Portland’s massive clean energy fund makes strides in accountability, management, auditor says - OregonLive
Portland’s massive clean energy fund makes strides in accountability, management, auditor says - oregonlive.com
Portland is getting better at managing its cash-rich, voter-approved fund that aims to bankroll clean energy projects and jobs following a bruising city audit last year, according to the city’s elected watchdog.
The Portland Clean Energy Fund has more clearly defined what constitutes an administrative cost, improved its ability to monitor revenue projections and has begun to put missing accountability systems in place, said City Auditor Simone Rede.
Rede attributed much of the fund’s progress to a broader overhaul of the four-year-old program championed in October by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, whose Bureau of Planning and Sustainability oversees it.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”