Key Stakeholder Group Meets at Bethpage State Park To Launch the Long Island Carbon Footprint Project
Farmingdale, New York- A new initiative will be launched on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 to measure the carbon footprint of Long Island, helping to grow the climate protection efforts which have already taken root in the region. With the assistance of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), the Long Island Carbon Footprint Project will determine energy use and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions for each community on Long Island, providing local governments with the information needed to determine where they can focus their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.
With support from the Rauch Foundation, Long Island Power Authority and Nassau and Suffolk Counties, ICLEI will conduct a comprehensive regional greenhouse gas inventory for Long Island in 2009 utilizing their Clean Air and Climate Protection (CACP) software. ICLEI will conduct the regional inventory by leveraging the existing climate protection efforts on Long Island to collect critical baseline data on energy use and emissions for the residential, commercial, industrial, transportation and waste sectors in each local government on Long Island.
In addition to developing a regional inventory for Long Island, ICLEI will also be inventorying the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for the government operations in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Nassau County completed an emissions inventory in 2005 and has implemented many climate protection measures since that date.
“Nassau County remains committed to furthering our climate protection work,” says Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. “While we have implemented many air quality and energy saving measures, it is important for the County to have a solid snapshot of where our emissions are coming from in order to efficiently focus our efforts and resources. The update to our emissions inventory and the role it will play in contributing to the measurement of the overall carbon footprint on Long Island is a much needed step in the right direction.”
The Carbon Footprint Project will be another important step toward achieving the goals outlined in our Clean Energy Action Plan," said Suffolk Executive Steve Levy. "We will continue to implement clean air initiatives, as we did in 2008 through the dozens of energy efficiency projects we deployed at county buildings, the continued conversion of the county vehicle fleet to hybrids, and the introduction of the county’s first four hybrid buses."
“Creating a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory for Long Island, broken down by community, will give local governments another valuable tool to help shrink the region’s carbon footprint, and LIPA is pleased to be a partner in this effort,” said Kevin S. Law, President and CEO of the Long Island Power Authority.
Local governments on Long Island are also taking action to measure their emissions. The Town of Babylon, which has been an active climate protection leader and ICLEI member since 2006, completed their inventory in May 2008. The inventory measures greenhouse gas emissions and energy use from government operations and the community as a whole.
“Babylon used its ICLEI-based greenhouse gas inventory as a springboard to prioritizing its climate mitigation options. A cost/carbon analysis determined that existing buildings constituted, by far, our greatest opportunity, giving rise to our very well-received residential retrofit program,” said Supervisor Steve Bellone.
While there are many other climate protection and sustainability efforts on Long Island, their collective efforts have yet to be harnessed. The Long Island Carbon Footprint Project will bring those efforts together to both assess the results of the regional inventory but also to collectively develop solutions to address how to reduce their overall footprint.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure”, says Nancy Rauch Douzinas, President of the Rauch Foundation. “If Long Island is going to get serious about reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, we need to know where they’re coming from. The Foundation hopes this project will ground these efforts in reality and serve as a catalyst for a meaningful reduction in emissions.”
By incorporating existing efforts into the development of a regional greenhouse gas emissions inventory for Long Island, ICLEI will work with stakeholders to establish a regional framework by which all local governments on Long Island can be engaged and empowered to take individual action.
“ICLEI is pleased to offer the technical expertise and more than 15 years of experience working with local governments to measure and track their energy use and find tangible, cost-effective solutions that save money and increase energy efficiency,” said Angela Vincent, ICLEI’s Northeast Regional Director. With more than 500 local government members across the United States, ICLEI provides the tools, technical expertise, and membership network to drive emissions reductions and sustainability at the local level.
Event speakers include:
Angela Vincent, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability
Nancy Douzinas, President, Rauch Foundation
Tom Suozzi, Nassau County Executive
Steve Levy, Suffolk County Executive
Kevin Law, President/CEO, Long Island Power Authority
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About ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA, Inc.
ICLEI is an international membership association of local governments dedicated to climate protection and sustainable development. ICLEI USA was launched in 1995 and has grown from a handful of local governments participating in a pilot project to a solid network of more than 500 cities, towns and counties actively striving to achieve tangible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable communities. ICLEI USA is the domestic leader on climate protection and adaptation, and sustainable development at the local government level.
