White Paper for Claremont, CA.

The city of Claremont defines the goal of sustainability through their plan as “The vision is one where all who live and work in Claremont are enabled to live in ways that allow them to meet their needs while preserving the ability of future generations to do the same. A sustainable Claremont is a community that balances social needs, environmental health and economic prosperity while not depleting or degrading its natural resources, creating social inequities, or limiting our prospects for continued economic prosperity.” The sustainability plan includes goals, indicators, numeric targets and actions. The city has a very well defined framework that has been in place since October 28th, 2008. The framework has specific implementation processes that are rated based on their estimated cost, benefit, and feasibility. Claremont also has set up an annual sustainability report card program. The plan requires the City Council to approve an annual Report Card that describes the city’s progress towards the indicators and indicator targets described in the goal areas. The Report Card is designed to help the public understand the current status of major areas of concern, whether the situation around each is improving or worsening, and how far they are from success
There are 7 goals areas, with multiple goals related to that goal area. The seven goal areas were decided upon within city council meetings, taking into account suggestions from citizens as well through city council meetings and forums. The seven goal areas are resource conservation, environment and public health, transportation, sustainable built environment, open space and land use, housing and economic sustainability, and outreach, education and implementation. After a goal is stated, then a number of indicators are used to measure progress toward the goal. Claremont’s plan