Agenda

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D.4

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	John Kopchik, DCD and Brian Balbas, PW
Date:	March 22, 2022

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

RECEIVE report of the Interdepartmental Climate Action Task Force

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 03/22/2022

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Jody London, 925-655-2815

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: March 22, 2022
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

RECEIVE report of the Interdepartmental Climate Action Task Force, as recommended by the Directors of the Departments of Conservation and Development and Public Works.

FISCAL IMPACT:

New or increased costs, with offsetting savings. As County departments proceed with implementing recommendations from the Sustainability Fund Report, there could be both expenditures related to those activities and associated savings. For example, a department might choose to install LED lighting. There would be a cost associated with installing the new lights and, because the lights will use less energy, savings would accrue over time. There may be a small expenditure to provide materials for the G3 Champions (Green Government Group).

BACKGROUND:

The Board of Supervisors (Board) adopted a Climate Emergency Resolution (Resolution) on September 22, 2020. Among other things, the Resolution established an interdepartmental task force consisting of all Department heads, or their senior deputies, to coordinate their efforts focusing on the urgent implementation of the County’s Climate Action Plan. The Task Force was directed to report back to the Board twice a year as a discussion item on the Board agenda. The Department of Conservation and Development (DCD) in partnership with the Department of Public Works (Public Works) share responsibility for convening the Interdepartmental Climate Action Task Force (Task Force), with support from a steering committee of staff from several departments.

The Task Force raised several ideas to the Board in its first report on March 30, 2021, which were favorably received. The second report on October 19, 2021, outlined the work that had occurred to: (1) establish a Sustainability Fund that can support investments in County infrastructure and (2) encourage County departments to adopt best practices from the County's Green Business Program. The October 2021 report reviewed recommendations from the Public Works Department on how to structure and implement the Sustainability Fund; in a separate agenda item at that meeting, the Board approved the Sustainability Fund as recommended. As part of the second report, the Task Force reviewed opportunities and strategies for County departments to adopt best practices from the County’s Green Business Program.

In November 2021, the Board directed that $2.5 million per year be allocated from Measure X to support the Sustainability Fund. The first tranche of these funds will become available in April 2022. The first priority project will be installing electric vehicle chargers to expedite conversion of County fleet vehicles to all-electric. The second priority project likely will be reducing energy use in County facilities, for example, installing LED lights with motion sensors. In general, Public Works proposes that the Sustainability Fund focus primarily on the Distributed Energy Resource Plan – rooftop solar, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, energy storage, automated demand response (shifting energy use from periods of high demand).

The steering committee for the Task Force has been focused since October on building and launching the Green Government Group, known as the G3 Champions, a program to help County departments adopt best practices from the County’s Green Business Program. These Champions will be volunteers. The Steering Committee has put together resources to recruit these Champions in coming weeks and help department heads implement this structure. These include a page on the County Intranet site (accessible only to County employees), a guide, recruitment materials, checklists, and more.

Once up and running, the G3 Champions will assist in the County’s work to achieve its climate goals by implementing measures (with the assistance of Public Works and the County Administrator's Office) that are best practices in the County’s Green Business Program such as reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, and conserving water. The G3 Champions will track progress through a dashboard set up by the California Green Business Program specifically for Contra Costa County to track the progress of the Champions. This dashboard is a user-friendly way to calculate GHG reductions and monitor progress towards County sustainability goals.

Staff look forward to reporting back to the Board on the progress of the Sustainability Fund and the G3 Champions. Staff are not aware of many other counties that are enlisting employees as comprehensively as Contra Costa and are hopeful that our work will be successful and a model for other local governments.

CLERK'S ADDENDUM

Speakers: No name given; no name given: Liz; No name given.