The Naperville City Council pledged this week to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2036.
In a unanimous vote Tuesday, council members committed to pursuing the initiatives in the Sustainable Naperville 2036, a report compiled by the Naperville Environment and Sustainability task force that is meant to serve as a guide for the next 15 years.
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Jodi Trendler, a founding member of the NEST task force and its outgoing chairwoman, said the effects of climate change are only going to get more unpredictable and more frequent and it is imperative for the city to have a plan in place.
NEST looked at what would give “the most bang for the buck,” she said, and focused on increasing communitywide sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Trendler said 75% of communitywide emissions are from the way homes and other buildings are constructed and another 24% come from vehicles, both areas where the city doesn’t have a lot of jurisdiction.
“This is going to require collective impact,” she said, which is why community involvement and education are so important.
The plan is for city staff and NEST to partner with groups like the Naperville Park District, School Districts 203 and 204, the Naperville Public Library, Naper Settlement and Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce to figure out how to fully implement the more challenging long-range objectives.
Those include moving toward the purchase of renewable, zero-emission energy as soon as possible; increasing energy efficiency in all buildings; generating at least 25% of the city’s consumed energy within municipal boundaries; and reducing natural gas consumption.
The city already has taken steps to address some of the suggestions from NEST, including the hiring of sustainability coordinator Ben Mjolsness and reestablishing an interdepartmental sustainability team.
Mjolsness said other initiatives completed or underway include transitioning 60% of the city’s light-duty vehicle fleet to alternative fuel or hybrid electric by 2030; continuing the city’s household hazardous waste facility collection; incentivizing yard and food composting; and expanding the city’s parkway tree program.
Over the next year, Mjolsness said the city plans to implement a green purchasing program through which staff can look at the environmental application of the products and services it purchases.
Another idea under consideration, he said, is an electric lawn equipment program that would encourage residents to give up their gas-powered mowers, trimmers and edgers in exchange for deals to purchase new ones powered with electricity.
Cathy Clarkin, NEST’s incoming chairwoman, said the Sustainable Naperville 2036 plan has strategies that, if implemented, will put the city’s greenhouse gas emission reductions in sync with targets set by scientists.
“NEST strategies present opportunities for building resiliency, improving the health of our residents and even saving money in the long run,” Clarkin said.
More than 50 people, many of them members of NEST, attended the workshop and urged the council to adopt the measures.
Several high school students also spoke in person and on prerecorded video about the importance of the city investing in their future.
Edith Makra, director of environmental initiatives for the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, said the NEST report aligns with work done by their 270 participating members and 53 municipalities on both climate mitigation and adaptation and on targeting greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
“The work that Naperville contributed went into our plan, and the work that the group did as a region over a nearly two-year period is now well reflected in the Naperville report,” Makra said.
“Naperville is very much a leader in taking immediate action and (is known) for the strong engagement that you have both formally, and through the incredible work and time that the NEST members, have put in over a very long period of time to produce a really quality report,” she said.