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Officials are largely aligned in their desire to combat climate change through efforts like planting more trees and making city buses electric. But while they share similar end goals, council members are divided on ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s most recent move.

Mayor Regina Romero said the new consultant was needed to create an all-encompassing climate strategy and move away from the “piecemealâ€� approach the city has been taking. The United Kingdom-based firm, called Buro Happold, has done similar work in major cities like New York and is expected to craft a detailed action plan for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ in nine months.

“Everything put together is much more comprehensive than piecemealing. That’s why we haven’t been able to advance,� Romero said. “Now that we have selected (a firm) that’s nationally known for their work, they’re going to be able to move as quickly as possible.�

Other officials, like Councilman Steve Kozachik, are questioning why ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ would hire an expensive consultant to identify more initiatives when earlier efforts — like natural gas and glass reuse programs — have yet to get off the ground.

“My sense is, why don’t we start doing some of the things that we’ve already identified before we pay these guys $400,000 to come in and tell us what they think we ought to be doing?� Kozachik said. “We’re just operating at the pace of government.�

Regardless of the divisions, it won’t be clear whether the plan is an expensive “coffee table bookâ€� or a workable blueprint for the city’s climate efforts until it’s finalized in December. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ will still have to execute the plan after that, so it will likely be a while before residents know if they got their money’s worth.

The plan and its price tag

The council vowed to create the action plan two years ago after declaring a climate emergency and setting aside about $250,000 to fund its development.

Last week, officials announced they will instead spend about $400,000 — or 60% more than was allocated — for Buro Happold to put the strategy together.

Kozachik said the spending hike was one of his concerns and that the council wasn’t aware of the cost until after the firm was hired. Other council members like Paul Cunningham were also worried that it may not be worth the price tag given lackluster results from consultants in the past.

“They walk in the door $150,000 over budget,� Kozachik said. “I’m not inclined to pay $400,000 for some coffee table book.�

Still, Cunningham said he is “cautiously optimistic� about hiring the firm because of its national experience. He and Romero both believe the cost — while expensive — is not too high considering the broad scope of work required, which was underestimated in 2020.

The plan’s development will involve emissions data and economic analyses, as well as extensive public outreach to choose the most “cost-effectiveâ€� climate route for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. Officials said it will focus on equity, meaning the costs and benefits will be distributed so they positively impact vulnerable residents — like those who work outdoors and are most affected by climate change.

is teaming up with local groups, like Living Streets Alliance, to conduct public surveys in Spanish and open “pop-upâ€� stands in the community where busy ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans can quickly give input.

The University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is also working with the firm to look at emissions data and identify where ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ can cut down, and Autocase — an economic consultant — will be on the development team to study the economic impact of the plan before it’s drafted this fall.

“If we wanted to do something like this, we would need to hire about six people and spend more than a year putting it together to be able to get the same product that we’re receiving with the ($400,000) by the end of this year.,� Romero said about why the plan wasn’t developed in-house. “It’s about time and expertise.�

Past efforts slow to work

While the price hike raised eyebrows, the city’s past inaction on earlier climate efforts created the bulk of the concern for Kozachik who mentioned ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s 2-year-old glass reuse program that “hasn’t moved down the field,â€� a renewable fuel effort that the city has “done nothing about,â€� and three other similar initiatives that he said have yet to get off the ground.

“We hire a landscape person and continue to butcher more trees than we’re planting out in the community and our rainwater harvesting ordinance is an admitted embarrassment because we’re not enforcing it,� he said. “So, if we spend $400,000 it better be more than a coffee table book because those are very specific examples of things we should have been doing all along and we haven’t advanced the ball down the field a bit.�

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s completed efforts include policies that incentivize electric cars and generate money for new stormwater infrastructure, though much of the city’s climate action to date has involved public outreach and planning rather than executing specific initiatives.

Natural gas recapturing at the Los Reales Sustainability Campus — a landfill where the city plans to use emitted methane as renewable fuel — still only consists of a “conceptual framework� after more than eight months, for example.

Other efforts like “ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Million Trees,â€� an initiative to plant that many trees by 2030, have inched along slowly. About 40,000 trees have been planted since April 2020, a rate that suggests ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ won’t reach its goal until the year 2068.

“We all want to move to the speed of light. But what I do want to say is that it takes time,� Romero said. “As fast as we want to move, there are processes that have to be taken. For example, even though we budgeted for our climate action plan in 2020, we have to go through processes like requests for proposals, (as well as) the process of selection that is made up of city employees and citizens who contribute. It takes time to get something done right.�

City officials and experts said the pandemic was a major barrier to climate action over the past two years. Romero added that the city had to internally shift priorities to prepare for future climate initiatives during that time, as well.

“In the last two years, the mentality and culture have had to shift on the part of department directors and their administrators because now they have a climate mayor,� said Romero, who is part of a national network of mayors who have committed to climate change reforms. “They have a mayor who believes in this and a council that is 100% ready to go, champing at the bit to get things done, so the priorities have had to shift.�

It’s unclear whether the pace will pick up now that the pandemic is waning and city departments have reorganized to focus on climate efforts, however.

The lack of widespread success with earlier initiatives — which Romero called “tinyâ€� compared to what’s expected from the action plan — leaves residents with no solid track record to show that ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ will be able to fully implement the pricey new strategy, assuming it proves to be as workable as officials hope.

“I’m cautiously optimistic (Buro Happold) is going to give us something tangible and there is some value here, but the value doesn’t come automatically. They have to earn it,� Cunningham said. “I’m very concerned about whether we’re going to get tangible results, but the qualifications of the consultant check out and we do need some assistance in focusing our efforts so these initiatives we’ve been working on actually get done.�

Grant money

Romero echoed Cunningham’s sentiment that the new plan might help ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ follow through on some of the earlier initiatives. The idea is that it might pull the pieces together and create a step-by-step guide that will make the overall climate approach more cohesive.

The plan may also open the door for extra money to fund certain high-dollar initiatives, according to Diana Liverman, a regents’ professor at the UA who specializes in climate solutions and sits on the mayor’s climate action committee

“In a couple of California (cities), because they had a strong climate action plan, they were able to use that to request federal funds to help implement it or funds from the state,� said Liverman, whose focus has been on climate change policy nationally. “So, sometimes, you’re not going to get help if you don’t have a pretty good plan.�

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s plan to transition its bus fleet to electric vehicles is one example of an initiative in need of outside funding.

So far, the city has only purchased nine “e-busesâ€� for the transit system, which is about 4% of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s 237 bus fleet. Romero admits that figure is small and said it’s just the beginning, but added that the city needs money to make it happen.

“We’ve started with the nine buses, but it is the beginning of what we feel is going to be very impactful because transportation vehicles are 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in our city,â€� Romero said. “The responsibility of the city of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is to make sure that we find the funding to make all of those recommendations possible. When it comes to funding initiatives we have to make sure that we do it in the context of our budget and any grants we can apply for.â€�

The answer to whether the climate action plan is a worthwhile investment for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans will become clear once it’s finalized in December.

In addition to giving feedback during the development process, residents will be able to give input during public hearings before the council votes to adopt the strategy.