The climate crisis presents unique challenges for local policymakers, trying to make a dent in a global emergency from their desks in Portland. The complexity and scale of the climate crisis was on full display during the first meeting of Portland City Council's new Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee on February 13.   

Councilor Steve Novick, one of the committee’s co-chairs, kicked off the committee’s first meeting with a candid speech about the scale of climate change, which he called the "greatest crisis humanity has ever faced.” He said while “what we do in Portland is only a small piece of what the world needs to do,” local action still matters. And right now, the city is behind on its carbon reduction goals. 

According to leaders working on the city’s climate strategy, Portland’s carbon emissions have decreased over the past 35 years, but the city is not currently on track to meet its climate targets. 

While Portland can’t fix the global problem by itself, councilors hope the new climate committee can push the city to lower emissions, making good on pledges and plans it has already committed to. With the climate crisis worsening by the day, and the new Trump administration actively working to roll back federal environmental protections and climate programs, time is of the essence. 

“Human beings have survived plagues, wars, dictatorships, but have never lived in the kind of climate we’re creating,” Novick, an attorney with a background in environmental issues, said. “If we do not do our part in trying to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions then, in my view, we will be complicit in the misery, destruction, and death of millions upon millions of our fellow human beings for hundreds of years to come.” 

While councilors were largely in agreement about the problem at hand, discussions during the first committee meeting hinted at potential conflict over whose voices should be prioritized when crafting climate policy. 

Novick and fellow committee co-chair Councilor Angelita Morillo said the group will prioritize environmental justice issues to ensure vulnerable Portlanders are protected from the impacts of climate change and given opportunities to work in a new, green economy. 

The committee, one of eight new City Council policy committees, will also be concerned with implementing land use policies to tackle both the climate and housing crises, working on solutions to increase resiliency at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, and collaborating with other governments and organizations, including utility companies and agencies like TriMet. 

At the committee’s first meeting, its members—which also include Councilors Candace Avalos, Sameer Kanal, and Dan Ryan—were mostly in agreement on the big picture issues. One small moment of tension came at the beginning of the meeting, after Ryan said he thought it was important to bring everyone to the table when working on climate change, including “those that are often the boogie people for the activists.” Ryan specifically mentioned industry groups and utility companies as fitting into this category. 

“I'm pretty comfortable with having opposition at the table,” Ryan said. “So I will, now and then, ask if someone was included in the conversation, or hope they are included. Even if some don’t appreciate what they have to say, they do exist.” 

Morillo said while she agrees it’s important to include different perspectives, she wants the committee to think about “who historically has had access to the table.” 

“Who have been the ones lobbying our offices versus who has been kept out of these spaces?” Morillo asked. 

Though it went unsaid, Ryan and Morillo were likely both thinking about the city’s relationship with controversial oil transport and storage company Zenith Energy. In 2022, when Ryan served as city commissioner, he oversaw the bureau that approved a key land use credential for Zenith. Later, Zenith was found to have violated city lobbying code during that process, having spent excessive resources courting approval from Ryan and other former city commissioners. Morillo, with other city councilors, has called for an investigation into the company and its dealings with the city. 

Portland’s carbon emissions 

While Portland has several climate action plans on the books, city staff says there’s a lot of work to do to meet emissions reduction targets.

When Portland declared a climate emergency in 2020, it set out to slash its carbon emissions in half by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Data collected in 2022 show the city has cut emissions by 21 percent since 1990.

The transportation sector is the largest contributor to carbon emissions in Multnomah County, followed by commercial and residential energy use. Commercial and residential buildings with electric utilities are still large drivers of carbon emissions, as local utility companies like Portland General Electric and Pacific Power have remained reliant on natural gas and coal for electricity. Emissions from gas utilities also remain stubbornly high in the commercial and residential sectors. 

Andria Jacob, the climate policy manager at Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, said cleaning up the electrical grid is critical. If electricity is still sourced through natural gas and coal, efforts to electrify buildings and cars are futile. This means it’s imperative that Oregon begin expanding renewable energy production, whether through wind, solar, hydropower, or other sources. According to Jacob, state-level leadership has been inadequate on this front, hindering the city’s emissions reduction efforts. 

Meanwhile, the city is working to electrify and decarbonize existing buildings and make sure new buildings are constructed to be as energy-efficient as possible. The Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund has dedicated significant resources to this goal, with nearly half a billion dollars in its Climate Investment Plan allocated to reduce building emissions. However, Jacob said, gas companies like NW Natural are “putting in new gas hookups every day.” 

“That’s just making the problem bigger and worse and more expensive to solve in the long term,” Jacob told the Climate Committee. She pointed to implementing stricter building codes as a way to mitigate this, but acknowledged such efforts come with legal risk. 

Meanwhile, transportation emissions were lower in 2022 than they’d been in the several years prior, although emissions were nearly as low in 2020. City staff attribute this drop in emissions to high gas prices—not as a result of city policy—and note it may not endure. 

Kristin Hull, the planning and project delivery group manager at the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), talked to the committee about other ways the city is working to reduce transportation emissions. Though vehicle electrification is part of the solution, Hull said the main way to reduce transportation emissions is to encourage Portlanders to drive less. 

“Reduction in per capita vehicle miles traveled is also critical to creating a safe transportation system and a vibrant city. At PBOT, this work is about reallocating and reactivating roadway space,” Hull said.

Hull pointed out PBOT’s limitations in the form of the bureau’s persistent budget woes, which threaten the city’s ability to carry out even the most basic transportation services. In addition to PBOT’s existing budget crisis, President Trump’s new administration puts the bureau’s federal funding at risk, particularly for emissions reduction projects including capital construction, electric vehicle charging, and zero-emission freight initiatives. 

“We already needed more resources to accomplish those goals,” Hull said. “Without a federal funding partner, we’ll need more local support to make progress.” 

Going forward, the Climate, Resilience and Land Use Committee—like the other policy committees—will meet every other week, and focus on more specific subjects. The policy committees are also intended to be a forum for public input, though comment wasn’t taken at the first meeting.

Despite the difficult road ahead for local climate action, councilors said they want to make as much of an impact as they can. 

“It’s definitely really heavy,” Avalos said at the meeting. “But we have ways we can prepare, be resilient as a city, and make good policy decisions that can shift the tides. The whole issue of climate change is obviously global and feels very out of reach. So we cannot forget that our local impact makes a big difference on tackling that for our residents.”