Philadelphia, June 30, 2015 – Mayor Michael A. Nutter released the 2015 Greenworks Philadelphia Progress Report, the sixth and final summary of the work completed under the City of Philadelphia’s comprehensive sustainability plan during the Nutter Administration.
Offering a keynote address at the Franklin Institute, the Mayor said that of the 164 initiatives outlined in the plan, 160 are already underway or complete. Of the 15 target areas, the City has exceeded, met or nearly met 7 of its goals and is trending in the right direction on 4 others.
The full report is available online at www.phila.gov/green.
Additionally, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability also released a web-based mapping and visualization tool that showcases citywide progress. Created with local geospatial analysis firm Azavea, the Greenworks Map provides an easy way to access information about the City’s place-based sustainability investments by displaying them geographically. Users can see Greenworks projects and initiatives in a citywide map-view, zoom to a particular neighborhood or address, and filter by areas of interest. The Map will be available to partners to use and will be updated regularly as new projects are implemented.
The Greenworks Map is available at www.Greenworksmap.com or on the Office of Sustainability’s homepage at www.phila.gov/green.
“Our plan, complete with measureable goals to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has 164 initiatives. And, we built in transparency and accountability measures, reporting on our progress each year,” Nutter said. “Greenworks covers nearly every facet of ‘greening’ imaginable: energy efficiency, waste management, air and water quality, clean energy, public green spaces and even the tree canopy. Most importantly, it allows everyone to play a role, and it is our collective action that is bringing about great changes for our great city. When we launched Greenworks, we brought together city departments, advocates, community groups and other stakeholders to work toward a shared goal – to become a more sustainable, equitable and livable city, to improve our shared urban environment. And, the results have been nothing short of tremendous.”
The report highlights:
- The city-wide recycling rate was 6% in 2007, now it is above 20%
- Increased the amount of waste that is recycled or used to produce energy from 53% to 73%
- City government green house gas emissions have been reduced 15% below 1990 levels
- Philadelphia reported record low numbers of unhealthy air quality days in 2013 and 2014 at just 6 days
- Greened more than 580 acres to manage stormwater and planted more than 120,000 new trees since 2009 and created TreeKeepers, a seasonal maintenance crew that supports our tree canopy goals while learning critical job skills
- Increased Philadelphians’ access to healthy, affordable food with more than 100 new farmers markets, gardens, and farms and convened Philadelphia’s Food Policy Advisory Council
- Since 2008, retrofitted more than 16,250 homes making them more energy efficient, more affordable to own, and more comfortable
- Added 100 miles of bike lanes and launched a bike share program, Indego
Furthermore, other city departments and organizations are launching sustainability initiatives for the future including:
- Green City, Clean Waters, a historic agreement between the City and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is a program in the Water Department that installs green infrastructure, instead of more costly grey infrastructure, to better manage storm water runoff.
- Philadelphia Parks & Recreation is currently running a set of experiments with The Wagner Free Institute of Science and local community groups in Haddington Woods in West Philadelphia to understand adaptive forest management appropriate for the changing weather Philadelphia will experience in the coming century. This program increase investments in restoration practices that will preserve our forests for generations to come.
- Get Healthy Philly: The Health Department, in partnership with the Food Trust, created eight new farmers markets and 669 healthy corner stores. It also developed Philly Food Bucks, an incentive program that allows SNAP recipients to add $2 worth of fresh fruits and veggies to their purchase for every $5 in SNAP benefits they use at farmers markets in the city.
- Parks for People: Philadelphia Parks & Recreation in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, the Water Department and the School District of Philadelphia, are greening schoolyards and recreation centers in five neighborhoods with a shortage of open, green public space. The first 10 sites will be completed by early next year.
- PowerCorpsPHL: An AmeriCorps program designed to support Philadelphia’s environmental stewardship, workforce development and youth violence prevention priorities, PowerCorpsPHL members serve with the Water and Parks & Rec departments to maintain the city’s stormwater infrastructure and urban green spaces.
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