SC 06-20-19 PacketCITY OF CUPERTINO
AGENDA
SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION
4:00 PM
Environmental Education Center, 22221 McClellan Road
Thursday, June 20, 2019
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ROLL CALL
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1.
Draft Minutes 5.16.2019 Meeting
POSTPONEMENTS
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the commission
on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are limited to three (3) minutes. In most
cases, State law will prohibit the commission from making any decisions with respect to
a matter not listed on the agenda
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
2.
SC 6-20-19 Written Communications
OLD BUSINESS
3.Subject: Staff update on Buy Clean California Act policy development and Bay
Area low carbon concrete codes initiatives
NEW BUSINESS
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June 20, 2019Sustainability Commission AGENDA
4.Subject: Discuss Green New Deal legislative efforts on the federal and state level
and consider making a recommendation to the City Council to sign a resolution in
support of H.R. 109 (Representative Ocasio-Cortez) and S. Res. 59 (Senator
Markey) and AB 1276 (Assemblymember Bonta)
Item 4-1 Written Communications
5.Subject: Staff overview of Climate Action Plan metrics
6.Subject: Sustainability Speaker Series planning
7.Subject: Discuss and select agenda topics for upcoming Sustainability Commission
meetings
STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS
ADJOURNMENT
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June 20, 2019Sustainability Commission AGENDA
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), anyone who is planning
to attend the next meeting who is visually or hearing impaired or has any disability
that needs special assistance should call the City Clerk's Office at 408-777-3223, 48
hours in advance of the meeting to arrange for assistance. Upon request, in advance,
by a person with a disability, meeting agendas and writings distributed for the meeting
that are public records will be made available in the appropriate alternative format.
Also upon request, in advance, an assistive listening device can be made available for
use during the meeting.
Any writings or documents provided to a majority of the members after publication of
the agenda will be made available for public inspection. Please contact the City
Clerk’s Office in City Hall located at 10300 Torre Avenue during normal business
hours.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please be advised that pursuant to Cupertino Municipal
Code 2.08.100 written communications sent to the Cupertino City Council,
Commissioners or City staff concerning a matter on the agenda are included as
supplemental material to the agendized item. These written communications are
accessible to the public through the City’s website and kept in packet archives. You are
hereby admonished not to include any personal or private information in written
communications to the City that you do not wish to make public; doing so shall
constitute a waiver of any privacy rights you may have on the information provided to
the City.
Members of the public are entitled to address the members concerning any item that is
described in the notice or agenda for this meeting, before or during consideration of
that item. If you wish to address the members on any other item not on the agenda, you
may do so during the public comment.
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CITY OF CUPERTINO SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION
Environmental Education Center, 22221 McClellan Road
Thursday, May 16, 2019 4:00 p.m.
MINUTES
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ROLL CALL
Commissioners Present: Anna Weber, Gary Latshaw, Vignesh Swaminathan, Meera
Ramanathan, Angela Chen (arrived @ 4:07 p.m.). Absent: None.
Staff: Misty Mersich, Sustainability Manager; Roger Lee, Acting Public Works Director; Cheri
Donnelly, Environmental Programs Manager; Gilee Corral, Sustainability Program Coordinator
Guests: Bruce Karney; Mukta Ubale, Cupertino High School Environmental Club; other
members of the public
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Draft minutes of March 21, 2019 meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Swaminathan moved
and Commissioner Ramanathan seconded to approve the minutes. The motion carried
unanimously.
POSTPONEMENTS
None.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Bruce Karney talked about his desire for the City to switch to annual greenhouse gas (GHG)
inventories and for the Commission to recommend to City Council to switch to an emissions
per capita target -- distributed a handout on the City of San Jose’s 2017 GHG inventory.
Mukta Ubale on behalf of the Cupertino High School Environmental Club talked about their
desire for the City’s GHG goals to be more ambitious, for the City to adopt a resolution to
support the Green New Deal, and for the City to adopt a goal for zero GHG emissions by 2030.
The Commission agreed to add the New Green Deal discussion topic to the agenda for the June
20th Sustainability Commission meeting.
Chair Weber reordered the agenda items to place a partial Staff Update before Written
Communications.
STAFF UPDATE
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Acting Public Works Director Roger Lee updated the Commission on several items, including:
the McClellan west parking lot project is 75% complete; a resolution will go before Council in
June to study the possibilities of working with the Sunnyvale SMaRT station. He acknowledge d
Sustainability Manager Misty Mersich’s contribution to the City, thanked her for all her work
with Public Works, and wished her well in her next step.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Chair Weber distributed an email sent by a student to the Commission.
OLD BUSINESS
2. Subject: 2019/2020 Work Program and Council Presentation
Misty Mersich reviewed the draft Sustainability Commission Work Program with the
Commission and updated it with agreed changes. At the June 18th City Council meeting, the
Commission’s Work Program will be on the agenda for approval and the Commission will
present its FY 2018/19 accomplishments. Commissioner Latshaw will give the presentation and
Chair Weber and Commissioner Ramanathan will attend the meeting in support.
Commissioner Latshaw moved and Commissioner Chen seconded to approve the Sustainability
Commission Work Program as amended. The motion carried unanimously.
3. Subject: Clean Water & Storm Protection Initiative / Proposed Fee Update
The Commission received an update on the Clean Water & Storm Protection Initiative /
Proposed Fee from Environmental Programs Manager Cheri Donnelly. This item will be
discussed at the May 7th Council meeting. Cupertino property owners will receive a ballot to
vote on the additional fee; ballots will be mailed on the 20th and completed ballots must be
received back to City July 5th at 5:00 p.m. Donnelly answered Commissioners’s questions on the
process and asked them to forward any further questions to environmental@cupertino.org.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS
Commission updates:
Commissioner Latshaw gave an update on planning for the Sustainability Speaker Series. Staff
will contact Bea Johnson to ask her availability for speaking this fiscal year. Commissioner
Latshaw will also contact Hal Harvey to gauge his interest in speaking. The Commission will
discuss the Speaker Series at the next Commission meeting.
Chair Weber reviewed items discussed at a recent Mayor’s Meeting, including:
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- Mayor Scharf expressed interest in the straw ban / plastic reduction. Staff will provide
information on the City’s current activities on this topic to Chair Weber.
- Paperless City meetings & Council meetings.
- Raising awareness in the community on reducing emissions. Staff will arrange for the
Public Information Officer to meet with the Commission to discuss outreach.
The Commissioners thanked Misty Mersich for her service to the City.
Staff updates:
- The Sustainability Division will be running with one staff member until the new
Sustainability Manager is hired; capacity will be very limited.
- Staff is working to engage a consultant for a GHG inventory update.
- The City is a finalist in a grant application to Silicon Valley Clean Energy to support an
electric vehicle charging station project at the Sports Center.
- City Council adopted a Buy Clean resolution. Buy Clean update on the next
Commission meeting agenda.
- Donnelly distributed a handout on a solar panel disposal presentation from Lee-Tan that
was presented at a recent Technical Advisory Committee for the Waste Reduction and
Recycling Commission.
ADJOURNMENT- 6:03 p.m.
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RESOLUTION NO. XXXX
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF CITY OF CUPERTINO
TO DIVEST FULLY FROM THE FOSSIL FUEL SECTOR AND
SUPPORT THE TRANSITION TO CLEAN, SUSTAINABLE, AND
RENEWABLE ENERGY
WHEREAS, the climate crisis is a severe threat to current and future
generations here in Cupertino and around the world;
WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report
found that global warming is proceeding at a faster pace than had been previously
thought, causing costly disruption of human and natural systems throughout the
world including the melting of arctic ice, the ocean's rise, an increase in the ocean's
acidity, severe flooding, and drought;
WHEREAS, these extreme events have and will continue to negatively impact
the U.S. economy. In 2012, the United States accounted for 67% of the $160 billion
lost globally due to natural catastrophes";
WHEREAS, almost every government in the world has agreed through the
2009 Copenhagen Accord that any warming above a 2°c (3.6°f) rise would be
hazardous, 1394666.3 and that if humans release only about 565 more gigatons of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere this limit will be not possible to maintain;
WHEREAS, for the purposes of this resolution, a "fossil fuel company" shall
be defined as any publicly-traded company whose primary business or enterprise is
extraction, production, refining, burning and/or distribution of any fossil fuels and any
company with the largest coal, oil, and gas reserves as measured by the gigatons of
carbon dioxide that would be emitted if those reserves were extracted and burned,
200 largest of which are listed in the carbon tracker initiative's "unburnable carbon"
report'";
WHEREAS, in its "unburnable carbon" report, the “c-states”, or power-saving
states, have launched campaigns to have their institutions divest from fossil fuel
companies;
WHEREAS, Cupertino has already declared a state of climate emergency
calling for drastic action on September 18, 2018; and
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WHEREAS, many cities in the Bay Area such as Mountain View, Richmond,
Oakland, and Berkeley; universities across America such as Stanford, San Francisco
State, and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District; and in 2013 the Santa
Clara Water District divested from fossil fuel companies.
NOW THEREFORE THE CITY OF CUPERTINO RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
1. To divest fully from the fossil fuel sector and adopt policies to ban future
investment in fossil fuels while encouraging investments in sustainable energy
projects.
2. To direct the city manager or his/her designee to examine the city's holdings
and future investments to assure that the city complies with this policy.
3. To formally request that all retirement funds into which Cupertino contributes
fully divest from the fossil fuel sector and adopt policies to ban future
investments in fossil fuels.
4. To support other California cities' community-based actions against the fossil
fuel sector.
5. To commit to a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy from all of
Cupertino by 2030 at the latest.
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RESOLUTION NO. 18-
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CUPERTINO
DECLARING A CLIMATE EMERGENCY
WHEREAS, in April 2016 world leaders from 175 countries recognized the threat of
climate change and the urgent need to combat it by signing the Paris Agreement, agreeing to keep
warming “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and to “pursue efforts to limit the
temperature increase to 1.5°C”;
WHEREAS, an October 2018 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) report, criticized by many leading climate scientists as overly conservative, predicted that
we have only until 2030 to limit devastating global warming and avoid a climate change
catastrophe;
WHEREAS, the October 2018 IPCC report also made clear that every bit of warming
matters and every fraction of a degree retained would save lives and pay dividends across the
world’s economies;
WHEREAS, the death and destruction already wrought by global warming from
approximately 1°C demonstrates that the Earth is already too hot for safe habitability as seen by
increased and intensifying wildfires, floods, rising seas, diseases, droughts and extreme weather
conditions;
WHEREAS, the United States of America has disproportionately contributed to the
climate and ecological crises and has repeatedly obstructed global efforts to transition toward a
sustainable economy, and thus bears an extraordinary responsibility to rapidly solve these crises
(Gillis, Justin and Popovich, Nadja. “The U.S. Is the Biggest Carbon Polluter in History. It just
Walked Away from the Paris Climate Deal” New York Times, 1 June 2017. );
WHEREAS, justice requires that frontline communities, which have historically borne the
brunt of the extractive fossil-fuel economy, participate actively in the planning and
implementation of this mobilization effort at all levels of government and that they benefit first
from the transition to a renewable energy economy;
WHEREAS, the City of Cupertino already receives and uses carbon-free energy from
Silicon Valley Clean Energy;
WHEREAS, the City of Cupertino strives to be a leader in combating climate change, and
together with our regional bay area communities, we have the insight, drive, capacity and capital
to take a moral stand and do all we can to restore a safe climate within our own boundaries and on
behalf of our plenary community;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Cupertino
recognizes and declares that we face a Climate Emergency that threatens our city, region, state,
nation, civilization, humanity and the natural world;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Cupertino City Council calls for an emergency
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mobilization effort to end citywide greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible and no later
than 2030 byelectrifying buildings, homes, and transportation; reducing our dependence on vehicle
transportation via the use of mixed-use zoning, the addition of physical barriers between car and
bike lanes, the improvement of public transportation; and encouraging sustainable agriculture
through promoting local food and reducing meat consumption;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Cupertino City Council calls for an effort to
understand its citizens in the climate crisis by collecting biannual surveys about their knowledge of
environmental issues, their personal habits regarding car use, recycling, composting, setting a
thermostat, etc.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED. the Cupertino City Council educate residents about
climate change and environmental issues, and advocate for a mass mobilization at the local, state,
national, and global levels, through Meatless Monday campaigns, a drastic increase of community
gardens, youth actions programs, and flyers that illustrate the connection between wildfires and
climate change;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Cupertino City Council publicizes via its monthly
magazine, social media network, website, and an official press release to various local news sources
that it has declared a climate emergency to encourage other cities to follow suit;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City of Cupertino commits to keeping the
considerations of disadvantaged communities central to all climate emergency mobilization planning
processes, and to inviting and encouraging these communities to directly advocate for their specific
needs and equity in the environmental justice process; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City of Cupertino calls on the State of California,
United States of America and all governments and peoples worldwide to initiate an emergency
mobilization effort to mitigate climate change, stop rising greenhouse gas emissions, and
immediately initiate an effort to safely draw down carbon from the atmosphere.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of
Cupertino this, by the following vote:
Vote Members of the City Council
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
ATTEST: APPROVED:
Grace Schmidt, City Clerk Steven Scharf,
Mayor, City of
Cupertino
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Resolution for a Green New Deal
A Resolution by Cupertino City Council calling for the federal government
to pass a Green New Deal.
WHEREAS, Cupertino City Council wants the children and grandchildren of this community
protected from the risks of climate destruction;
WHEREAS, on April 22, 2016, world leaders from 175 countries recognized the threat of
climate change and the urgent need to combat it by signing the Paris Agreement, agreeing to
keep warming “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and to “pursue efforts to limit the
temperature increase to 1.5°C,”
WHEREAS, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement in 2017;
WHEREAS, an October 2018 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) report, criticized by many leading climate scientists as overly conservative, predicts that
we have only until 2030 to limit devastating global warming and avoid a climate change
catastrophe;
WHEREAS, the October 2018 IPCC report also makes clear that every bit of warming matters,
so every fraction of a degree less of warming will save lives and pay dividends across the
world’s economies;
WHEREAS, the world is already experiencing serious, costly, and increasing impacts from
climate change, including more intense storms, unprecedented flooding, droughts, and
persistent wildfires. The latter two which has already made an impact on our community.
Droughts have caused a drier and more barren landscape, as well as threatened our water
supply. Wildfires have more recently plagued our area, with record-breaking flames sweeping
our forests every year, causing millions in damages and displacing thousands of people;
WHEREAS, an inadequate response to climate change will increase economic and
environmental disruptions that threaten human life, healthy communities, and critical
infrastructure. These include, but are not limited to severe storms, longer and hotter heat
waves, worsening flood and drought cycles, growing invasive species and insect problems,
accelerated species extinction rates, rising sea levels, increased wildfires, and a dramatic
increase in refugees from climate impacted lands;
WHEREAS, the most negative impacts of climate change are generally falling on frontline
communities that are underrepresented, such as lower-income communities or communities of
color, are bearing the initial burden of climate change, but are least equipped to adapt to these
impacts;
WHEREAS, climate change and the global economy’s overshoot of ecological limits are driving
the sixth mass extinction of species, which has caused a 60% decline in global wildlife
populations since 1970, could devastate much of life on Earth for the next 10 million years, and
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may pose as great a risk to humanity as climate change, according to the Intergovernmental
Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
WHEREAS, restoring a safe and stable climate requires a whole-of-society “Climate
Mobilization” at all levels of government on a scale not seen since World War II to reach zero
greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors at emergency speed, to rapidly and safely
drawdown or remove all the excess carbon from the atmosphere, to end the 6th mass
extinction of species, and to implement measures to protect all people and species from the
increasingly severe consequences of climate change;
WHEREAS, doing what is now necessary to adequately address the climate crisis requires a
national mobilization of a scope and scale that is a historic opportunity to address inequities
caused and exacerbated by the fossil fuel economy as well as providing unprecedented levels
of prosperity and economic security for all people in the United States;
WHEREAS, the United States of America has disproportionately contributed to the climate and
extinction emergencies and has repeatedly obstructed global efforts to transition toward a
green economy, and thus bears an extraordinary responsibility to rapidly address these
existential threats;
WHEREAS, Cupertino City Council has declared a Climate Emergency on September 18, 2018
and demonstrated the City’s commitment to eliminating all citywide greenhouse gas emissions
as soon as possible;
WHEREAS, Senator Ed Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released, on
February 7, 2019, a Resolution Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a
Green New Deal;
WHEREAS, federal Green New Deal legislation would create a detailed mobilization plan to:
●within a decade, achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just
transition for all communities and workers;
●create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security
for all people of the United States;
●invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the
challenges of the 21st century;
●secure for all people of the United States for generations to come:
○clean air and water;
○climate and community resiliency;
○healthy food;
○access to nature;
○and a sustainable environment;
●and promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing
historic oppression of indigenous communities, communities of color, migrant
communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor,
low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and
youth;
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WHEREAS, local governments calling for the federal government to pass a Green New Deal
will demonstrate widespread popular support for necessary and just climate action and
Cupertino can act as a global leader by both converting to an ecologically, socially, and
economically regenerative economy at emergency speed, and by rapidly organizing a regional
just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Cupertino City Council calls on the U.S. Government to,
as soon as possible, pass a Green New Deal based on H.R. 109 and S. Res. 59 "Recognizing
the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal," the Resolution released on
February 7, 2019 by Senator Ed Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Cupertino City Council calls on the California State
Government to, as soon as possible, pass a Green New Deal such as the one proposed in AB
1276 introduced by State Assemblymember Rob Bonta;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Cupertino commits to calling on higher levels of government to
provide all necessary financial and regulatory assistance in support of its efforts to end
citywide greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible and no later than 2030, to draw
down greenhouse gases, and to accelerate adaptation and resilience strategies;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Cupertino commits to educating our residents about the climate
emergency and organizing and advocating for a just transition and climate emergency
mobilization effort at the local, regional, state, national, and global levels to provide maximum
protection for our residents as well as all the people and species of the world, for instance, by
publicizing Meatless Mondays and promoting community gardens throughout Cupertino;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Cupertino underscores the need for full community
participation, inclusion, and support, and recognizes that the residents of Cupertino and
community organizations, faith, youth, labor, business, academic institutions, homeowners’
associations; environmental, economic, racial, gender, family and disability justice; indigenous,
immigrant and women’s rights organizations; and other such allies who will be integral to and
in the leadership of the mobilization effort;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Cupertino calls on the State of California, the United States
Federal Government, and all governments and people worldwide to initiate an immediate social
and economic mobilization to reverse global warming and ecological overshoot that restores
near pre-industrial global average temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations, to
immediately halt the development of all new fossil fuel infrastructure, to rapidly phase out the
use of fossil fuels and the technologies which rely upon them, to end greenhouse gas
emissions as quickly as possible, to initiate an effort to safely draw down the excess carbon
from the atmosphere, to transition to regenerative agriculture, to end the sixth mass extinction
of species, to protect and expand workers’ right to organize, and to create and guarantee
high-quality, high-paying jobs with comprehensive benefits for all those who will be impacted
by this emergency response; and
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, in furtherance of this resolution, Cupertino shall submit a
certified copy of this resolution to Senator Diane Feinstein, Senator Kamala Harris,
Congressman Ro Khanna, California State Senator Jim Beall, and California Assemblymember
Evan Low, and request that all relevant support and assistance in effectuating this resolution
be provided.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by __________________ in ______________ on
________________ with a quorum present.
Signed by: ________________________________
Attest: ____________________________________
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