Explanation
This legislation authorizes the Director of Public Utilities to enter into an agreement with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) to conduct the 2024 Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHG) and provide support to the City of Columbus as it pertains to the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP) reporting guidelines and requirements. With the requisite experience in the energy sector and developing GHG inventories, MORPC has agreed to conduct the 2024 GHG inventory.
The City of Columbus is actively engaged in mitigating climate change. As part of the Compact of Mayors, Columbus has committed to inventorying its annual greenhouse gas emissions, setting targets for future year emissions, and creating a climate action and adaptation plan. The City of Columbus is asking the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) to complete the 2024 city operations and community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, as well as provide support to the City of Columbus as it pertains to CDP reporting guidelines and requirements. With the requisite experience in the energy sector and developing GHG inventories, MORPC staff have agreed to conduct the 2024 GHG inventory.
MORPC has six major tasks in this deliverable: Data Collection; Data Management; Data Calculations and Entry; Reporting; CDP Reporting; and Inventory Clarifications and Updates. The following are rough timelines for the completion of each. Data collection will end in April. Data Management will end in May. Data Calculations and Entry will run concurrently with Data Management. Reporting will take place after some initial work has been completed and run from April through August. CDP Reporting can begin and complete slightly earlier, from May to September. Inventory Clarification and Updates run from March until August.
These yearly data collection efforts provide transparency for monitoring progress and collectively provide the information needed to adjust and retool actions and strategies in our climate action plan. The GHG inventories are used in various internal city projects to help us understand our emissions, use data to secure financing, and by the CDP as a means of assessing Columbus’ position as a climate leader among peer cities nationally and abroad.
Principal Parties:
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
111 Liberty Street, Suite 100
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Contract Compliance Number: 004591
Contract Compliance Expiration Date: 08/01/2026
Emergency Justification: The Department of Public Utilities, Sustainable Columbus section respectfully requests this legislation be considered as an emergency in order to have the CDP reporting completed by the September 2025 deadline. The Data Collection, Data Management, and Data Calculation tasks, all require extensive outreach and requests that take time to gather from the parties that maintain the information and validate information back and forth. Early coordination helps get timely access to the datasets. The subsequent reporting tasks are reliant on the collection, and delays in earlier tasks cascade from there. The reporting tasks would push up against the hard CDP reporting deadline, which could introduce rushed calculations and potential noncompliance. In short, all of these tasks require sufficient time to execute properly. Therefore, work needs to start now to meet that deadline. The expedited completion of this work will allow for a summer reporting window for the Climate Disclosure Project and aid in other time bound GHG inventory-related work, like the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan.
Fiscal Impact: $33,705.00 is budgeted and available from within the Electricity Operating Fund to meet the financial obligations of this contract.
$35,000.00 was spent in 2024
$19,800.00 was spent in 2023
Title
To authorize the Director of the Department of Public Utilities to enter into an agreement with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) for the purpose of conducting the City’s 2024 Greenhouse Gas Inventory as it pertains to the Climate Disclosure Project reporting guidelines and requirements; to authorize the expenditure of $33,705.00 from the Electricity Operating Fund; and to declare an emergency ($33,705.00).
Body
WHEREAS, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) will conduct the 2024 Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHG) and provide support to the City of Columbus as it pertains to the CDP reporting guidelines and requirements; and
WHEREAS, this contract is for one (1) year, from the date of execution by the City to May 31, 2026, with the option to renew annually based upon mutual agreement, budgeted funds, and approval by City Council, and
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus is actively engaged in mitigating climate change and is committed to inventorying its annual greenhouse gas emissions.
WHEREAS, the expenditure of $33,705.00 or so much thereof as is needed is authorized within the Electricity Operating fund for this agreement; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Public Utilities that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director of the Department of Public Utilities to authorize a contract for the CDP reporting to be completed by the September 2025 deadline, work needs to start now to meet that deadline and so that the contract can be timely executed and services can continue, all for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, and safety; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Department of Public Utilities be and hereby is authorized to enter into an agreement with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission to conduct the 2024 Greenhouse Gas Inventory and provide support to the City as it pertain to the CDP reporting guideline and requirements.
SECTION 2. That the expenditure of $33,705.00 or so much thereof as may be needed, is hereby authorized in Fund 6300 (Electricity Operating) in Object Class 03 Services per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3. That the funds necessary to carry out the purpose of this ordinance are hereby deemed appropriated and the City Auditor shall establish such accounting codes as necessary.
SECTION 4. That the City Auditor is authorized to make any accounting changes to revise the funding source for all contracts or contract modifications associated with this ordinance.
SECTION 5. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure, and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.