JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE HYBRID MEETING FORMAT December 18th, 2024 at 6 pm Austin Energy – Mueller Assembly Room 1111 4815 Mueller Blvd, Austin, TX 78723 Some members of the Committee may be participating by videoconference Public comment will be allowed in-person or remotely via telephone. Speakers may only register to speak on an item once either in-person or remotely and will be allowed up to three minutes to provide their comments. Registration no later than noon the day before the meeting is required for remote participation by telephone. To register to speak remotely, email or call Rohan Lilauwala at (Rohan.lilauwala@austintexas.gov or 512-974-9394). Alternate Randall Chapman Member Kaiba White (Chair) Charlotte Davis (Vice-Chair) Genell Gary Diana Wheeler Haris Qureshi Melissa Rothrock Vacant CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS: Home Commission Electric Utility Commission Resource Management Commission Urban Transportation Commission Environmental Commission Zero Waste Advisory Commission Community Development Commission Austin Travis County Food Policy Board Marissa Bell Economic Prosperity Commission Water & Wastewater Commission Parks & Recreation Board Design Commission Planning Commission Austin/Travis County Public Health Commission City Council Mayor’s Representative Mayor’s Representative Mayor’s Representative Mayor’s Representative Mayor’s Representative Amy Noel Chris Maxwell-Gaines Lane Becker Vacant Vacant Natalie Poindexter Vacant Rodrigo Leal Anna Scott Yure Suarez Christopher Campbell Heather Houser For more information, please visit: www.austintexas.gov/jsc Vacant Richard Brimer Craig Nazor Miriam Garcia Rosamaria Murillo Luis Osta Lugo Vacant Ben Luckens Alberta Phillips Vacant Vacant Committee. DISCUSSION AGENDA CALL TO ORDER PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The first 10 speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approval of minutes from the November 20th, 2024 meeting of the Joint Sustainability 2. Low Carbon Concrete in Portland, OR – Cary Watters, City of Portland 3. Austin’s Urban Forest – Emily King, Development Services Department 4. Discussion of Joint Sustainability Committee preparation to make recommendations for the FY 25-26 budget 5. Discussion of updated JSC priorities for the Land Acquisition Fund 6. Update on the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan – Kaiba White, Electric Utility Commission 7. Update on the Congress Avenue Urban Design plans – Diana Wheeler, Urban Transportation Commission 8. Update on PFAS water testing and the approval of the Water Forward 2024 plan, Water Conservation Plan, and the Drought Contingency Plan – Chris Maxwell-Gaines, Water and Wastewater Commission …
JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING November 20, 2024 MEETING MINUTES The Joint Sustainability Committee convened in a hybrid meeting via videoconferencing and at Austin Energy Headquarters. Board Members in Attendance in Person: Kaiba White, Chris Maxwell-Gaines, Charlotte Davis, Anna Scott, Marissa Bell, Haris Qureshi Board Members in Attendance Remotely: Diana Wheeler, Amy Noel, Lane Becker, Rodrigo Leal, Christopher Campbell, Heather House Board Members Absent: Yure Suarez, Natalie Poindexter, Melissa Rothrock City Staff in Attendance: Zach Baumer, Braden Latham-Jones, Angela Baucom, Sara Norris, Amy Everhart, Lisa Martin CALL TO ORDER Chair Kaiba White called the meeting to order at 6:07 pm. 1. Approval of minutes from the October 23rd, 2024 meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee. • Commissioners request edits: o Notation standardization o Discussion item #5 of land acquisition has no content underneath it. Please revise to say “the committee discussed the item” in lieu of leaving it blank o Clean up the consistency of how the commissioners are referred to (first initial and last name, or other). Please standardize throughout. • Approved 12-0 on Qureshi motion, Maxwell-Gaines second. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS 2. Recommendation in support of the city pursuing a Low Carbon Transportation Materials Grant (moved up from 7) a. City is pursuing this. Discussion of letter in support. Vote would be to add the JSC to the letter with the intention of having other local organizations sign on as well. Due date is Monday. b. Diana Wheeler moves to approve JSC signing onto letter and Anna seconds c. Unanimous approval 3. Recommendation on Austin Energy Generation Plan (moved up from 6) a. Lisa Martin with AE presented: Resource Generation Plan last one was adopted in 2020 and a lot of new risks have been identified, including growth in population, data centers and AI, changes in weather and climate impacts, and changes in the ERCOT market. Council in 2022 directed AE to update the plan, and since then AE has been working on the process to update it along with a 40 member stakeholder group representing a diverse group of Austinites to move towards meeting the full range of needs in a reliable and affordable way. The plan will be published and shared next week in draft form and will be voted on by council in December. The plan itself focused on addressing risks by starting with prioritizing customer energy solutions. Once those are maximized, looking at how …
CITY OF PORTLAND LOW CARBON CONCRETE INITIATIVE City of Austin Joint Sustainability Commission December 18th, 2024 Cary Watters Sustainable Procurement Program Manager Agenda • Origin of the initiative • Initiative development • Pilot projects • Embodied carbon threshold • Exemptions • Misconceptions • Lessons learned • Open discussion 2 Origin of the initiative 2016 Sustainable Supply Chain Analysis 3 Timeline of City and State Partnership to Advancement of Low Carbon Concrete City of Portland Concrete EPD Requirements for City Projects City of Portland Buy Clean policy developed Advisory committee Data collection Pilot projects Concrete Embodied Carbon (GWP) Threshold Requirements 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 State of Oregon Concrete EPD Incentive Program Buy Clean legislation introduced, did not pass Buy Clean legislation introduced again, did not pass Buy Clean Oregon Passes (DOT only) State of Oregon 4 Steps in the initiative: Convened a committee of stakeholders. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Established a product-specific EPD requirement for concrete mixes used on City projects Established a baseline average EPD for Portland area for Portland cement concrete Conducted pilot tests of lower-embodied carbon concrete mixes Established requirements for GWP thresholds for concrete mixes 5 Step 1: Low Carbon Concrete Committee Representing Stakeholder Type City of Portland – Sustainable Procurement Program City Bureau/Committee Convener City of Portland – Water Bureau City of Portland – Bureau of Transportation City of Portland – Bureau of Environmental Services - Materials Testing Lab Oregon Department of Environmental Quality 4 Portland area ready-mix suppliers 3 structural and materials engineers 3 contractors – residential, commercial, infrastructure Architect City Bureau City Bureau City Bureau Engineers Contractor Designer Subject Matter Expert – Low Carbon Concrete Concrete Producers 6 Step 2: City of Portland Low Carbon Concrete Procurement Policy for EPDs 7 Step 2: City of Portland Low Carbon Concrete Procurement Policy for EPDs • EPDs are submitted as part of the specifications submittal for a concrete mix • Our staff reviews EPD for: • Is the EPD current (not expired) • Is the EPD 3rd-party verified • Rare issues concrete EPD • One Bureau submitted the EPD for the cement, but not the ready-mix 8 Step 3: Determine a baseline • GWP range of the 1100 published EPDs in Portland region (2019) • 17 plants, 4 producers • Portland skewed higher than PNW average 9 EPD Mobile Mix Concrete in Portland • Link to EPD for Mobile Mix Concrete …
Austin's Tree Canopy Presentation for the Joint Sustainability Committee D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4 Presentation Overview • Austin's urban forest stats • How equity fits in • Additional tools Significant Benefits https://texasforestinfo.tamu.edu/urbanforeststats/assets/standard/AustinTX2022.pdf 2022 Tree Canopy & Plantable Space Heading 41% Canopy Cover 39K Acres of new canopy needed to meet 50% canopy cover goal. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d9ba0b99c60b4b8395414a09c4533949 The City of Austin measures tree canopy every 4 years using the calculation: tree canopy area divided by land area. The canopy cover number uses the City of Austin's boundary, inclusive of full purpose, limited purpose, and extraterritorial jurisdictions in May 2023. Analysis provided by Alan Halter, IT Geospatial Analyst Senior, Development Services Department, Urban Forest Program Growing our canopy, equitably Community Tree Priority Map • Organized into 2 categories: • High • Low • Includes 9 data inputs in these categories: • Environment • Social Vulnerability • Community Investment • Health & Well-Being https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/explore-austins-community-tree-priority-map Additional tools My City's Trees • Urban Forest Inventory and Analysis data • • Inventory statistics Summary Reports https://mct.tfs.tamu.edu/app Additional tools Tree Canopy • National tree canopy database • View tree canopy cover and land cover classes • Planning tool built-in https://hub.treesatwork.org/ Emily King Urban Forester Emily.King@AustinTexas.gov Follow Nature in the City for events, updates, job postings, and more! facebook.com/NatureCityATX instagram.com/NatureCityATX
MY CITY’S TREES Bringing the Nation’s Forest Census to Urban Areas Austin, Texas www.mycitystrees.com Created: December 13, 2024 INTRODUCTION Information presented in this report comes from the USDA Forest Service’s Urban Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) program. The Austin publication, Austin's Urban Forest, 2014, contains detailed information about the inventory. Readers are encouraged to view the publication to learn more about the Urban FIA program, inventory methods, assessment, and management implications. My City’s Trees is a web application enabling access and exploration of a city’s urban forest using Urban FIA data, U.S. Census data, and thematic spatial data. This report was generated from My City’s Trees on December 13, 2024. Austin, TX was selected for city, land cover was selected for theme, and Developed - Open, Developed - Low, Developed - Medium, Developed - High, Deciduous / Mixed Forest, Evergreen Forest, Shrub / Herbaceous, and Water / Barren were selected for classes (described below). Land cover classes are based on the 2019 National Land Cover Database (MRLC). CLASS Developed - Open Developed - Low Developed - Medium Developed - High Deciduous / Mixed Forest Evergreen Forest Shrub / Herbaceous Water / Barren DESCRIPTION Open space on developed land Low intensity developed land Medium intensity developed land High intensity developed land Deciduous forest, mixed forest, and woody wetland lands Evergreen forest land Shrub/scrub, grassland/herbaceous, pasture/hay, and cultivated crop lands Open water, barren land, and emergent herbaceous wetlands The city boundary is from the 2010 U.S. Census. The sample data used in this report were collected from 2014 to 2021. Population data is from the 2020 U.S. Census. Questions and comments about this application may be directed to Rebekah Zehnder, Texas A&M Forest Service, at (979) 458-6630 or mct@tfs.tamu.edu. Links My City’s Trees: www.mycitystrees.com Austin's Urban Forest, 2014: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/50393 Urban FIA Program: https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/programs/urbanfia A Note about Sampling Error Estimates are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling error. Urban FIA is designed to provide reliable estimates at the population level (e.g., the city boundary). In general, with more specific My City’s Trees • Austin, TX 2 www.mycitystrees.com estimates (e.g., publicly owned versus all ownerships, specific species, single class of theme, etc.) sampling errors will increase and the reliability of the estimate will decrease. Sampling errors should be considered in any application of the estimates presented here. While sampling errors are not included per se, the number of plots used …
TOTAL LIVING Overall Tree Population 40.7M ± 4.7M Number of Trees 28.4M LIVE TREES 1.0” – 4.9” DIAMETER ± 4.4M 12.2M LIVE TREES 5.0”+ DIAMETER ± 787K TOTAL DEAD Standing, 1.0”+ diameter 2.0M ± 372K Urban Forest Stats Data Collected 2014 to 2022 SAMPLE AREA map at bottom right PLOT COUNT plot size = 1/6 acre 195K AC 304 CASES/YEAR NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS AVOIDED 3.6K $12.2M / year 2.3K TONS/YEAR POLLUTION REMOVAL Austin Texas 563K $23.7M / year GIGAJOULES/YEAR REDUCED RESIDENTIAL ENERGY USE 196M CUBIC FEET/YEAR AVOIDED RUNOFF $13.1M / year $12.4B COMPENSATORY VALUE 361K TONS LEAF BIOMASS 1.7M TONS CARBON STORAGE TONS/YEAR CARBON ACCUMULATION $284M $23.2M / year 136K 97.6M CUBIC FEET WOOD VOLUME ASHE JUNIPER CEDAR ELM TEXAS PERSIMMON LIVE OAK SUGARBERRY 12M 30.2% 7.4M 18.1% 2.8M 6.9% 2.7M 6.8% 1.9M 4.6% 13.6M 33% 62 MORE SPECIES Top 5 MOST ABUNDANT Tree Species account for 67% of all LIVE TREES November 18, 2024 www.urbanforeststats.com Page 1 of 2 SAMPLE AREA Urban Forest Stats CONTINUED Austin’s Top 3 Tree Species LAND USE OWNERSHIP RESIDENTIAL OTHER DEVELOPED FOREST OTHER PUBLIC PRIVATE account for 14% of OTP account for 6% of OTP account for 80% of OTP account for <1% of OTP account for 55% of OTP account for 45% of OTP Cedar elm 775K Ashe juniper 630K Sugarberry 553K 5.75M TREES on 51.9K RESIDENTIAL AC Ashe juniper 410K Texas persimmon 287K Live oak 236K 2.46M TREES on 82.6K DEVELOPED AC Ashe juniper 11.2M Cedar elm 6.5M Texas persimmon 2.2M 32.4M TREES on 48.2K FOREST AC Ashe juniper 57K Honey mesquite 9.2K None — 66.5K TREES on 12.5K OTHER AC OVERALL TREE POPULATION DIAMETER (INCHES) Ashe juniper 6.3M Cedar elm 6.3M Texas persimmon 2.8M 28.4M Ashe juniper 4.2M Live oak 866K Cedar elm Ashe juniper 1.8M Live oak 687K Cedar elm Live oak 108K Ashe juniper 72K Pecan 743K 8.16M 348K 3.74M 19K 323K TREES with diameters 1.0” to 4.9” TREES with diameters 5.0” to 9.9” TREES with diameters 10.0” to 19.9” TREES with diameters 20.0” or greater Ashe juniper 7.3M Cedar elm 4.8M Chinese tallowtree 1.8M 22.3M TREES on 68.8K PUBLIC AC Ashe juniper 5.0M Cedar elm 2.5M Live oak 1.7M 18.3M TREES on 122.3K PRIVATE AC OVERALL TREE POPULATION MAINTAINED AREA Live oak 639K Sugarberry 603K Cedar elm 431K 4.59M TREES in areas MAINTAINED Ashe juniper 12.1M Cedar elm 6.9M Texas persimmon 2.6M 36.1M TREES in areas NOT MAINTAINED …
