Rebecca Evans loves her job — she’s the City of Ithaca Sustainability Planner. And she’s been working on the implementation of Ithaca’s Green New Deal (IGND), along with many others.
The City is looking to decarbonize its entire economy, transportation infrastructure and housing/building stock by 2030. We interviewed Evans about the City’s plans late last week and had the opportunity to learn more about its origins, challenges and prospects.
According to her, the IGND only began to take shape in March 2021.
“If you look at what’s happened in a year, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but… it’s amazing how far we’ve come,” Evans said. “Within a year, we’ve gotten hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and have partnerships all across the world.”
At least ten private equity firms and investors have made soft commitments to fund the IGND, but Evans said that number could be higher. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, the City lacks the financial wherewithal to fund this massive undertaking by itself due to the absence of state or federal funding. So, it’s turning to the private sector.
Despite this deluge of funding, the City’s decarbonization plans remain a work in progress. They’re constantly evolving. For one, the contract between the City and the BlocPower consortium — an alliance of various companies led by the Brooklyn-based climate technology company — has not yet been signed by Acting Mayor Laura Lewis. When her signature does appear along the dotted line, though, the City will have the green light to begin implementing its green transformation.
But where did the idea for the IGND come from?
Back in 2019, Evans was the Sustainability Coordinator at the Ithaca College Office of Energy Management & Sustainability. She said that the Eco Reps — a group of students employed by the College who engage the campus community in dialogue surrounding sustainability — wanted to push for a local climate plan amid national discourse (spearheaded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey) about the Green New Deal at the time. After sustained activism, which involved reaching out to elected officials, and a 2-hour long meeting in Campus Center, former Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick announced that the City would be adopting its own Green New Deal.
Now, the torch is being carried by Sunrise Movement — specifically Sunrise Ithaca. Evans explained that the City has been heeding the calls of the local climate justice movement.
“It’s very much youth-driven. And that has not stopped… Sunrise Movement [sic] is driving the direction of this thing" - Rebecca Evans, City of Ithaca Sustainability Planner
“It’s very much youth-driven,” she said. “And that has not stopped… Sunrise Movement [sic] is driving the direction of this thing.”
A sea of challenges await the City in its decarbonization plans. Evans outlined a few of those challenges during our interview with her:
The proposed Energy Code Supplement for the City of Ithaca (supplementary to state code) is in need of revision
If building owners meet code requirements, they can still use natural gas to power stoves and other appliances
This constitutes a threat to public health, Evans says
Although building owners can opt for natural gas in the years before 2030, they will ultimately have to turn to alternate sources of energy
Without an updated electrical grid, which is managed by NYSEG, Ithaca’s electrification could cause fires and other damages
The state needs to up the capacity of its electrical grid
Thousands of households need to be electrified and/or retrofitted to meet requirements — it is unclear whether that will be completed by 2030
The world is watching Ithaca and its implementation of the IGND. The City must meet its stated climate goals to show other municipalities that they too can create the conditions for a sustainable future.
"We're building the plane as we're flying it," she said. "It's a building by building, developer by developer conversation that we're having, which is time-consuming at best."
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