Quantify! or What Gets Measured Is More Likely to Get Done

Since 2005, three successive Sunnyvale Mayors have signed the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to strive to meet Kyoto greenhouse gas reduction goals--7% below 1990 levels by 2012--in our community. In September, 2007, the City Council voted to join over 700 cities across the nation and formally adopt the Mayors' Agreement, making it official city policy. But how will Sunnyvale know whether the goal is being met without determining how much greenhouse gas pollution our community currently produces?

In the next few weeks, Council will have the opportunity to fund a community-wide greenhouse gas audit, using software that has been used by hundreds of communities across the US. This software estimates a city's greenhouse gas (or carbon) emissions using routinely-available information from sources such as utility companies and transit agencies. In addition to establishing a baseline of greenhouse gas emissions, this policy planning software allows decision makers to compare the potential impacts and costs of various emission-reduction strategies.

Nine cities in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties already have conducted such community greenhouse gas inventories. Eight more cities plan complete theirs this year. Now it is time for Sunnyvale to build on numerous climate-friendly actions already taken by our city leaders and conduct a community carbon audit, the foundation of a comprehensive climate action plan.

We cannot wait for a more convenient time for Sunnyvale to take full responsibility for our community's greenhouse gas emissions, establish a carbon emissions baseline, and become strategic in reducing our city-wide emissions. The Sunnyvale City Council needs to authorize the community greenhouse gas audit that is the basis of a cost-effective, systematic plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fund the full-time sustainability coordinator needed to manage the audit and fully and urgently utilize its results. Now is the time to quantify our greenhouse gas emissions and hold ourselves truly accountable for reducing them.