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Dozens of community members turned out to cheer five years of accomplishments by the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) at a Portland City Council work session May 14.
Published
The fund uses a tax on very large retailers to pay for projects that make all Portlanders, particularly underserved communities, more resilient in the face of climate change.
State Rep. Khanh Pham described the three-year grassroots campaign that led to PCEF’s approval by more than 65% of Portland voters in 2018. PCEF Program Manager Sam Baraso discussed alignment with goals approved by City Council in 2022, and its five-year Climate Investment Plan approved last fall. Baraso also elaborated on $1.3 billion in current and pending PCEF projects taking place through 2028.
Those projects include:
- $590M to City bureaus over five years for a variety of climate related projects, such as taking over the planting, care and maintenance of street trees throughout Portland, building the cooling effect of trees throughout the city, and expanding bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure;
- $50M to seven public school districts in Portland, which will help pay for things like improved heating and cooling systems and de-paved school yards;
- $302M for a series of climate related strategic programs, such as greener and more affordable housing and also transportation, like helping people with low incomes afford electric vehicles;
- $190M for grants to nonprofits, covering a vast array of climate projects from building community solar installations to net-zero affordable housing. Prior projects led by nonprofits include Cooling Portland, a response to the deadly 2021 heat dome that has installed more than 7,000 efficient air conditioners to people at risk in climate-related heat waves;
- $158M for the new Collaborating for Climate Action initiative, which will distribute some of the growth in PCEF funds toward high-impact, multi-stakeholder projects, which can include public-private collaborations.
Local governments well-positioned to tackle climate change
Commissioners asked thoughtful questions about the size of the fund and PCEF’s impact on climate, job creation, business, and the City budget, along with the City’s role in managing the program. Although climate change is a problem that requires global solutions, local governments are in a great place to make meaningful impact because of their connection to the community, said Deputy City Administrator for Community and Economic Development Donnie Oliveira.
For example, a PCEF program for significant green energy retrofits on 3,100 local homes won’t simply cut greenhouse gas emissions but will also address a host of safety and health problems and develop a local workforce skilled at handling these retrofits, Oliveira said.
“The investment PCEF is making is much more broad, much more intersectional,” than simply investing in a clean energy project elsewhere, he said. “Interjecting 1.3 billion dollars into our community is good for business. It’s good for prosperity and wealth generation. These are dollars that are staying within our community.”
Social benefits beyond measure
Pham said the program’s benefit includes social benefits that often aren’t captured when people calculate the cost of preventing greenhouse gas emissions. For example, buying electric school buses and government vehicles in Portland means less air pollution and asthma for the surrounding community, and a generation of local children who breathe more easily. Oliveira agreed.
“If we were just doing GHG reduction targeted programs, we might just invest in a solar farm in eastern Oregon … that’s a cheaper GHG reduction moment for us,” Oliveira added. “But that’s not the point. The point was to put the dollars to work in our community for Portlanders … That’s the power of PCEF. It’s not just climate action. It’s the prosperity and the resilience all tied together.”
Learn more about the tangible impact PCEF is having on climate change in Portland.