American Cities Climate Challenge Plan

PHASE 2 WORK PLAN Instructions: This workplan template aims to help you articulate how your city’s bold ideas will come to life and generate concrete impact for the community and the environment. It is being adopted by all finalist cities of the American Cities Climate Challenge to ensure consistency of planning.

There are two documents linked to it:  Template 1: A policy / program map (power point) to help you identify and prioritize the biggest opportunities for impact; and  Template 2: A Measuring Success spreadsheet (excel) to identify how progress will be tracked.

Please note: We suggest you complete Template 1 (Policy/Program Map) first, followed by Template 2 (Measuring Success) before answering the questions below. The two templates build on each other; you may find that after doing Template 2, it influences your decisions in Template 1 as well. Please note the page limits on the work plan narratives.

Your city worked on elements of these templates as part of the Phase 1 application to the Climate Challenge and either have or will continue that work during your site visit. In these cases, the purpose is to build on the work done rather than start from square one. Our support team (NRDC and Delivery Associates) is available to provide support to your city team to develop this workplan alongside you. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback.

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Part 1- General information and baseline data (no more than 2 pages single-spaced, 11 point Arial font) Name of municipality: City of Columbus Mayor name: Andrew J. Ginther Name of Staff contact: Alana R. Shockey Title: Assistant Director, Sustainability E-mail: arshockey@columbus.gov Phone number: 614-645-7157 Address: 910 Dublin Rd. State: Ohio Zip Code: 43215

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Baseline Data In the Phase 1 application, we asked cities to provide information on existing carbon emission reduction goals, which often vary between cities. For the American Cities Climate Challenge, we will ask cities to commit to carbon emissions reductions goals with consistent timelines across all cities that allow us to work collectively towards a shared future. To that end, we will work with applicants to modify existing goals to hit interim or new target dates of 2020 and 2025 using a 2005 baseline. Please complete the table below.

2005 Baseline in MMT CO2 Sector

Municipal Operations

(if you do not have a 2005 baseline, please specify the year your baseline was conducted)

Transportation

Total

2025 target emissions (% reduction compared to 2005)

0.3306 MMT CO2e

.2858 MMT C02e

TBD

.1038 MMT C02e

.09752 MMT C02e

TBD

7.5257 MMT CO2e*

6.1718 MMT CO2e

6.0206 MMT C02e

TBD

2.6572 MMT CO2e*

4.0296 MMT CO2e

2.1258 MMT C02e

TBD

10.1829 MMT CO2e

10.2014 MMT CO2e

8.1464 MMT C02e

TBD

0.4083 MMT C02e

Municipal (Buildings and 0.1219 MMT C02e Transportation) Buildings

Most recent year 2020 target inventory emissions emissions in (% reduction MMT CO2 compared to 2005)

Table Notes: *2013 Baseline  MMT is assumed to mean Million Metric Tons.  CO2e means carbon dioxide equivalent and includes impacts of GHGs other than carbon dioxide.  Municipal Operations was assumed to mean total of all Municipal categories (Buildings and Facilities, Street Lights and Traffic Signals, Vehicle Fleet, Solid Waste Facilities, and Water and Wastewater Treatment Facilities).  Municipal Operations are included in the Community-wide total (in other words, totaling municipal operations with community-wide buildings and transportation would lead to double counting).

What is your city’s current protocol for how often you will complete a GHG inventory? If you do not have a recent inventory, do you have plans to complete one? We complete a GHG inventory for municipal and community emissions each year.

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Part 2 - Workplan Questions (no more than 8 pages single-spaced, 11 point Arial font) 1. What policies or programs are your biggest opportunities for acceleration of impact through the Challenge and why? Please refer to Templates 1 and 2 and select 6-8 policies or programs of which between 2 to 4 are Ambitious or Moonshot actions. These programs will form the core of your work plan and will be prioritized to receive support resources through the Climate Challenge. Building off your responses to Template 2, please describe in specific, measurable terms, what you commit to accomplish by 2020 for each action selected.

As Mayor Ginther committed during our site visit, if selected as an American Cities Climate Challenge Leadership City, our work under the ACCC will become a movement that catapults the climate work in Columbus to the next level. Mayor Ginther will launch ACCC: Catapult Columbus in four phases: catapulting our city, catapulting our neighborhoods, catapulting our businesses, and catapulting our community. Each phase will highlight another facet of our movement and our external partners’ role in The Columbus Way. We are transforming our transportation sector through Smart Columbus, but ACCC support and acceleration will be critical to get the buy-in necessary to galvanize the building sector and propel our transportation sector work to the next level. We have chosen four actions in the building sector that would have high impacts in our community and would be difficult to accomplish without the ACCC coaching and the implementation support of the City Advisor. We have also chosen four actions in the transportation sector that build on our Smart Columbus work and focus on citizen engagement to accelerate citizen uptake of the innovative programs we are creating. As you can see in Template 2, assistance in quantifying and tracking outcomes through the ACCC would also be a great value to our city.

Buildings. We will transform the way the city and community think about energy efficiency and renewable energy installation in residential, commercial, and industrial facilities: Action 1: Design and implement a new workforce development program for energy efficiency auditors by April 2019.  2020 Commitment: We will host 10 training programs that train 40 people for employment in at least 32 new energy auditing jobs.

Action 2: Double the number of home energy audits completed in Columbus by December 2020.  2020 Commitment: We will complete 30,000 energy audits (and provide accompanying rebates) in homes built before 1980 by focusing on the six zip codes in Columbus with the highest rates of energy poverty. This is in partnership with Columbia Gas of Ohio, AEP Ohio, Columbus Division of Power, MORPC, and Franklin County.

Action 3: Accelerate existing and add new financing programs for energy efficiency and renewables through our Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority work.  2020 Commitment: We will finance at least $15 million in additional projects through the Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority and ESID energy programs (5 renewable energy, 15 energy efficiency projects) and develop a residential PACE program to deploy.

Action 4: Pass an ordinance to require benchmarking, auditing, and retrocommissioning policies for existing buildings over 50,000 square feet.  2020 Commitment: We will pass a benchmarking ordinance for all commercial and industrial buildings over 50,000 square feet.

Transportation. We will leverage our Smart Columbus successes and accelerate our efforts to take transformation of the transportation sector in Columbus to the next level: Action 5: Provide incentives/behavioral nudging for use of low carbon mobility modes.  2020 Commitment: By 2020, all large employers in Central Ohio will offer EV adoption and smart mobility benefits. New mobility benefit packages may include subsidies for non-single occupancy vehicle (SOV) commuting options, EV purchase/lease rebates, and rewards for non-SOV commuting options.

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Action 6: Deploy actively managed parking and pricing.  2020 Commitment: By 2020, 850 street segments will be added to the actively managed price and time limit system.

Action 7: Define and expand the high-frequency public transit network to achieve significant ridership increases.  2020 Commitment: By 2020, we will have launched a communications campaign to increase ridership on COTA’s high frequency public transit lines. These lines doubled in number during the Transit System Redesign (TSR) May 2017.  2025 Commitment: By 2025, all high-frequency line services will be extended by an additional hour and three additional lines will be upgraded to high-frequency.

Action 8: Encourage new mobility options (e.g. bikeshare, electric bikeshare).  2020 Commitment: By 2020, we will add 265 new bikes/shared mobility vehicles to city infrastructure and establish a streamlined permit system for private dockless bike and scooter share providers, or one integrated hybrid (dock and dockless) shared mobility device system for the whole city.

2. For the policies and programs you listed above, please fill out the table below clarifying who is the single lead point of contact, and their time dedicated to the project. Please also indicate other key staff who will support the lead point of contact.

Time Program/Policy Person, Position commitme Other Key Staff nt (% FTE) Energy Efficiency Workforce Development

Alana Shockey, Assistant Director

15%

Kristian Fenner, Leslie Westerfelt, Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Double Number of Home Energy Audits

Alana Shockey, Assistant Director

15%

Kristian Fenner, Toya Johnson, Adam Friedman, Emerald Hernandez, Office of Sustainability Staff

New financing programs for EE, renewables, and infrastructure

Mark Lundine, Administrator, Economic Development

20%

Mike Novakov, Development Fiscal Office, City Auditors Office, Franklin County Finance Authority

Benchmarking, Audit, and Retrocommissioning policies for existing buildings

Anthony Celebrezze, Assistant Director, Building and Zoning

20%

Amy Kaspar, Finance and Management Mark Lundine, Development

Provide incentives/behavioral nudging for use of low carbon mobility modes

Mandy Bishop, Deputy Director, Smart Columbus PgM

5%

Alex Slaymaker, The Columbus Partnership 25% Jordan Davis, The Columbus Partnership, 5%

Parking management and pricing.

Robert Ferrin, Assistant Director, Parking Services

25%

Amanda Ford, Matthew Clark, Jon Heider, 25-50%

Define and expand the high-frequency public transit network to achieve significant ridership increases

Mandy Bishop, Deputy Director Smart Columbus PgM

10%

Douglas Arseneault, COTA Michael Bradley, COTA Michael McCann, COTA Laura Koprowski, COTA Brandi Braun, Smart Columbus Alyssa Chenault, Smart Columbus

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Encourage new mobility options (e.g. bikeshare, electric bikeshare).

Scott Ulrich, Healthy Places Program Director, City Bicycle Coordinator

30%

Public Service Department, Development Department, Recreation & Parks Department

3. Who is responsible for holding all parties above accountable for continual progress?

Ideally there will be one single person monitoring and holding all parties accountable and an oversight body across departments that will regularly meet to help troubleshoot and push difficult actions forward. How often will your mayor be updated on progress so that each program or policy lead is individually held accountable based on evidence?

Alana Shockey, Assistant Director of Sustainability, will be responsible for holding all parties above accountable for continual progress. Program leads will provide bi-weekly progress reports, including progress on key performance indicators to Ms. Shockey. These bi-weekly reports will be reviewed and discussed with the Mayor’s Office during regularly scheduled Sustainable Columbus meetings.

Sustainable Columbus is the cross-departmental oversight body to which all City sustainability initiatives and sustainability staff report. Sustainable Columbus has four key initiatives: GreenSpot, Climate & Energy, Resource Protection & Conservation, and Waste Reduction. The ACCC work plan will fold directly into the Sustainable Columbus Climate & Energy initiative and ACCC program leaders will report to this body. The Office of Sustainability organizes these meetings, which are chaired by the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor will be updated on the progress of each ACCC action after each Sustainable Columbus meeting so that ACCC action and program leads are held accountable based on evidence reported at the meeting.

4. What specific areas of work would you propose your Climate Challenge City Advisor will focus on and, given your city’s context, what qualities will be necessary in a successful City Advisor?

We propose focusing the Climate Challenge City Advisor’s substantive work on the four initiatives related to buildings. We would like the City Advisor to intensely focus his/her efforts on passing a benchmarking ordinance, accelerating our current financing programs, and building a residential PACE program. We plan to use the ACCC’s technical bench and deployment experts for transportation issues related to marketing, polling, and citizen engagement.

Given our City’s context, the City Advisor will need to have the following qualities: 1) a high level of understanding of the residential, commercial, and industrial building industry and the issues facing building owners (so that he or she will be viewed by building owners as competent and knowledgeable); 2) the ability to think horizontally, issue identify potential obstacles or concerns early, mitigate these obstacles or concerns via one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders, and obtain consensus; and 3) the ability to work across City departments and engage with a variety of professionals including planners, analysts, public relations specialists, attorneys, and engineers.

5. What additional resources would you need from Climate Challenge to be successful in achieving the prioritized policies and programs? Potentially available resources include, but are not limited to, campaign and communications support, polling information, technical consultants, data structuring and management, performance management, innovation (e.g., ideation, prototyping), behavioral insights, and citizen engagement.

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Action 1 Action 2 Action 3 Action 4 Action 5 Action 6 Action 7 Action 8

C&C Support        

Polling

  

Technical Consult        

Data and Mg.

Perf. Mg.



 









P-to-P Networking      

Behavioral Citizen Insights Eng’ment 



   

   

Action 1: Develop a new workforce development program for energy efficiency auditors  We will need support to drive student interest and assist in curriculum development.

Action 2: Double the number of home energy audits completed in Columbus  We will need support to broaden resident use of the audits and technical assistance to provide the best energy efficiency products in a customer kit left with residents.

Action 3: Accelerate existing and adding new financing programs  We will need support to broaden the use of these programs and technical assistance to develop a residential PACE program.

Action 4: Pass an ordinance to require benchmarking, auditing, and retrocommissioning policies for existing buildings over 50,000 square feet.  We will need help at every step to advocate for the economic, environmental, and public health value of a benchmarking ordinance.

Action 5: Provide incentives/behavioral nudging for low carbon mobility modes.  We would like advice on the best ways to make the business case for corporate incentives for use of low carbon mobility modes.

Action 6: Parking management and pricing.  We would like to accelerate this work so that it can reach a broader audience and expand to new neighborhoods more quickly.

Action 7: Define and expand the high-frequency public transit network to achieve significant ridership increases.  We would like coaching on how to significantly increase ridership on new high frequency routes.

Action 8: Encourage new mobility options (e.g. bikeshare, electric bikeshare).  We need assistance to streamline implementation and engage residents more effectively.

6. What opportunities and challenges, both political and non-political, could affect your city’s ability to successfully achieve the above policies or programs? If legislation (ordinances) or new policy is required, who are the key actors that will be required for success? Please be specific in your response and reflect on the Delivery Chain exercise employed during your site visit to provide additional insights.

Action 1: New workforce development program for energy efficiency auditors.  Opportunities:  We have the opportunity to pair this program with Action 2 so that we are training people for new local jobs that are immediately needed and increasing local understanding/appreciation for energy efficiency.  Challenges:  Funding, timing of funding, number of persons trained, and job placement could be obstacles to success. We will overcome these obstacles by working with the Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio, experts in this field, to rapidly deploy this program. We will ask our utility partners to provide necessary funding so that tuition/certification costs are not a barrier for our potential workforce. To mitigate the risk of training more people than needed, we have been working with our utility partners to determine the right number of people necessary to meet our

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Action 2 goals. Finally, we will ask ACCC to assist with driving student interest and curriculum development to ensure that students are properly trained.

Action 2: Double the number of home energy audits completed in Columbus.  Opportunities:  We have the opportunity to reduce residential GHG emissions by 20% by leveraging our platform and strong partnerships with external stakeholders.  Challenges:  Our challenges are discussed in further detail below, but include resident participation, lack of resources in Columbus Division of Power, and potential City initiative saturation.

Action 3: Accelerate existing and add new financing programs.  Opportunities:  Our financing programs have been gathering momentum, and the funding and systems are in place to accommodate a significant increase in PACE financing for commercial and industrial opportunities. Creating a residential PACE program presents the opportunity to expand this work to the residential sector.  Challenges:  Commercial and industrial interest in the programs, and the need for internal processing/review efficiencies to move projects through the pipeline more quickly.

We believe there is already sufficient interest to significantly expand these programs, but we will ask for ACCC support to drive business interest in the programs and coaching to help realize processing efficiency. The challenge for starting up a new residential PACE program will be including adequate consumer protection mechanisms. We know that existing residential PACE programs have dealt with this issue with varying levels of success and we will ask for technical assistance from the ACCC to overcome this challenge.

Action 4: Pass an ordinance to require benchmarking.  Opportunities:  We have the opportunity to reduce large building GHG emissions by 7% or more.

The momentum gained as an ACCC Leadership City and the citizen engagement and communications support offered by the ACCC will be essential to this work.  Challenges:  Gaining support/acceptance from the building community. Building owners are generally opposed to additional regulations and there are a subset of building owners that do not comply with existing requirements who will be unlikely to comply with a benchmarking ordinance, and may actively test the City’s authority to require compliance under the ordinance. We will mitigate these obstacles by having the ACCC City Advisor work intensely in this area, seeking early stakeholder support from our most progressive businesses, industries, and building owners and deploying proactive campaigns emphasizing the economic benefits (and subsequent health benefits) of benchmarking energy usage.

Actions 5, 6, 7, and 8: Provide incentives/behavioral nudging for low carbon mobility modes; Implement parking management and pricing programs; Define and expand the high-frequency public transit network to achieve significant ridership; Encourage new mobility options.  Opportunities:  We have the opportunity, in collaboration with The Columbus Partnership, COTA, and private new mobility companies to change the way our large employers think about and incentivize mobility, reinvest our parking proceeds to do the same in our benefit districts, and realize significant ridership increases on public transit.

Investments in these areas will go farther because of the foundation laid through our Smart Columbus work.  Challenges:  We are trying to change deeply entrenched transportation practices – nearly 80% of people drive alone to and from work and mode shift has been an ongoing

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challenge in a region that is very easy to navigate. Actions 4-8 were selected because they are high-impact strategies that require citizen acceptance and/or behavioral change to be effective. ACCC support could help overcome these obstacles. For example, one method we will use to encourage significant ridership increase is through our Smart Columbus Multimodal Trip Planning Application (MMPTA). The ACCC would give Columbus the opportunity to develop a more robust campaign to encourage MMPTA use and to promote COTA’s new high frequency network to significantly increase ridership.

7. Pick one of your Ambitious or Moonshot policies above and describe your plan to engage local partners and key stakeholders for consensus-building, outreach, training, advocacy, funding, or other activities, including assessments of key proponents and potential hurdles to overcome. Please be specific in your response and include both supporters and detractors.

Action 2: Double Number of Energy Audits – Outreach and Engagement Plan  Step 1: Select core stakeholders (Completed). Core stakeholders: Mayor’s Office, Department of Neighborhoods, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), Columbus GreenSpot, Aptim Energy Management Solutions, AEP Ohio, Columbia Gas of Ohio, and Department of Public Utilities - Division of Power (DOP).  Step 2: Engage core stakeholders (In progress). The core stakeholders have selected the six areas comprised of homes built before 1980 and experience the highest energy poverty as places to focus our efforts. The Dept. of Neighborhoods is reviewing each area to suggest the best method to engage each community.  Step 3: Develop marketing plan. Core stakeholders will develop the marketing plan, seeking the input from additional stakeholders in social service, education, environmental, and neighborhood organizations. This initiative will build on these current and previous Community Energy Savers efforts jointly deployed by Columbia Gas of Ohio, AEP Ohio, and MORPC.  Hurdle: DOP does not have incentives or rebates for energy audits/appliances. We will need to determine how many of their customers do not use Columbia Gas of Ohio and investigate ways to incentivize/fund these audits. One potential way to overcome this hurdle would be to fund DOP energy audits through EcoSmart sustainability grant funds.  Step 3: Announce initiative. Mayor Ginther, with the CEOs of Columbia Gas of Ohio and AEP Ohio, will announce the initiative.  Step 4: Utilize Dept. of Neighborhoods connections and expertise to engage area commissions, neighborhood groups, and places of worship in a program marketing plan customized to their neighborhood. The area commissions to be engaged include: Greater Hilltop, Columbus Southside, Near East Area, Livingston Avenue, Southwest, Franklinton, South Linden, North Linden, Northeast, Milo-Grogan, West Scioto, and University.  Hurdle: Local neighborhood prioritization. Potential sticking points are with the area commissions and neighborhood groups – each has their own priorities and limited capacity. Our task is to see how the energy audits tie in with their mission and activities.  Hurdle: City initiative saturation. Given the amount of attention South Linden, North Linden, and Franklinton are receiving from the city and nonprofits, our message must be impactful in order to standout.  Step 5 and beyond. Continuous promotion and deployment. We will consistently conduct one-on-one meetings with “grass tops” leaders and explore having a virtual energy audit so residents can see what to expect, as well as obtain testimonials for neighborhood promotion. We will have a website/webpage devoted to this project where residents can see which utility they are serviced by and what rebates are available to them. We will continue to engage the households by encouraging them to join GreenSpot so they can continue their sustainability journey after the audits are

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complete. The Mayor’s Office will find ways for the Mayor to promote these efforts on a (minimum) quarterly basis until December 2020.  Hurdle: Resident Trust/Willingness to Participate. Ultimately, it is the household/landlord that will decide whether to take advantage of this program or not. Historically, landlords in the University District have been reticent to make upgrades because of the transient nature of their tenants (students).

8. Please provide an example of another project or initiative where you’ve collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to achieve a goal, preferably the passage of a piece of legislation or policy. What were the steps taken and obstacles overcome?

As we launch ACCC: Catapult Columbus, much can be learned from our work with Blueprint Columbus and the outreach strategies we are utilizing to create neighborhood amenities while also eliminating sanitary sewer overflows. Columbus is under a court order to eliminate sewer overflows.

We had two options: build bigger sanitary sewers to accommodate the illicit rainwater, or address the source of the problem and eliminate the private property leaks. Columbus chose the latter, and developed our new initiative, Blueprint Columbus.

The City created a robust public outreach program to gauge support for this solution, which culminated in City Council enacting legislation to allow the City to enter private property for the purpose of eliminating inflow & infiltration. Columbus’ outreach program included a year-long citizen advisory panel, facilitating over 80 roadshows and events, distributing over 600,000 pieces of collateral, and conducting a city-wide survey. The City also convened a working group of various City departments that would be impacted. In addition, Columbus City Council held a public meeting prior to enacting the Blueprint legislation.

One of the biggest obstacles the City had to overcome was getting people to understand the problem and the proposed solution. Like energy generation, distribution, and consumption, sewers are not visible infrastructure, and most people are unfamiliar with how they work. Demonstration models, such as a model home that showed how rainwater enters the sewer system, were utilized during multiple information events throughout the city. The City created a series of videos to explain the problem and show homeowners exactly what the City would be doing on private property. A website, including an interactive map was developed, coupled with a robust social media strategy. All of these were key in gaining acceptance for Blueprint and taught us important lessons in how to work with stakeholders and communicate with the public.

9. What is the timeline of good news that you want to announce over time? Look back at Templates 1 and 2 to identify communication opportunities associated with public-facing milestones, quick wins and progress on the project. Please list them by quarter below for the first year.  





Selection: Announce Catapult Columbus, our initiative to launch our efforts to reduce GHGs in the Building and Transportation Sectors.

Q1 2019: Catapulting our City. Announce that the City is leading by example – Division of Power is currently purchasing 20% green power, all municipal facilities will purchase at least 50% green power by 2020, and we have entered into a contract with Go Sustainable Energy to assist in the procurement of on-site renewable energy installations to serve the City’s electricity load. Reaffirm fleet commitment to electrify our city fleet by purchasing 200 EVs and provide electric vehicle charging in municipally owned parking lots.

Q2 2019: Catapulting our Neighborhoods. The Mayor, with the Columbia Gas of Ohio and AEP Ohio CEOs, will hold a press conference updating the public on our home energy audit initiative, its goals, and how energy audits and accompanying rebates can reduce GHG emissions from the residential building sector, help reduce monthly utility expenses, and make homes more comfortable in our opportunity neighborhoods.

Q3 2019: Catapulting our Businesses. Reaffirm the work our local businesses’ are doing to incentivize the use of low carbon mobility modes and announce our plan to

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

pass a benchmarking ordinance for commercial and industrial buildings over 50,000 square feet.

Q4 2019: Catapulting our Community. End the year with a bang by highlighting the Columbus-Franklin County Finance authority, the projects financed that year, what this means for anticipated GHG emission reductions, and reveal plans to evaluate the feasibility of residential PACE programs in Columbus.

Pick one of the moments listed above and describe in more detail what your media strategy would be and how you would utilize the mayor to accomplish that strategy? What support would you want from the Climate Challenge?

For the Catapulting our Businesses press conference, our media strategy will be to hold a press conference with the President of Ohio State and the CEOs of several businesses with a large building footprint in Columbus to highlight the benchmarking work they are already doing, the benefits they have received, and roll out our plans to pass a benchmarking ordinance for all building owners, emphasizing that the benefits of benchmarking are tested and true and needed in our community.

We would ask for the Climate Challenge to support us by having the Mayor from another leadership city that has been successful with a benchmarking ordinance present in person or by video feed to talk about the benefits their community has experienced as a result of their ordinance. After our press conference, the Mayor and his Mayor colleague would be available for radio and television interviews to discuss this concept further and explain its importance.

10. Why should your city be selected as a winner of the American Cities Climate Challenge?

Winning the American Cities Climate Challenge would Catapult Columbus’ climate work to the next level. Columbus has a long history of commitment to ensuring sustainable practices are promoted and implemented – not just among municipal facilities, but also throughout our community. Our work plan prioritizes thoughtful improvements that reduce barriers to adopting sustainable solutions and facilitate systemic change to create meaningful impact on climate change. By selecting Columbus, the American Cities Climate Challenge has the opportunity to maximize their impact and create lasting, generational change.

Columbus has a commitment to data-driven programming. We recognize that tracking and evaluating data is a critical component of any initiative. Robust metrics and data tracking systems in both city-lead and private enterprise initiatives, such as Smart Columbus and our private utility partners, allow us to target and expand energy initiatives where they can deliver the most impact. With the ACCC, we can leverage this foundation and expand our efforts.

Your support goes farther in Columbus. Bloomberg Philanthropies can leverage the significant investment already being made in Columbus to reduce GHG emissions and take our city to the next level. As the sole winner of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) first-ever Smart City Challenge, Columbus was awarded $50 million in funding, which is supplemented by millions of dollars in private investments. This means the support offered by the ACCC has a greater impact, both by leveraging the current transportation efforts and helping achieve similar investments and success in our building sector.

Columbus is connected. We understand the importance of collaboration with our private partners, stakeholder groups, and the people who live and work in our city. This interconnectedness increases innovation, ensures comprehensive solution development, and maximizes buy-in for the lifestyle changes necessary to catapult GHG emissions reductions.

Columbus is committed to results. In Columbus we take our goals seriously. We not only set big goals, we actively work to achieve them and when we face obstacles, we adjust quickly.

Finally—the most important reason—Columbus gets things done. Let’s Catapult Columbus together.

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