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Sunnyvale staff outlines phased approach to 'climate budgeting' and next steps for council review
Summary
City staff presented findings from Study Issue ESD 23-01, proposing a lightweight climate-budgeting approach that adds project tagging and staff review rather than full emissions quantification. Staff will seek council feedback at an Aug. 12 study session and aim to pilot procedural changes for the FY27–28 projects cycle.
Christina Raby, a city staff member assigned to Study Issue ESD 23-01, told the Sustainability Commission on July 21 that climate budgeting is "a governance system to integrate a city's climate commitments into funded measurable actions," and outlined staff's recommended, phased approach.
Raby said the study began as part of the FY23–24 budget process and was funded for consultant support, but staff completed most work in-house. She and Madeline Kerr, the city's environmental programs manager, summarized research on models from cities including Paris and Flagstaff and described a pilot step the city used in the FY25–26 projects cycle: an internal checkbox on project records to flag climate-action–related work.
The nut of staff's recommendation is modest: train departmental staff and embed sustainability staff earlier in project-budget preparations; add a…
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