Somerville Seeking Consultant to Develop Climate Action Plan

SOMERVILLE – The City of Somerville is seeking proposals from qualified consultants to work closely with the Office of Sustainability and Environment to develop the city’s Climate Change Action Plan, which will serve as the comprehensive strategy for addressing climate change in Somerville.

The Plan will identify policies, programs, and projects that will mitigate Somerville’s contribution to climate change, advance the city’s efforts to be carbon neutral by 2050, and prepare the city for the unavoidable impacts of climate change. The Consultant will be expected to provide technical expertise, support stakeholder engagement, and develop high-quality materials. The RFP is available on the city’s website at www.somervillema.gov/climaterfp. Proposals are due by February 13, 2017, to the City of Somerville’s Purchasing Department (see below for details).

Somerville has two key goals for the Climate Change Action Plan: to decrease our contribution to climate change by reducing the collective carbon emissions of both the City and its residents and businesses and to prepare Somerville to thrive amid the expected impacts of climate change, such as severe weather, more heat waves, and increased flooding. 

The Climate Change Action Plan is the final phase in a multi-year climate change planning process and will build upon the City’s prior climate studies, including the 2016 Greenhouse Gas Inventory and the forthcoming Carbon Neutral Pathways Assessment and Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. Together, these studies provide an understanding of Somerville’s current greenhouse gas emissions and anticipated climate-related risks. Working from this baseline, the Climate Change Action Plan will identify strategies to prepare for and reduce the effects of climate change in Somerville. The Plan will be developed with input from city departments, the Mayor’s Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change, regional partners, and Somerville residents and stakeholders. 

Updates on the climate change planning process can be found at http://go.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/climate-change-plan.html and on https://www.facebook.com/GreenSomerville/.

Proposals are due by February 13, 2017, at 11 a.m. EST. Interested respondents should contact Michael Richards, Assistant Purchasing Director, at mrichards@somervillema.gov.