Portland will soon have a pool of money dedicated to funding projects that reduce the amount of greenhouse gases the city emits.

The Portland City Council voted Monday evening to create a municipal climate action fund, recommended by city staff and the council’s finance, sustainability and transportation committees. Similar to the city’s Jill Duson Housing Trust Fund, this amount of money can only be used for its intended purpose: reducing the city’s carbon emissions.

A major point of discussion among councilors was what exactly counts as an effort to reduce carbon emissions.

The ordinance creating the fund was written to allow spending both on initiatives to “advance strategies for a single climate future” and to fund operating costs of the sustainability office, including “salaries staff, interns, public awareness and engagement, professional development, software licensing or subscriptions. .”

One Climate Future is a shared climate action plan for the cities of Portland and South Portland that outlines a plan to reduce contributions to and adapt to climate change. It includes goals such as transitioning to renewable electricity and reducing waste.

During public comment, several people urged the council to limit use of the fund to specific projects that would reduce emissions and to use other funds to pay salaries and office administration costs.

“We are running out of time, as demonstrated by the warming Gulf of Maine, rising sea levels and worsening storms that have caused damage along the Maine coast,” said Ellen Grant. She urged the council to approve the ordinance.

Councilor Anna Bullett proposed an amendment, which passed unanimously, to cap the fund’s allowable spending at $125,000 for staff salaries, with the remainder earmarked for feasible projects to advance the goals of a unique climate future. The board will have to approve any money spent from the fund.

“We have a lot of projects to do, so there’s definitely a need for revenue to invest in those projects,” Troy Moon, the city’s sustainability director, said in an interview before the meeting.

The council briefly discussed using even more specific language in the ordinance to clarify that the money be used only for renewable energy projects, but decided that might be prohibitively specific. The amendment seeking more specific language was proposed by Councilor Kate Sykes.

“I fear this is going to put us in a bind,” said Councilwoman April Fournier. Sykes quickly withdrew her amendment and agreed with Fournier.

The creation of the fund was adopted unanimously.

The new fund will be financed by the sale of the city’s renewable energy credits and fines for violations of climate-related ordinances, such as the city’s pesticide ban.

Portland has collected about 13,500 renewable energy credits since it began participating in solar and hydroelectric projects across the state a few years ago, Moon said.

Renewable energy credits are a legal instrument that represents ownership of green energy.

The credits can either be retired, meaning the city can cash them in with the North American Renewable Energy Registry and claim to use green energy, or sell them. The registry is the official platform for many states, including Maine, to track renewable energy use. Utility companies are frequent buyers of renewable energy credits because they often must meet a green energy standard each year. The credits sell for about $38 each, Moon said.

Moon said Portland would sell all of its renewable energy credits to fuel the climate action fund. This means that Portland will not be able to take credits for this renewable energy, but the city will be able to make more money by selling these credits. He said that while the fund could support a wide range of projects in the coming years, the most immediate need is to reduce emissions from buildings.

“There may be a way to invest in upgrading municipal building systems. We might invest in equipment or hire an engineering consultant to evaluate a roof and see if we can put solar on it, things like that,” Moon said.

ETHICS COUNCIL

The council also voted Monday evening to postpone the vote to establish a ethics committee, which would be composed of citizens who would recommend a code of ethics for elected and appointed officials and city employees.

Portland voters decided to create the council in 2022, but it took time to draft an ordinance. The ordinance workshop will likely take place in January or February.

If established, the board would review the code of ethics every three years, issue written decisions regarding alleged violations of the code, and issue advisory opinions on matters relating to the city charter, code of ethics and the rules of the council.

Part of the board’s job would also be to “hear complaints and issue written decisions containing findings of fact regarding alleged violations of the city’s ethics code ordinance.” However, the order introduced Monday included an exception for city and school employees, for whom violations would be reported to the city manager or superintendent, in an effort to protect the privacy of lower-level employees.

Kate Sykes proposed an amendment that would specifically not exempt the city manager, city clerk, city council or mayor from the ethics board’s decision to directly adjudicate any alleged violations. After a brief discussion, Councilor Anna Trevorrow moved to postpone the vote and schedule a workshop to iron out details for the ethics committee.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done on this language and I think we should give it the time it deserves,” Trevorrow said.

The council voted 7-2 in favor of postponing the vote, with only councilors April Fournier and Roberto Rodriguez voting against the postponement.

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