Spring 2010

Berkeley’s Green Scorecard: Measuring what Matters

Acting on the principle that what gets measured gets managed, the City of Berkeley recently launched an interactive web-based tool that presents scorecards on local sustainability trends such as annual energy use, solar installations, waste disposal, and tree planting in the community. The website enables viewers to, with a few clicks of a mouse, access relevant, up-to-date information about Berkeley’s progress toward its climate action goals.

As well as providing scorecards on how Berkeley is doing, the site provides a forum for questions and feedback regarding implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan. Staff from several City departments are working together to provide performance data related to their projects. Community-based organizations such as the Ecology Center, Rising Sun Energy Center and the Community Energy Services Corporation are also contributing performance data to the site.

The tool is designed to help ensure that Berkeley’s Climate Action Plan isn’t just a vision, or a report that collects dust, but rather a roadmap that produces results. The City’s goal, established by a vote of the people in 2006, is to achieve an 80 percent reduction in global warming emissions by 2050 -- about a two percent reduction per year.

The performance data presented on the site reveal several interesting trends. Community-wide solid waste disposal decreased 25 percent between 2000 and 2008, for example. Electricity use in Berkeley homes decreased by eight percent and natural gas use decreased by 15 percent in that same time period. The number of street and park trees in Berkeley increased by approximately eight percent between 2000 and 2009. Berkeley’s total community-wide greenhouse gas emissions decreased seven percent between 2000 and 2005.

The website also provides interactive maps of Berkeley’s community gardens, city parks and solar installations and case studies of local green buildings. In this way, the site not only provides performance trends, but also resources and information designed to empower local citizens to get involved.

The website is called the “Berkeley See-It.”  See-It is a performance management and communications software developed by Visible Strategies. The Berkeley See-It was developed with support from the San Francisco Foundation and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

To view the Berkeley See-It website, please visit the City of Berkeley website at: www.cityofberkeley.info/climate. Feedback and questions are welcome. Please contact Timothy Burroughs at tburroughs@cityofberkeley.info.