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Supervisors forward pilot San Francisco carbon mitigation fund to full board after debate on local offset rules
Summary
The budget committee voted 4–1 to recommend a city ordinance creating a San Francisco Carbon Fund — a pilot account to pool roughly $120,000 in FY2010 mitigation money and prioritize local projects certified to recognized methodologies. Staff agreed to annual reporting and an RFP-based project-selection process.
The Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee voted 4–1 on June 25 to forward an ordinance establishing a San Francisco Carbon Fund to the full Board with the committee's recommendation.
Jared Blumenfeld, director of the Department of the Environment, told the committee the ordinance is largely ministerial: it authorizes the Controller to create a separate account where funds collected under the program will be held. Blumenfeld said the department has identified about $120,000 for the coming fiscal year (13 percent of departmental air-travel budgets plus contributions from enterprise departments such as the PUC and airport) and that funds will be used to support local carbon-mitigation projects.
"The carbon fund is a mechanism to support local carbon offset and mitigation projects," Blumenfeld said, adding that all projects must take place within the City and County of San Francisco and adhere to best-practice methodologies such as those of the World Resources Institute or be certified under one of the accepted voluntary standards.
Committee members focused questions on program administration and accountability. Monique Smuta of the Controller's Office described steps the Controller took to identify air-travel spending as a separate subobject in departmental budgets and to reconcile deposits periodically so the fund is funded based on actual travel costs.
Supervisors asked the department to provide public reporting on program outcomes. Blumenfeld agreed to add language for annual reporting and to conduct project selection through a formal RFP process with clear additionality and financial criteria.
Blumenfeld described pilot projects already identified, including a Dogpatch biodiesel initiative that processes waste grease and local tree-planting efforts. He said locally-verified reductions are expected to cost more per ton than many online offsets but provide visible local co-benefits.
The committee recorded the roll call as Supervisor Campos (aye); Supervisor Chu (no); Supervisor Mercarini (aye); Supervisor Dufty (aye); and Supervisor Avalos (aye). The motion to forward the ordinance to the full Board carried 4'to'1.
Next steps: the ordinance will be considered by the full Board; the department has committed to annual (or midyear) performance reporting and to an RFP-based project selection process.
