Palm Bay Partners in Florida’s Largest Simultaneous Greenhouse Gas Inventory Initiative
PALM BAY, FLORIDA – The City of Palm Bay, in collaboration with over 30 partners from local government, public and private agencies and entities within Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties will undertake Florida’s largest simultaneous Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory initiative as part of the East Central Florida Regional Resilience Collaborative (R2C).
Funded by Audubon Florida and formalized on May 15, 2019, the R2C mission is to empower the communities in East Central Florida to advance regional resilience strategies that strengthen and protect the built infrastructure and natural environment, enhance health and equity, and ensure a thriving economy. Truly a community partnership, student fellows from University of Central Florida, Florida Institute of Technology, and Stetson University, are partnered with a representative from a participating city or county to undertake the climate cohort studies.
As the critical first step local governments can take to assess energy efficiency, baselines such as the GHG inventory help public sector organizations identify means to improve operational energy efficiency with the goal of shifting to renewable energy sources over time. These efforts can result in eventual cost savings to taxpayers and a reduction in the emissions that contribute to climate change.
The municipal GHG inventory captures emissions produced by local government operations in buildings, fleet usage, and waste services, to name just a few.
“Florida’s local governments are seeing the impacts of our changing climate firsthand and are leading the way with this commitment to accountability and innovation,” said Julie Wraithmell, Executive Director of Audubon Florida. “We are thrilled to partner on this work to accelerate sustainability, save taxpayer dollars, and make Florida communities more resilient…all while providing on-the-job training for the next generation of leaders in this field.”
The City of Palm Bay is proud to participate in this initiative to further the City’s efforts to be a more environmentally friendly and sustainability-focused community on the Space Coast. The City’s initial efforts as a member of R2C will be ongoing through the end of spring 2021 and results will be shared with all community stakeholders as studies are completed.
