On April 27, 2007, Iowa Governor Chet Culver signed Senate File 485, a bill related to greenhouse gas emissions. Part of this bill created the Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council (ICCAC), which consists of 23 governor-appointed members from various stakeholder groups, and 4 nonvoting, ex officio members from the General Assembly.

ICCAC’s immediate responsibilities included submitting a proposal to the Governor and General Assembly that addresses policies, cost-effective strategies, and multiple scenarios designed to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Further, a preliminary report was submitted inn January 2008, with a final proposal submitted in December 2008.

To facilitate progress, ICCAC divided itself into five subcommittees. Each of these examined policies, strategies, and scenarios in depth and made recommendations for adoption to the whole Council. Those subcommittees are Energy Efficiency and Conservation; Clean and Renewable Energy; Transportation and Land Use Efficiency; Agriculture, Forestry, and Waste Management; and Cross-Cutting Issues, the latter of which looked at how the subcommittees’ recommendations fit together and considered public outreach and education strategies.

The work of ICCAC will continue beyond their interim and final reports to study and evaluate policies and strategies as the challenges of climate change continue to unfold in the years ahead.

ICCAC Final Report

The ICCAC has completed its work in setting setting goals and target years for greenhouse gas reductions in Iowa and has submitted its final report to the Governor.  The report and all supporting documents are available here.

ICCAC Interim Report

At its December 17th, 2007 meeting, the ICCAC made important decisions in setting goals and target years for greenhouse gas reductions in Iowa.  Click here to read the report.

Governor Culver Signed 'Green Government' Initiative!

On February 21, 2008, Governor Chet Culver signed his Executive Order Six, establishing a new “green government” initiative.

“Iowans have made tremendous strides in recent years to find new forms of renewable energy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said Governor Culver. “Now, we must go one step further, and improve energy efficiency throughout the state. I believe state government can -- and must -- be a model for greening Iowa’s homes, schools and businesses, and my sixth executive order will help us do just that.”

Executive Order Six establishes a Green Government Initiative, and calls for each executive branch agency to appoint a coordinator to support this effort. The Green Government Steering Committee, chaired by Director Roya Stanley of the Office of Energy Independence, will lead the initiative and provide oversight and coordination.

The Governor’s order sets goals to improve energy efficiency in three areas (buildings, materials, and biofuels), and will establish separate task forces to address the issues.

    * The Energy Excellent Buildings Task Force will focus on "greening" new and existing state office buildings and facilities, including leased space.
    * The Sustainable Materials Task Force will focus on procurement, operations and disposal of all materials used in state government.
    * The Biofuels Task Force will focus on increasing the use of biofuels by state agencies, reducing the number of miles traveled by the state employee workforce, and increasing the fuel efficiency of the state vehicle fleet.

In addition, the order requires a thorough review and audit of executive branch agencies' current practices related to energy efficiency and conservation. Using the audit data, the steering committee will develop a Master Plan on how to “green” state government, and track progress of state agencies.

Read the executive order.

Homepage of:

Iowa Climate Change
Advisory Council (ICCAC)

The Final ICCAC
Report is now available.

To view the Report and the
meetings and documents
leading to its development
click here.