Budgeting for Climate
Governments must continually juggle multiple issues of immediate importance. Resource scarcity and organizational constraints make it difficult to address "new" issues such as Climate Action. But local governments don't have the luxury of not preparing. They have the unique opportunity to prepare their communities for the impacts of climate change. At the local government level, resources and opportunities exist, but they must be reviewed and prioritized for action. Local governments know their communities and their citizens and can create climate action plans customized for the specific circumstances of their communities.
Additional Resources
From NRDC
On Climate, Pittsburgh Puts Its Money Where Its Goals Are
So, what’s a city like Pittsburgh to do when it wants to better understand its budget for climate action? That's where a tool called “priorities-based budgeting" comes in.
From ResourceX
Utilizing a Shared Program Language to Progress Climate Budget Goals
Priority Based Budgeting allowed the Sustainability and Resilience Team to begin to fuse the conversation of what they were trying to achieve with the Climate Action and Resilience Plans and where it actually intersected with the Budget Cycle.
From Delivery Associates
Fund Your Purpose
Priority Based Budgeting helps cities make the most of their resources - and make good on their promises.
From The Atlas
Budgeting for Climate: The City of Pittsburgh Repurposes Resources for a Sustainable Future
The City of Pittsburgh has a clear goal for pursuing climate action but needed a shared language among staff, elected officials and citizens to prioritize and communicate where the resources would come from. Through Priority Based Budgeting, the City identified $41 million in resource repurposing opportunities.
City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
A local government budget is not just a collection of numbers but an expression of a community's values and priorities. Pittsburgh is living up to that principle under the leadership of the mayor and striving to achieve the goals they set out in their Climate Action Plan. And it is through the power of the budget their leaders can most clearly communicate their community's desires. But if that message is lost in a language of line items, it is an effort wasted. Through the power of the program, Priority Based Budgeting creates the common language that powered the city's shared purpose.
Read the case study on The Atlas.
Highlights from Pittsburgh
The City of Pittsburgh has a clear goal for pursuing climate action but needed a shared language among staff, elected officials and citizens to prioritize and communicate where the resources would come from. Through Priority Based Budgeting, the City identified $41 million in resource repurposing opportunities
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Created the Dataset
Over a three-month period, the city created 186 programs across 23 departments complete with cost allocations and Basic Program Attribute detail.
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Empowered Staff for Insights
Organization leadership and staff participated in the three-day facilitated Insight Workshop, creating an inclusive process and inviting ideas from departmental experts.
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Prioritized Climate
Climate Action was embedded into the Priority Based Budgeting framework with criteria against which all programs can be measured as communicated by the Mayor's Earth Day Executive Order.
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Funded for Action
The city team identified 186 Insights with $41 million in repurposing opportunities and revenue-generating opportunities toward Climate objectives.
Learn more about Insights
Insights capture and communicate solutions at the program level. Employ organizational knowledge to optimize current resources and explore opportunities to attain new resources utilizing the PBB BluePrint.