Annual Sustainability Report Now Available

The City of Corvallis is making progress on efforts to implement action items from the Climate Action Plan, according to the City’s 2018 Sustainability Report. The report, which has provided a regular accounting of activity since 2004, offers a snapshot of the organization’s performance on its sustainability goals, particularly those metrics that relate to the Climate Action Plan, which was adopted in 2016.

The Climate Action Plan called for the City to tackle a variety of upgrades and improvements related to municipal operations. Key actions from the Plan identified in the report:

• The City increased purchases of renewable electricity to offset streetlight and traffic signal power use throughout Corvallis.
• Staff at the Wastewater Reclamation Plant led a project to identify energy efficiency facility upgrades through Pacific Power’s Strategic Energy Management program.
• Public Works implemented new waste management practices to reduce construction and demolition debris, such as asphalt and concrete, for capital improvement projects.
• Staff received training on environmental design and construction to ensure compliance with the City’s policy for LEED-Silver standard on new construction.

The report also highlighted some encouraging long-term trends. Water use by municipal operations citywide is down 43% since 2007, exceeding the target of a 30% reduction by 2020. Greenhouse gas emissions from organizational activities are down 32% from 1990 levels, also surpassing the target set in the Climate Action Plan. On the flip side, waste sent to the landfill increased 11% since 2009, owing to changes in global recycling markets and efforts related to the illegal camp cleanup

City and community leaders use the information provided by the Sustainability Report to help understand the organization’s performance and identify areas for collaboration and improvement. The public is encouraged to review the report to gain a deeper understanding of the many ways, large and small, that the City of Corvallis is pursuing sustainability.

For more information on sustainability in Corvallis, go to www.corvallisoregon.gov/sustainability.