This article is written by Gina Tedesco for the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus

In Northeastern Illinois, solar power development is skyrocketing, communities are gaining new sustainability coordinators, and mayors are enjoying a literal seat at the table with global climate leaders.

It’s all fueled by the nation’s largest regional collaboration on sustainability called the Greenest Region Compact (GRC). With 129 municipalities and 10 councils of government as signatories, numbers that grow continually, the GRC demonstrates just how much can get done when municipalities collaborate.

GRC By The Numbers

The compact, developed by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, features 49 simple, high-level sustainability goals in ten categories: climate, economic development, energy, land, leadership, mobility, municipal operations, sustainable communities, water, and waste and recycling.

The GRC’s “consensus goals” remove the need to determine whether a goal is worthwhile, leaving a city ready to act quickly and efficiently

The goals derive from a first-of-its-kind study of 30 local and nine regional or national sustainability plans, and an analysis of 290 municipalities’ sustainability actions.

Communities should adopt the GRC to save time and effort in determining a general direction on many aspects of sustainability. That’s because the GRC’s “consensus goals” remove the need to determine whether a goal is worthwhile, leaving a city ready to act quickly and efficiently.

“These ‘consensus goals’ capture the broad collective experience, knowledge and wisdom among a broad diversity of municipal leaders and sustainability professionals,” says Edith Makra, director of environmental initiatives at the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. “They help communities impact the most people in the most effective ways,” she says.

As the GRC’s adoptees pledge to support the consensus goals, they utilize a companion document, called the Framework, containing a menu of possible objectives and strategies to achieve the goals. Cities then form their own plans of action tailored to their specific needs, but aligned with the goals. For example, the GRC objective that states “procure renewable energy for public facilities” directs communities to “become a U.S. EPA Green Power Community.”

“Communities that work together and share expertise, such as a streamlined solar permitting process, achieve what would be difficult for them to tackle on their own”

The GRC’s most impressive achievements fall in the area of solar development. These include the facilitation of a new solar power purchasing pool with favorable rates for municipal facilities. Also, Illinois has become home to the most communities with SolSmart designation (for fostering development of solar power markets), surpassing California and Colorado.

SolSmart is a national program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative and led by The Solar Foundation and the International City/County Management Association. Participating GRC cities use SolSmart’s resources to streamline development of solar installations on homes and businesses, cutting electricity costs for them, reducing pollution for all and creating new jobs.

These jobs are part of the Chicago region’s striking upswing in solar. The area was the top metro for solar jobs growth in the nation in 2018, with 1,180 jobs added for a total of 4,275 jobs, according to The Solar Foundation.

GRC Facilitates Expansion in Solar

The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus is the conduit for solar development assistance to municipalities serving as the Solar Advisor to the region for the SolSmart program. It has been nationally recognized by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s as the 3i State and Local Government Initiative of the Year; and earned the SolSmart Innovation Award from the ICMA and the Solar Foundation.

“Communities that work together and share expertise, such as a streamlined solar permitting process, achieve what would be difficult for them to tackle on their own,” says Geneva, Ill. Mayor Kevin Burns, chairman of the environment committee for the mayors caucus. The GRC provides technical advice and other resources to make solar development a reality for them,” adds Burns.

Schaumburg, Ill. features the most prolific growth of solar among all GRC communities. A mere three permits swelled to more than 130 in approximately two years, including residential and commercial properties. Schaumburg’s point person on permits, Martha Dooley, explains that “now, the permit process is very transparent. Once the installers became familiar with it, things went smoothly and quickly,” calling the GRC’s technical assistance and staff training “key.”

the GRC produced lessons learned for engaging in regional collaboration and sustainable actions

The GRC also facilitated other benefits to municipalities. The federal Corporation for National and Community Service, through the state agency, Serve Illinois, provided a $120.000 AmeriCorps grant to the mayors caucus to create the Greenest Region Corps. This yielded eight sustainability coordinators for nine GRC communities to tackle projects that address GRC goals. Coordinator activities include seeking energy savings in public facilities, assessing current sustainability programs to develop plans consistent with the GRC, conducting tree assessments and surveys, and restoring landscapes of at-risk ecosystems.

In addition, the GRC produced clout, opening the door for participating mayors to take part in influential, high-profile environmental conferences. As one example, in December 2017, the North American Climate Summit took place in Chicago, in partnership with C40 and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. Twelve mayors, primed for action because of their GRC commitment, were invited to participate.

From the big picture perspective, the GRC produced lessons learned for engaging in regional collaboration and sustainable actions. Communities that wrestle with how to combat the effects of climate change or other environmental issues should consider these recommendations:

  • Pursue collaborative actions that can be addressed by a large group of municipalities. This procedure guards against selecting actions that would be suitable only for certain sized towns or those in certain geographic areas.
  • Integrate existing, successful sustainability programs already offered nationally or regionally. There is no need to recreate new standards and programs for a particular GRC objective if one already exists. — Gina Tedesco

(Picture credit: Unsplash)