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Community Toolkit >
Greater Portland Council of Governments
  
Action Plan
Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) and the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG) with support from ICLEI, plans to undertake a multi-year project to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through an assertive community mobilization effort in the GPCOG region.
 CA-CP/GPCOG, or “the Team” will provide the support, tools, and coordination needed in order to begin an effective new model of regional, multi-town climate action planning and implementation in the Greater Portland, Maine, region. Over a period of about three years, this project will result in more educated and engaged communities, the formation of new partnerships, increased local investments in emissions-reducing projects and, ultimately, a decrease of at least 10% in region wide greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative will integrate the Sustainability Principles as developed and adopted by the GPCOG Executive Committee into the initiative.
The regional approach has two advantages: first, many potential greenhouse gas producers, those in the transportation sector, for example, can not effectively be addressed by individual towns alone; and second, towns can work collaboratively and achieve economies of scale on community-level solutions. By working regionally, we will also foster increased dialogue on climate change issues among stakeholders in different communities who collectively can directly impact a reduction of greenhouse emissions.
Steering Committee and Working Group:
To execute this approach, GPCOG will utilize its Steering Committee governance structure for guiding the process to fruition. A Local Energy/Climate Committee Working Group will be established to ensure a successful outcome through a community wide participation process. The Working Group will meet monthly to develop tools and resources for energy committees in the GPCOG region in order to move forward with reducing energy and greenhouse gas emissions while adhering to the GPCOG Sustainability Principles. This working group will consist of key stakeholders from throughout the region, including citizens and representatives from a range of public, private, and community based organizations. This Working Group will focus on the GPCOG region but may later serve as a model for other areas in the state of Maine. Tools and resources developed for the GPCOG region by the Working Group will be piloted in the region and then made available to municipalities throughout the state as templates.
Regional and Municipal Inventories:
During the first year of this project, the Working Group will concentrate on providing the tools necessary for the municipalities to complete energy inventories. The Team will provide assistance to three pilot towns that have been identified to complete municipal inventories. The Team will use software and technical support from ICLEI/Local Governments for Sustainability to conduct these inventories. As municipal inventories are completed, additional towns will be selected to begin the process and receive technical assistance. Along with these municipal inventories, a regional inventory will be conducted by a CA-CP intern. The regional inventory will identify where greenhouse gases are being generated and will help identify priority areas to target for greenhouse gas reductions. A Regional Inventory Report will be submitted to the Executive Committee along with a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes the findings. This Regional Inventory Report will link the 7 Sustainability Principles with each sector highlighted in the report. This will be competed by the end of the summer.
Regional Workshops and Trainings:
During the summer, the Working Group will provide regional trainings for energy committees and town officials. These workshops will be facilitated through CA-CP with hosting support from GPCOG. Training topics will focus on how to engage community members, how to complete a successful inventory and report, develop a climate action plan, implement specific greenhouse gas reduction programs, explore regional approaches to climate change, and generally seek to identify public policy changes that will facilitate the implementation of the GPCOG Sustainability Principles.
Building community support:
CA-CP/GPCOG will work with the Working Group to raise public awareness and solicit involvement by conducting web-based surveys, holding “neighborhood meet-ups,” and working with student interns to reach out to the community. Information on the initiative, including inventory progress, upcoming events will be publicly available through a project website. This web page will be hosted on the GPCOG website and be populated with information by both members of the Team. A Speakers Bureau will be established. This will consist of volunteers that will speak on many different aspects of climate change including solutions and adaptation measures. Speakers will also incorporate how the regional climate initiative will meet the goals of the Sustainability Principles. The Speakers Bureau can be administered by CA-CP.
Organizing Launch Event:
The Steering Committee will hold a public forum – bringing together representatives from the community, businesses, educational institutions, community organizations, local government, and other regional organizations – to officially launch the project. The launch forum will be designed to educate participants about the project, identify potential action areas, and solicit participation of community members. The Team will release the results of the regional greenhouse gas inventory at the forum.
Next Steps:
Overall, we expect this project to continue for three years. As such the following steps will take place in years two and three based on funding level.
- Regional Energy and Climate Action Plan: The Regional Energy and Climate Action Plan will use the regional energy and climate inventory as a basis for development of the plan. The plan will inform the ways in which municipalities, their communities and the private sector conserve, generate, use and diversify energy in the region. It will also focus on priority measures to reduce energy along with greenhouse gas emissions within several sectors, including transportation, buildings and solid waste, and will include measurable targets to be realized within a specified time frame.
- Building corporate climate leadership: CA-CP will ensure that key corporate interests in the region get involved by contributing to the Action Plan and increasing their company-wide efforts to reduce operational emissions by learning from early adopters, and tapping into existing networks including the Maine Governor's Climate Challenge.
- Promoting climate leadership education: CA-CP will promote climate leadership education with the school districts and higher learning institutions located in the region by organizing a series of workshops for educational leaders and staff designed to promote best practices. We will also encourage all educational institutions to utilize our Campus Carbon Calculator® to inventory their greenhouse gas emissions and create their own action plans.
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