Title
Amending the City's Sustainable Building Ordinance.
Body
SECTION 1:
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul has a longstanding record of leadership in environmental stewardship, and successive Mayors and City Councils have demonstrated a sustained commitment to advancing environmental sustainability through the adoption of budgets, plans, policies, and programs; and
WHEREAS, the scientific evidence establishing the human contribution to global climate change and environmental degradation is unequivocal, and the resulting impacts pose significant and increasingly devastating threats to plant and animal species, ecosystems, and human cultures throughout the world; and
WHEREAS, the updated Saint Paul Climate Action and Resilience Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2026, establishes the City’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 63 percent by 2030, relative to a 2018 baseline, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050; and
WHEREAS, buildings account for approximately 67 percent of Saint Paul’s greenhouse gas emissions, making regulating the building sector a critical component of the City’s efforts to achieve its climate and emissions reduction goals; and
WHEREAS, the adoption and implementation of policies and programs that promote energy efficiency and sustainable building practices are essential to reducing emissions from the building sector and advancing the City’s climate commitments; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul first adopted its Sustainable Building Policy in 2010 (Council File No. 10-497), establishing a model framework for sustainable building practices that subsequently informed the development of similar policies by other municipalities; and
WHEREAS, the original Sustainable Building Policy applied to all newly constructed City-owned buildings and privately developed new construction projects receiving more than $200,000 in City funding; and
WHEREAS, in 2017, the Saint Paul City Council adopted revisions to the Sustainable...
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