GreenStep City Best Practices: Resilient Economic and Community Development
Benchmarks and Community Engagement No. 24
Adopt outcome measures for GreenStep and other city sustainability efforts, and engage community members in ongoing education, dialogue, and campaigns.
Measuring Outcomes:Engage community members and partnersin identifying, measuring, and reporting progress on key sustainability and social indicators/ including energy use/greenhouse gas emissions, social vitality/social inclusion outcome measures.
The following dashboards are examples of how communities are tracking toward the goals from published plans, because being transparent in progress is important. [3 Star]
The City of St. Anthony Village uses a visual story map to show sustainability progress. [1 and 2 Star]
Developing case studies, such as the State of Minnesota’s Office of Enterprise Sustainability, can be helpful tools for documenting indicators and sharing it with the public. [1 and 2 Star]
For city-wide GHG data, use the Regional Indicators Initiative website, developed by LHB Architects and GreenStep, which covers GHG data for selected GreenStep cities. For cities within the Twin Cities Metro Council area, see the Twin Cities Greenhouse Gas Inventory. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
For social and other indicators, use MN Compass (social, economic, health) and the Thrive Indicator Dashboard (Met Council). [1, 2, and 3 Star]
See a list of social vitality indicators and metric definitions for the areas of educational attainment, civic participation & social capital, arts & culture, community health, crime & safety, social vulnerability/resilience, livability, and social & cultural diversity. See also the racial equity toolkit and assessment worksheet for analyzing how a policy, initiative, program or budget issue will increase or decrease racial equity, from the Government Alliance on Race & Equity (2016), which has been working with cities on race/equity plans, through the League of MN Cities. Consultant Be-Bold Services prepared a set of possible equity-related indicators as part of the Equity in Action Database. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
For zip code-level household consumption-based GHG data, use the map prepared by the CoolClimate Network and see a Minnesota consumption-based GHG inventory from 2013. See also a web-based calculator for one's water footprint that includes direct water use and the water used to provide products such as almonds. [1 star]
Developed for a village-like Minneapolis neighborhood of 7,000 people, the Neighborhood Sustainability Indicators Guidebook (Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center: 1999) defines indicators appropriate for many cities in Minnesota. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
LEED for Cities & Communities program incorporates the best of the STAR Community Rating System within the LEED rating system structure. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
The Center for Small Towns at the University of Minnesota - Morris has faculty and students who partner with small cities on data collection and other forms of support on specific issues identified by the city.
The American Planning Association provides a guide for local government that defines sustainability, as well as how to implement, measure, and report it called Assessing Sustainability: A Guide for Local Governments (2011).
Produce a city environmental/sustainability report/summary with metric indicators; update your city council periodically at public meetings or during an annual work session; involve an existing city council committee or community task force.
Adopt (ideally after a public process and city council review) and commit to measure and annually report on sustainability indicators, generally related to or directly tied to the city's work on GreenStep best practices; may include community-wide energy and water use, vehicle miles traveled, and waste generated (Regional Indicators Initiative or Metropolitan Greenhouse Gas Assessment).
Use a public process (or public commission with broad representational diversity) to identify, adopt, and commit to measure and annually report on broad sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) indicators, such as those covered byGreenStep Step 4/5metrics; compare measurements and outcomes with city goals and performance benchmarks.
Who's doing it
Burnsville - 3 star
Date action report first entered:
Date of last report update:
Year action initially completed: 06/06/2012
Implementation details:
Burnsville recently developed a Sustainability Hub, burnsvillemn.gov/sustainabilitydata. The Hub is a website to display the city’s progress toward the goals in the Sustainability Plan, provide resources to the community to enhance sustainability within their home or business, and highlight related projects happening around Burnsville. Additionally, The City of Burnsville has a Park and Natural Resources Commission and an Economic Development Commission that are appointed by the City Council and consist of community members. Every year, sustainability staff presents the annual sustainability updates to these commissions for comments. Additionally, Burnsville has an internal, employee sustainability committee that helps identify sustainability projects to work on.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
The City of Burnsville tracks metrics related to the goals in the sustainability plan and displays progress toward those goals in the Sustainability Hub. The City measures over 40 metrics including GHG emissions, electricity and natural gas use, fleet gasoline and diesel consumed, and renewable energy generation.
On 10/13/20, the City Council approved a Climate Action Plan. Staff wrote the plan and solicited interdepartmental and resident feedback and held a work session where council members provided feedback as well. This 5 year plan includes 80 actions spread throughout 6 focus areas and will be annually reviewed by the Sustainability Commission, with efforts and achievements presented to the City Council annually as well. The focus areas and actions are directly connected with the Richfield's GreenStep efforts and extensively reference Richfield's Regional Indicators data/standings as one of many reasons why the City is committed to improving sustainability efforts. The CAP also repeatedly emphasizes how equity is tied into all focus areas and actions. This will build on the City's GARE efforts and current racial equity efforts.
The City of Bloomington Sustainability Commission works to make recommendations to City Council related to programs to measure and report sustainability progress. Specifically, the City of Bloomington participates in the Regional Indicators program, is committed to tracking data through GreenStep Best Practices.
The Coon Rapids Sustainability Committee works to make recommendations to City Council related to programs to measure and report sustainability progress. Specifically, Coon Rapids participates in the Regional Indicators program, is committed to tracking data through B3 Benchmarking and various GreenStep Best Practices.
Eden Prairie tracks and reports its community-wide GHG emissions annually through both the Regional Indicators Initiative and updates to the Climate Action Plan data. It also tracks metrics through the GreenStep Cities program. Both are reported annual to both the City Council and Sustainability Commission.
Community engagement metrics tracking including the City of Edina's community greenhouse gas inventory, climate vulnerability assessment, ground cover survey and sequestration study (tree canopy survey), and solar renewables potential study. Some studies are ongoing and will be updated as new annual data is received.
The City of Falcon Heights, through the efforts of our environment commission, led an exercise where we measured the carbon footprint of the entire city (not just city operations). By measuring factors such as transportation, trash, water production, and other factors, we now have two years worth of data and have pledged to continue to collect data for several years to come.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
The data collected will assist us in focusing our efforts in areas where improvement is needed. For example, the initial results show that while most of our efforts have been focused on residential projects, most of our carbon emmissions come from our industrial, commercial, and institutional establishments.
The City of Fridley is a participant in the Partners in Energy Program through Xcel Energy. As part of the program the City developed a community energy action plan using an energy action team comprised of residents, representatives of the business and faith community, and city commission members. The Energy Action Team set the goal of reducing community wide energy use 5% by 2020 and 20% by 2030 compared to business as usual. Xcel Energy provides the City reports on progress meeting this goal, which is reported to the City's department managers, Environmental Quality and Energy Commission, and City Council, as well as shared through City Communication Channels.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Based on the mid-year report, citywide energy usage decreased 3.5% in 2019 compared to the baseline, despite a 1% increase in the number of premises. The City also saw an increase in energy program participation including:
• Home Energy Squad: Looking at all programs, there were 70 visits in 2019. Compare that to only 25 the previous year (13 of those visits were no-cost for eligible households as compared to 0 the year before)
• 76 Refrigerator Recycling rebates. Only 32 participants in the baseline year, so just over double the participants
• 4 new program participants in the Commercial Refrigeration Efficiency - previously 0 participants in the baseline.
• 2 Multi-family Building Efficiency Program participants compared to 0 in previous years. 7 referrals to the program pending.
• Lighting is the most popular program for business programs - almost 100 participants total.
• Over 100 new windsource subscribers, with a total of almost 30 million kWh subscribed to renewable energy.
The Jordan Planning commission is tasked with receiving updates and giving feedback on Jordan’s sustainability efforts. Metrics the commission will receive updates on include: Jordan’s B3 Energy Use Intensity analysis, amount of road salt saved, amount of solid waste truck trips eliminated, and participation in the city’s organics collection program. Informed decisions regarding future city development can be made considering the city's ecological footprint.
In addition to updating the Planning Commission with this information, the city’s website will be updated yearly so that all city residents have access to Jordan’s ecological footprint data. Also, GreenStep updates made in the city newsletter will include a report on the city’s energy use, salt use, solid waste truck loads, and organics participation.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Sustainability indicators for the city of Jordan include: Road salt usage, solid waste transport trips eliminated, B3 Energy Use Intensity, and participation in city-wide organics collection.
While City staff prepares for GreenStep-specific reporting, the City has been participating for several years in a local initiative known as Envision 2020 which sets similar benchmarks and has an annual reporting element as part of its program
In Maplewood, the Green Team and Environmental & Natural Commission engages community members in a public process for city council adoption of and commitment to measure and report on progress toward sustainability indicators which are discussed in their yearly sustainability report to the board which is available online for all city residents to view.
The Sustainability reports shows what actions and best practices the city has worked on over the course of the last year and what the outcomes from those actions.
The City of Maplewood is currently involved in the Partners in Energy program. Partners in Energy is a two-year community support program sponsored by Xcel Energy. It offers communities the tools and resources necessary to develop and implement an Energy Action Plan that outlines short- and long-term energy goals.
The Maplewood City Council approved the Partners in Energy Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the formation of an Energy Action Team on November 24, 2014. The MOU approves the initial planning phase of the program, which will be carried out from January to April 2015. Phase Two will begin in May 2015 and involves the implementation of the Energy Action Plan which was approved by the council in April of 2015.
The Oakdale Environmental Management Commission and City Council have both committed to measuring energy consumption and subsequent GHG emissions each year for city operations since 2008. The Environmental Management Commission set reduction goals in each category of operations. In 2012, the city will be expanding into measuring community-wide indicators by taking part in the Regional Indicators Initiative, and joint project between the Regional Council of Mayors, ULI Minnesota, and 19 other Minnesota communities.
As a part of the Green Wing Action Plan developed by the Partners in Energy (PIE) Group, sustainability indicators regarding energy use were adopted by the City of Red Wing Sustainability Commission and City Council in Dec. 2015.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Not including the top three commercial users, Red Wing used 170 million kWh of electricity in 2013. Of this community-wide electricity use, 66% was used by commercial and industrial customers, and the remaining 34% was used by residential customers. Commercial and industrial customers account for 13% of the total premises and residential customers account for 87%.7
Red Wing customers used 11 million therms of natural gas in 2013. Commercial and industrial customers accounted for 53% of Red Wing’s natural gas use and 10% of Red Wing’s gas premises. Residential customers used 47% of the natural gas and accounted for 90% of the premises.
Working with Excel Energy, the City will continue to promote through the PIE Program energy efficiency program and monitoring of the community's energy use. Attached is a recent overview of participation in energy efficiency projects and usage rates.
The City is participating in the Regional Indicators Initiative, as first recommended to the City Council by the Environmental Quality Committee.
The program’s scope of work involves a consultant team to collect the last three years of data for benchmarking and then training City staff to collect the data in future years. Data needed includes topics like energy, water, waste, and vehicle miles traveled. These metrics can be normalized over population or jobs, which can be presented easily as gallons of water used/person/day or pounds of waste/person/day. Information can also be obtained and compared across different sectors – such as residential versus commercial or industrial users. These units can show where targets, education, or best management practices may be used to lower environmental impact.
The Environmental Quality Committee reviewed the program at their April 23rd, 2012 meeting and made a recommendation to the City Council that the City participate in the Regional Indicators Initiative. The Committee felt that this program is consistent with the steps Shoreview has already taken, and would be helpful to actually measure the impact of the City’s efforts towards environmental sustainability. The City Council passed a Resolution in support on May 7th, 2012.
The City is participating in the Regional Indicators Initiative. The Regional Indicators Initiative measures annual performance metrics for approximately 30 Minnesota cities committed to increasing their overall efficiency and level of sustainability. The project collects the following data generated through the activities of the people who live, work, learn, travel, visit, and recreate within the city’s geographical boundaries:
• Energy (in BTUs): electricity, natural gas, and district energy consumed.
• Water (in gallons): potable water consumed.
• Waste (in pounds): municipal solid waste managed via recycling, composting, combustion, and landfilling.
• Travel (in Vehicle Miles Traveled): on-road distance traveled
The greenhouse gas emissions associated with each of these measures is also calculated, providing a common metric to compare the environmental impacts of the indicators. The indicators are expressed not only as annual totals, but are also broken down into residential and commercial/industrial uses, and are presented in terms of per capita and per job, enabling them to be compared over time. The Initiative supports planning for sustainability by defining a baseline, tracking a business-as-usual trajectory, establishing targets, and measuring outcomes of sustainable strategies at a city-wide scale.
The City's Environmental Advisory Commission supported the City's participation in this program, and made a recommendation to the City Council that the City participate.
In 2006, the City Council appointed a temporary Energy Conservation Task Force, which later became the Sustainability Committee (subgroup to the Environmental Advisory Commission). The group made several recommendations to City Council including: (1) Adopting Sustainability as one of the city’s seven Critical Success Factors, (2) to adopt a sustainability resolution (3) To hire a part-time sustainability specialist, and (4) to incorporate sustainability throughout the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. City Council agreed to all of the committee’s recommendations.
The city’s Environmental Advisory Commission was the lead group to recommend to the City Council that Woodbury become a GreenStep City. As part of that discussion, the commission agreed that progress in the program will be reported annually to the City Council, and on a regular basis to the community.
In 2017 the City of Duluth adopted a goal to reduce GHG emissions by 80% by 2050 from a 2008 baseline. Progress towards this goal is reported annually. The city is in the process of hiring a Sustainability Officer that will help guide these efforts. The newly created Energy Plan Commission will help draft policy and hold the city accountable as the deadline approaches. Progress is mainly being measured in energy use reductions and the purchase of energy from renewable sources.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Descriptive File:
Descriptive links:
For more information contact:
Alex Jackson, Energy Coordinator (City staff) | ajackson@DuluthMN.gov | 218-730-4433
The City has created the Energy and Environment Advisory Commission, an 8-member commission made up of residents who volunteer their time to make recommendations to the City Council on ways to achieve the City's sustainability goals. The City also measures energy usage at facilities, vehicle miles traveled, etc., most of which are reported to the Commission.
The City has an Environmental Commission that consists of residents and advises the City Council in matters relating to and affecting the environment, including resilience and sustainability efforts. The Commission presents an annual report to Council regarding the implementation and progress of sustainability initiatives in the City, including advancement under the GreenStep Cities program.
Underway: Have initially organized community members for input as to the direction of the City and primarily to determine what actions to promote sustainability in the community. We are also working collaboratively with the neighboring City of Mantorville and Dodge County.
The North Saint Paul City Council formed the Environmental Advisory Commission which meets on a monthly basis. The Environmental Advisory Commission is responsible for advising the council on decisions impacting the ecological health of the City. Working to advance the City’s environmental stewardship, the commission promotes awareness of environmental issues through community outreach and education. The commission serves as the Tree Board for the Tree City USA program and supports the City’s Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). The Commission develops annual goals and reports on their progress to City Council.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Annually the Environmental Advisory Commission develops goals for the coming year and reports accomplishments to City Council and the Public at a City Council meeting. Attached is the PowerPoint Presentation that was presented (and televised) this year.
The City has an internal Sustainability Committee comprised of 4-6 staff members that meet monthly to discuss sustainability best practices and operations throughout the City. The committee is led by the City's dedicated sustainability staff person. The Committee provides an annual presentation to City Council with an update on progress related to sustainability and that presentation is available to the public. The presentation covers topics including GreenStep Cities, Partners in Energy, and GreenCorps. The dedicated sustainability staff member provides a sustainability update in the biannual newsletter to residents, as well as frequent sustainability best practice messaging in the City's weekly digital newsletter, bimonthly utility billing, and social media.
