The Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board is looking for support for a plan to preserve and acquire agricultural land in the region, and it’s turned to the Joint Sustainability Committee for help and recommendations. The recommendations are a next step for the goals of the Austin-Travis County Food Plan, which was passed by City Council […]
Joint Sustainability Committee
Posted inEnvironment
Joint Sustainability Committee voices support for climate fee proposal
Members of the city’s Joint Sustainability Committee expressed support Wednesday for a proposal to establish a climate fee to fund green initiatives. A resolution calling on City Council to pursue a climate fee to help fill funding gaps in the Austin Climate Equity Plan received support from members at the committee’s meeting, but was not […]
Posted inPreservation
Landmark commission embraces green initiatives
The Historic Landmark Commission is embracing the environmentalist zeal gripping City Hall, launching a set of policy recommendations last week aimed at tackling preservation goals from a sustainability angle. The recommendation, authored by Commissioner JuanRaymon Rubio, outlines a number of strategies to tackle the emissions and waste wrought by building demolitions, including greater incentives for […]
Posted inPlanning
City seeks input on area food plan that highlights fragility for farms, restaurants
The Office of Sustainability has published the draft of its long-in-development food plan for Austin and Travis County, which seeks to balance pressures of development and land use against the need to feed a fast-growing metro area. Released last month after more than a year of community input on priorities related to food availability and […]
Posted inEnvironment
Land acquisition, leaving Fayette power plant among environmentalists’ priorities for Council plan
With City Council set to consider a host of green infrastructure projects later this spring, environmental proponents want the city to commit to green space acquisition, curbing motorized vehicle use and converting all municipal energy generation away from carbon fuels. Wednesday’s public hearing at the Joint Sustainability Committee meeting featured more than a dozen speakers […]
Posted inEnvironment
Push for low-carbon concrete taking longer to solidify than anticipated
The city of Austin is following up on its promise to transition to low-carbon concrete, though it says the plan will take several years to settle into place. Staff from the Office of the City Engineer joined the Joint Sustainability Committee last week for the first update since City Council’s resolution to mandate standards for […]
Posted inEnvironment
Environmental boards push for telework policy for city employees
Two city environmental panels have approved resolutions asking City Council to direct interim City Manager Jesús Garza to reconsider his proposed policy requiring most employees to do their jobs at the office three days a week. Both the Environmental Commission and the Joint Sustainability Committee have recommended that employees be allowed to work from home […]
Posted inEnvironment
Joint Sustainability Committee endorses working relationship between commissions
The city’s Joint Sustainability Committee unanimously passed a recommendation last month that the Airport Advisory Commission and Environmental Commission form a working relationship. “The Joint Sustainability Committee recommends the Airport Advisory Commission, and Environmental Commission, and the Department of Aviation establish a collaborative relationship, which will allow the Environmental Commission to provide recommendations, advice and […]
Posted inAustin
Joint Sustainability Committee looks at trends during flooding and extreme heat
On Wednesday, researchers Patrick Bixler, Diana Joyce Ojeda and Jessica Jones presented an update on sustainability indicators – particularly the effects of flooding and extreme heat in the Austin area – to the Joint Sustainability Committee. The research focuses on the differences in how people experience extremes of weather depending on their ethnicity, their income […]
Posted inEnergy
City electric water heating restrictions not plugged in to affordability, climate reality
The Joint Sustainability Committee is asking the city to reconsider an outdated prohibition on electric water heating as part of the upcoming code rewrite process. The committee passed a resolution Feb. 27 claiming the prohibition is a barrier to affordability and a constraint to the city’s energy goals. The resolution came out of an initial […]
Posted inEnvironment
In light of urgent United Nations report, Austin updates climate plan
When Austin developed its Community Climate Plan in 2015, declaring its ambition to become a carbon neutral community by 2050, the plan was heralded as a landmark decision by Council. However, that was before leading United Nations scientists alerted the citizens of the world to the fact that we have just 12 years to make […]
Posted inAustin
American Cities Climate Challenge brings support, not cash
The announcement two weeks ago that Austin was one of 25 U.S. cities to receive Bloomberg Philanthropies’ American Cities Climate Challenge award was greeted with much fanfare from the media. The press especially touted the $2.5 million Austin would receive to help the city meet – and perhaps exceed – its carbon reduction goals. It […]