The Village of Northbrook has a rich history promoting Environmental Sustainability alongside its partners in suburban Cook County. Over the course of the past decade, the Village has been refining its local policies to address environmental issues. The Village now wishes to take more directed steps in addressing the climate crisis on a local level. The Board of Trustees has requested that the Department of Development & Planning Services to oversee the work of a consultant in preparing an assessment of local environmental conditions and the identification of steps that can be taken to ensure Northbrook is not only resilient to climate changes, but takes positive steps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions locally. The Village issued an RFP in early 2020 to seek a consultant to assist in the next step moving forward; the Request for Proposal can be seen here.

Following a review of the responses to the RFP received, the Village ultimately selected paleBLUEdot LLC to assist in assessing the local environmental conditions and preparing a Climate Action Plan.

Sustainability Assessment, Vulnerability Analysis, and Climate Action Framework

The Village has become increasingly concerned about the global climate crisis and is working with paleBLUEdot LLC for the preparation and presentation of a series of studies and reports in order to:

1. Identify key local environmental characteristics, metrics for measuring key indicators and benchmarks for comparing the Village to peer communities
2. Seek input on the perceptions of the community regarding climate conditions and the urgency to respond to the crisis locally
3. Project future conditions based on alternative scenarios
4. Identify local vulnerabilities to climate change
5. Summarize key findings of the review of data
   1. Infographic 1: What is Climate Change?
   2. Infographic 2: Direct Climate Impacts on Northbrook
   3. Infographic 3: Climate Change Solutions for Northbrook
6. Recommend attainable local climate action goals and strategies for the Village of Northbrook, our residents and the business community

Read the summary of Northbrook's Climate Action Plan Community Input Survey 

In September 2020 paleBLUEdot, LLC presented the Village with the following DRAFT baseline reports:

Climate Action Baseline Assessment & Strategy Goal Recommendations

Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Climate Vulnerability Assessment

Solar Renewable Energy Potentials Study

Tree Survey & Carbon Sequestration

The next step is to work with the Village Board of Trustees on the creation of a Planning Team to help shape the final recommendations that will come forth from the research and baseline reports to help formulate the final Climate Action Plan.