City of Baltimore
Baltimore City Code

§ 34-5. Comprehensive Sustainability Plan.

The Commission's Comprehensive Sustainability Plan shall:

(1) discuss all elements of sustainability, including air quality, water quality, resource conservation and recycling, energy, public health, environmental justice, reduction of greenhouse emissions, and increasing use of alternative means of transportation;

(2) establish 3-, 5-, and10-year sustainability targets, including making City

government operations achieve, by January 1, 2045, net-zero emissions, as defined in City Code Article 1, § 34-1(f), while ensuring that capital investments associated with achieving net-zero emissions are prioritized to the extent possible in the communities most impacted by climate change and pollution, as determined by the Director

(3) create public and private sustainability initiatives, to include but not limited to standards for city purchasing, incentives for citizens and businesses to recycle and purchase recycled goods, incentives for energy conservation, and water quality improvements;

(4) describe the resources and responsible agencies and others needed to implement the Plan;

(5) include a public information component;

(6) establish key sustainability indicators to track progress of Plan implementation;

(7) establish key environmental justice indicators to track community impacts of plan; and

(8) set criteria and recommend mandatory measures for annual reporting to the City Council on:

(i) Energy Consumption Reports, as required in City Code Article 5, § 45-2;

(ii) Comprehensive Recycling and Composting Plan, as prescribed in City Code Article 23, § 16-2;

(iii) community environmental health metrics, including the parity or disparity of benefits and burdens across different population groups, and including the decrease in metric tons of criteria pollutants, which include:

(A) carbon monoxide;

(B) ground-level ozone;

(C) lead;

(D) nitrogen dioxide;

(E) particulate matter; and

(F) sulfur dioxide; and

(iv) greenhouse gas emissions reduction reports.