrading infrastructure
• Comptroller survey reveal that 55% of local municipal expenditures related to fixing climate damage and strengthening climate resilience
• Have been organizing letter from 100 local elected officials in support of Climate Change Superfund Act and calling on Governor Hochul to include it in her executive budget
• Activity includes press conference in Albany, media interviews, and op-eds
• Peter: Basic principle involved: you make a mess; you clean it up – state just getting hammered with these extreme weather events
• About time fossil fuel industry held accountable for this damage – also especially important in context of state projecting $4 billion budget deficit this y ear – way to help close budget gap
• Brian Eden has also been involved in this effort – group meets weekly on Zoom
• Brian: We used to have to travel to Albany to meet with people there -- now lot easier with Zoom but we still need to get people to Albany to show our strength
• Whole bunch of opportunities coming up for folks to be in Albany – if you haven’t done this before, not as difficult as you might imagine – nothing beats being there in person
• NY Renews legislative package this year includes Climate Superfund – other two bills include NY HEAT Act and Just Energy Transition Act
• Latter aimed at developing plan for closing of fossil-fuel power plants and focuses on frontline communities affected by emissions from these nearby plants
• Brian: We need to find ways to pay for cleaning up these communities if we’re going to transition to better future
• Governor included in her budget one of main pieces of NY HEAT Act, ending the so-called “100-foot rule” under which rate payers picked up tab for new gas connections
• Now developers have to cover this cost, which should slow down expansion of gas infrastructure and encourage them to install heat pumps instead
• Peter reminded group that because events in Albany move so fast now he has agreement with steering committee that he’ll be signing TCCPI on to any organizational letters circulating that are climate-related
• So much going on and it’s critical that we join with other organizations to back these very important bills
• Peter keeps track of these sign-ons and other advocacy activities and shares that list with steering committee each month
• Second priority is to focus on strengthening climate resilience of our communities – as example, just recently city received significant funding from FEMA for flood mitigation
• Outside of Ithaca municipalities are working to deepen and expand ditches and culverts in response to increase in extreme precipitation events
• Tom Hirasuna: Almost everything we do now is connected to climate resilience – as part of Climate Reality – Finger Lakes, we’re working with other chapters across state on climate resilience and other issues
• At federal level, our work focused on Farm Bill, trying to protect provisions related to small and medium-sized farms
• Peter: Development of local food network another example of climate resilience – smaller farms much more sustainable way to move forward than large industrial farms that predominate now
• Ingrid Zabel: In very early stages, but PRI starting to think about how its facilities, including Cayuga Nature Center and Museum of the Earth, could serve as resilience hub in extreme weather event – for example, museum could be cooling center during heat wave for West Hill
• Talking with Rebecca Brenner at Cornell – expert in disaster preparedness – she organized meeting with PRI and Southside Community Center to see how two organizations could collaborate on this effort
• Working with Rebecca’s students in two of her courses this semester to start thinking this through
• Dave Bradley: Need to do much better job at generating renewable electricity – in spite of fact that NY provides some of largest subsidies in nation, progress has been very slow – nowhere near meeting CLCPA goals
• Wind power projects, in particular, have run into lots of obstacles – could cut costs of offshore wind in half by moving them closer to shore off coast and in Great Lakes but lots of opposition to doing so
• Brian: Working with Beyond Plastics and NY Is Not Disposable to cut down on use of plastics, which has expanded tremendously in recent years – fossil fuel industry looking for ways to take up its extra capacity
• Package Reduction Act aimed at lessening use of plastic Sen. Harckham & AM Glick making this top priority in current session
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) seeks to shift cost of disposing or recycling plastic to companies that produce it – a lot of municipalities losing money on recycling
• Dominic: Recent report from Brown University found that $72 million from fossil-fuel related dark money groups has been funneled into disinformation campaigns and astroturf groups to opposed offshore wind projects
• Support for IGND third proposed priority for 2024 – great that Rebecca Evans has been able to bring another staff member on board, Savannah Vega, to help roll out some of initiatives they’ve been discussing, including incorporating equity with Justice50
• Rebecca has persuaded City to bring 10 more buildings into Ithaca 2030 District: four fire stations, police station, Youth Bureau, GIAC, and main offices of Water & Sewer and Streets & Facilities – over 320,000 sq. ft. – brings district total to over 900,000 sq. ft.
• One way Ithaca 2030 District will be supporting IGND going forward
• Fourth priority is supporting development of equitable multimodal transportation options
• Dawn Montanye: One of top priorities in this area is reduction of car dependency – have to do more than just turn to EVs
• Need to drive less and choosing shared transportation options, looking to enhance transit – need to build up system now and shift transportation lens – more dedicated bus and bike lanes
• Also need to take into account land use planning and housing to improve access to public and shared transportation
• Lifestyle changes need to be encouraged, too
• Fernando de Aragón: Reducing extreme dependency on automobiles crucial – 60% of our trips are only 2-3 miles long – tremendous potential to use bikes more
• We have good transit system that needs strengthening – Bikeshare in place and doing well – doing everything possible to bring Carshare back this spring
• ITCTC will be developing long-range transportation plan over next year – will be opportunity to provide input
• Dawn: Also Transportation Equity Coalition wrapping up its transportation equity needs assessment – what are needs and barriers to providing people access?
• Peter: Not just question of developing effective multimodal transportation system, but also about making it more equitable
• Addition of ten new city buildings addresses our fifth priority, to continue growing district – we’ll also continue building the performance dashboards and working with property members to improve energy and water performance of their buildings, and sharing ways they can reduce their carbon footprint
• Also four of our buildings took advantage of NYSEG gas kicker program to install heat pumps and move off natural gas for heating and cooling

NYS Climate and Clean Energy Legislation: Prospects and Challenges – Anna Kelles

Assemblymember Anna Kelles represents the 125th District, including Cortland and Tompkins Counties. She has been an outstanding champion for climate and clean energy issues. She shared her perspective on the new legislative session and the possibilities for progress on these fronts.

• Conversation with Anna took place while she was on plane waiting to fly to DC to speak at screening of documentary “Fashion Reimagined”
• Focusing today on Fashion Act, Climate Superfund Act, NY HEAT Act, Just Transition Act, and Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act
• Sustainability and Social Accountability Fashion Act is Anna’s bill – not part of package
• Everybody wears clothes but right now you couldn’t be socially responsible even if you wanted to
• Every part of global supply chain needs to be transparent and there needs to be accountability
• Act would require all brands with gross revenue of $100 million or more that want access to NYS market must comply with state regulations
• All brands would have to map out their entire supply chain and measure GHG emissions through supply chain and impacts on water quality
• Also labor provisions regarding prevailing wages, unions, and child labor
• All of tools required to track metrics already in existence and used by industries – not reinventing any wheels with this legislation
• Have to demonstrate they’re making substantive improvements in these areas or else they’re subject to fines up to 2% of their gross global income – that creates fund that can be used to offset negative impacts
• European Union taking steps to regulate this global industry – has never been regulated before – only major industry that isn’t – responsible for up to 8% of all GHG emissions
• Second highest industry in use of child labor and fifth highest in use of slave labor
• Want to make sure brands don’t just pass costs of complying with new regulations on to manufacturers
• Can find out more about bill at org
• Anna concerned that cap-and-invest will turn into cap-and-trade – pre-proposal open for public comment looks like cap-trade-and-invest (CTI)
• Puts lot of emphasis on secondary market of trading allowances – allows nonobligated entities to buy allowances at public auctions – also allows obligated entities to buy up to 25% of allowances available at any auction, which could be sold in secondary market
• Has now introduced bill that outlines program of just cap-and-invest – meant to be counterpoint to pre-proposal
• Some, including governor, are arguing that polluters already being held accountable under cap-trade-and-invest – climate superfund a kind of double dipping – creates another fee for same polluters
• Climate Superfund focuses on which companies were biggest polluters from 2000 to 2018 and damage they did then – retroactive
• Will assess one-time fee and use those dollars to build infrastructure specifically for adaptation – can pay fee in 24 annual payments
• CTI is forward looking, not retroactive – forces companies to pay for GHGs they’re continuing to emit – faster they transition to clean energy, fewer allowances they’ll have to buy
• CTI makes exceptions for energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries but doesn’t put in place guardrails for these entities – provides allowances for free so companies not forced to move out of state
• Not only are these allowances provided for free but there’s no documentation required and there is no claw-back mechanism
• We also need to stop investing in natural gas infrastructure – aim of Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act seeks to end $336 million of $1.6 billion state provides annually in tax subsidies, grants, and like
• Complementary to Climate Superfund – in both cases fossil fuel polluters held accountable – can’t continue subsidize very industries that are generating pollution that is cause of climate damage
• NY HEAT Act takes on another way in which we’ve been subsidizing the fossil fuel industry: the PSC rule that says any building constructed within 100 feet of road can get free hook-up to the main gas line courtesy of ratepayers
• Encourages expansion of natural gas infrastructure – amounts to $200 million annually
• Bill would end this practice and also hold utility costs of LMI households to 6% of their income
• Just Transition Act requires PSC and NYSERDA to carry out study of how to best convert closed fossil-fuel power plants to renewable energy infrastructure
• Plan has strong labor protections and would be subject to extensive public hearings across state

Q&A

• Martha Robertson: Where should we focus our efforts? A lot to take in and act on
• Anna: Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package includes most of these bills – NY Renews coalition consisting of more than 100 organizations (including TCCPI) is pushing for passage of the package
• Fashion Act is Anna’s top priority but she’s very involved in supporting the other bills – is working to educate other legislators about them, how they fit together, and why they’re important
• Need to listen to what opposition is saying about why we can’t do something and then figure out messaging to counter the arguments
• Needs support of TCCPI to identify why we’re being told no, and then to pivot with counterargument – as climate leaders, we need to get better at this
• Dominic Frongillo: We have 100 elected officials signed on in support of Climate Superfund and would love to coordinate with you
• Anna: Please get in touch with my legislative team to set up meeting
• Martha: Where is Speaker Heastie on these bills?
• Anna: He’s very thoughtful about environment -- Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus has about 77 members and Heastie pays close attention to where they stand on issues – also Upstate Caucus has about 75 members
• Important to have champions in both groups to be effective
• Peter asked Anna to talk about work she and Sen. Lea Webb are doing together on Cayuga salt mine
• Anna: Needs to pass quickly to make sure it is in place before any sale of mine goes through
• Bell Station one of most effective campaigns seen in Albany because it was sharply focused and had very clear message
• Just want transparency and accountability in situation with salt mine – letter writing campaign and coordinated calls to governor over next couple of weeks best way to achieve this
• Should be our community’s top priority – current situation holding Cargill liable for only $3 million in damages unacceptable
• Asking for independent evaluation about what Cargill should be required to pay if there is mining catastrophe there
• Protecting our environment and natural resources fundamental to responsibilities of legislature
• Environment fundamental to everything we are – it’s our habitat – we are either parasites or stewards: we have a choice
• Messaging is critical – we have to get savvier at this – industry devotes lots of resources and has become very effective at opposing and neutralizing anything that affects their profits
• This is why it’s so important that every single person in environmental movement feels empowered to take credit for victories we achieve – that it was their accomplishment – and that we take the time to make sure this happens before moving on to next thing
• Big corporations need to tear down these wins and neutralize them – they’ve already won in red states and don’t have to worry about them – they’re focused on stopping wins in blue states like NY and CA
• Need to foster sense of personal pride among people in environmental movement in victories we’ve achieved and not let them get torn down by oil and gas companies – we have to celebrate and protect what we’ve already won and stay vigilant
• When people feel empowered they engage – when they feel hopeless, they disengage