Introduction

1.1    Climate Guidebook Purpose, Structure, and Release Schedule

EWEB Climate Guidebook Purpose

The Climate Guidebook is a reference document to articulate how EWEB is addressing climate change in accordance with EWEB’s Board-approved Climate Change Policy (SD15). It also demonstrates how the work of the utility intersects with climate issues, broadly.

Welcome to EWEB’s Climate Guidebook! The Climate Guidebook is a reference document to articulate how EWEB is addressing climate change throughout the utility and how EWEB’s work intersects with climate issues generally. It is structured based on the five areas outlined in EWEB’s Climate Change Policy (SD15) with a chapter for each. See Appendix B, EWEB’s Climate Change Policy SD15 for the full text of SD15. The Guidebook will provide a climate lens for the organization’s goals, helping to make connections between EWEB’s projects and initiatives and how they relate to climate change and SD15.

The Climate Guidebook is a living document and will be updated at regular intervals, to serve as a resource for internal and external stakeholders. Different sections will meet the needs of different audiences by providing guidance on EWEB’s strategy, information on existing programs, education on current events, and tools to be used in ongoing work.

1.1.1     Background Leading to the Development of the Climate Guidebook

EWEB’s Board of Commissioners developed its Climate Change Policy (SD15) in 2007 with major updates in 2018 and 2022. SD15 directs the General Manager to act on climate change in the following five areas: Power Generation, Climate Policy, EWEB Operations, Customer Decarbonization, and Impacts on EWEB. In this document, the order of the chapters was organized according to the scale of the impact of each category, with the areas with the largest impact first. Also in this document, the chapter related to what SD15 calls Power Generation has been broadened in its focus and renamed to Power Supply & Transmission. This change still reflects the intent from SD15 but expands beyond what power EWEB owns to reflect all decisions about EWEB’s power supply and how it gets to EWEB customers via the transmission and distribution system.

In May 2022, EWEB hired our first Climate Policy Analyst & Advisor to provide strategic and technical insights and identify impacts to EWEB’s business lines and strategic and operational plans. The development of the Climate Guidebook has come out of this work.  Staff throughout the organization have contributed to this resource.

1.1.2     Timing for Future Updates

The first release, Version 1.0, was discussed at the March 2023 regular Board meeting and was limited in scope, with additional content planned for future versions. Version 1.1 was released in September 2023. This is version 2.0.  Any additional minor updates within 2024 will be indicated as version 2.1, 2.2, etc. Annually, readers can expect significant updates in April, in advance of Earth Day. These more significant updates will be indicated as version 3.0, 4.0, and so on.

Explore this webpage: 1.2 Who Should Use this Document | 1.3 Public Outreach Plan

1.2    Who Should Use this Document

EWEB’s Climate Guidebook is designed for a wide array of internal and external audiences. This document is not designed for cover-to-cover reading. Rather, it is set up to be more of an encyclopedia style, where readers can look up key information within various sections. Some content is more general in nature. Other content is highly technical and designed for analysts or practitioners accustomed to using similar information or data.

If you have questions or suggestions about the content and/or the way it is presented, please see the section for how to reach EWEB staff and provide your feedback about the Climate Guidebook.

1.3    Public Outreach Plan

Our public outreach efforts for the Climate Guidebook will occur in two phases.

1.3.1     Phase 1: January 2023 – March 2024

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

Goals:

• Solicit feedback regarding Guidebook content and structure from key stakeholders who will use the Guidebook regularly to ensure usefulness of final deliverables.
• Teach key stakeholders, subject matter experts, and technical users how to navigate the Guidebook and use the content to support their work.

Audiences:

• EWEB Board of Commissioners.
• EWEB employees, especially those directly involved in accounting for EWEB’s own carbon emissions and those who assist EWEB customers in calculating their own emissions.
• Key stakeholders, including representatives of local agencies such as Lane County and the City of Eugene, who are responsible for reducing community-wide carbon emissions.
• Local environmental groups who have an interest in helping our community reduce carbon emissions.

Methods and Results:

1. Website:  Build a public website on eweb.org containing the Guidebook and supporting materials.

Phase 1 of this work has been completed.  All materials for the Climate Guidebook can be found on EWEB’s website here.

1. External Outreach:  Conduct one-on-one and small group meetings with identified audiences to share initial content and future planned content, educate key stakeholders on how existing content can support their work, and solicit direct feedback.

Phase 1 of this work has been completed.  In fall 2022 and spring 2023 as EWEB was developing content for v1.0, EWEB met individually with sixteen different external organizations including environmental non-profits, industry associations, and fellow Large Lever Shareholders who also made commitments to GHG reductions as part of the City of Eugene’s CAP2.0 process.  These groups included:  350 Eugene, Beyond Toxics, Cascadia Wildlands, City of Eugene, Eugene Chamber of Commerce, Lane Community College, Lane County, McKenzie River Trust, NAACP Eugene-Springfield, Northwest Natural, Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oregon Solutions, Public Generating Pool, Sierra Club, and University of Oregon. During these meetings, EWEB explained the purpose of the Guidebook, how to access it, and sought direct feedback on current and future content. This led to additional content development in v1.1 that was released in September 2023.

1. Internal Outreach:  Present updates on the Guidebook to EWEB’s Board of Commissioners and staff groups.

Phase 1 of this work has been completed. After the release of v1.1 in September 2023, nine internal presentations of the content were conducted throughout fall 2023 to ensure all staff groups and divisions are aware of the Climate Guidebook and how information can support their role in customer service or support their day-to-day work directly.  These presentations were tailored to each work group to highlight sections of content that most relate to that team’s focus.  Groups met with included:  EWEB’s Executive Team, the Customer Division, the Contact Center and Customer Service, the Energy Division, the Customer Solutions team, the Business Continuity Team, the Communications and Marketing team, the Finance Team, and the Operations Manager Team.  

1. Publish Employee News:  Utilize EWEB’s internal SharePoint and email updates to provide on-going updates internally about the Climate Guidebook.

Phase 1 of this work has been completed.  Two Employee News stories were published on EWEB’s internal SharePoint site in 2023.  The first was on Feb 16, 2023 introducing the concept of the Guidebook, and the second was on Oct 26, 2023 announcing the release of v1.2.

1.3.2     Phase 2: April 2024 – December 2024

Goals:

• Increase customer trust and confidence by demonstrating shared values and priorities relating to the environment, public health, reliability, and affordability.
• Raise public awareness of EWEB’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gases contributing to climate change and protect natural resources.
• Establish EWEB as a community and industry leader on carbon/climate action.

Audiences:

• All customers.
• Phase 1 audiences.

Methods:

A robust communications campaign utilizing all EWEB’s available communications channels, emphasizing EWEB’s climate commitments and describing progress towards reducing carbon emissions including successes and challenges. Specific tactics to include:

• Media release(s) and interviews about the Guidebook publication, as well as progress on specific goals.
• A social media campaign highlighting specific actions EWEB has taken to reduce carbon emissions.
• Content in EWEB’s email newsletter about progress on climate goals.
• A bill insert (mailed to all residential and business customers) detailing EWEB’s climate actions and how they can get involved and use the Guidebook.
• Community events and presentations when possible and when invited, including neighborhood meetings, environmental group meetings, and the Chamber of Commerce.