St. Pete's Commitment
Success Through Sustainability
The City of St. Petersburg is committed to delivering progressive, sustainable policies and effective programs to address city environmental, economic, and social challenges. For the better part of the last fifteen years, St. Pete has been making strides toward sustainability.
In 2008 the City was recognized by the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) as the first "Green City" in Florida.
In 2015, The Office of Sustainability & Resiliency (OSR) was created. OSR works with other executive offices, the City Council Health, Energy, Resiliency and Sustainability (HERS) Committee, City departments, businesses, and the community to develop innovative environmental solutions that foster equity, vibrant communities and shared prosperity.
In 2018, St. Pete joined the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition. At least 24 jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay area formed the coalition to coordinate climate adaptation and mitigation activities across county lines, and to advance local and regional responses to and preparations for economic and social disruption due to the climate crisis.
Additionally, the City has joined hundreds of other cities around the country in committing to addressing the climate crisis through greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
The City is part of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate Change – Chicago Climate Charter, America’s Pledge and the Carbon Disclosure Project, We Are Still In, and Ready for 100.
American Cities Climate Challenge
The American Cities Climate Challenge (ACCC) is an opportunity for 25 cities to significantly deepen and accelerate their efforts to tackle climate change and promote a sustainable future for their residents.
As one of the ACCC winners, St. Pete was accepted into a two-year acceleration program with powerful new resources and access to cutting-edge support to help the City meet or beat the goal to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 20% by December 2020.
What St. Pete Received
Through the ACCC, Bloomberg Philanthropies provided a robust technical assistance and support package, valued at more than $2 million, including:
- A philanthropy-funded team member to facilitate the development and passage of high impact policies.
- Data, design, and innovation resources to help city officials design and deliver bold programming.
- Citizen engagement support to maximize community buy-in.
- Polling and communications support to amplify messaging.
- Implementation coaching to drive results.
- Robust peer-to-peer learning and networking to ensure the 25 Leadership Cities learn from and push one another.
- Rapid response grants to accelerate impact.
- Access to resources from: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.; Delivery Associates; National Association of City Transportation Officials; Institute for Market Transformation; Rocky Mountain Institute; World Resources Institute.
Accelerating St. Pete’s Climate Action
The following policies and action items were selected as some of the best ways to reduce St. Pete’s GHG emissions 20% by 2020. The work plan has been categorized into Foundational (F), Ambitious (A), and Moonshot (M) action items. To understand the baseline data, review the City’s first-ever Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Inventory Summary.
Building Sector
- Deep energy efficiency retrofits and retro-commissioning of municipal facilities (F)
- Meet municipal electricity demand with renewable energy (F)
- EV charging in municipally owned parking lots (F)
- Energy code review and enforcement (F)
- Private sector challenge programs for energy efficiency in buildings (F)
- Workforce development programs (F)
- Energy efficiency/renewable municipal financing/performance contracting mechanisms (A)
- Scale up & expand residential solar co-op program (A)
- Scale up Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) non-profit financing model: energy efficiency, weatherization, resiliency, and renewables (A)
- Implement first Duke Energy community solar for energy equity benefiting low income area (M)
Transportation Sector
- Improve public transit speed, reliability and user experience (e.g. bus-only lanes, all-door boarding, real-time arrival information, apps) (F)
- Implement high priority segments in the Complete Streets walking and bicycling network to be safe and inviting to all, including for those using transit (F)
- EV Education and incentives (F)
- Encourage new mobility options (F)
- Commuter incentives (F)
- Electrify city fleets and buses (F)
View the ACCC Awards Summary.
A 4-STAR Community & LEED Certified City
With the help of community members and partners, the City of St. Petersburg conducted sustainability assessments in 2016 and 2019 to evaluate the City’s progress in a wide range of sustainability objectives. St. Pete progressed from a 3-STAR Community in 2016 (View the 2016 STAR Certification Results Report) to 4-STAR Community in 2019. After three years of momentum in projects, programs, and policies, St. Pete showed improvement in every goal area.
Goal |
2019 Approved Final Score |
2019 Total Points Possible |
Dec. 2019 % Achieved |
Dec. 2016 % Achieved |
% Improvement |
Built Environment |
80.39 |
100 |
80% |
65.5% |
15% |
Climate & Energy |
59.38 |
100 |
59% |
47.4% |
12% |
Economy & Jobs |
82.14 |
100 |
82% |
61.8% |
20% |
Education, Arts & Community |
92.54 |
100 |
93% |
76.9% |
16% |
Equity & Empowerment |
59.17 |
100 |
59% |
21.7% |
37% |
Health & Safety |
78.91 |
100 |
79% |
61.6% |
17% |
Natural Systems |
80.36 |
100 |
80% |
35.1% |
45% |
Innovation & Process |
44.10 |
50 |
88% |
69.5% |
19% |
Totals |
576.99 |
750 |
77% |
53.0% |
24% |
STAR + LEED Cities
During 2019, STAR Communities merged with LEED for Cities & Communities to expand the data-driven and performance-based program and include those critical best practices needed to move the needle on local sustainability conditions. The new program integrates content from STAR and the LEED for Cities pilot, while aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. By recertifying during 2019, St. Pete was able to track progress within the existing STAR framework and simultaneously achieve certification under the LEED for Cities program.
Sustainability means different things to different people, so certification provides a clear, data-driven approach to assessing communities’ sustainability efforts. Certification programs provide third-party verification of a city’s performance across various goal areas. The STAR Community Rating System was the nation’s first comprehensive framework and certification program for evaluating local sustainability, encompassing economic, environmental and social performance measures.
The LEED for Cities and Communities program builds upon this framework to track metrics transparently, educate residents, visitors and business owners to demonstrate commitment to sustainability, human health and economic prosperity. With this certification, communities can credibly track their progress and compare progress with each other.
Rating System
The STAR Community Rating System is organized around 7 thematic Goal Areas + an Innovation and Process Opportunity: Natural Systems, Health & Safety, Education, Arts & Community, Economy & Jobs, Equity & Empowerment, Built Environment, and Climate & Energy. See the STAR Goal Areas and Objectives Chart.
Comparatively, the 6 LEED for Cities credit categories are: Natural Systems and Ecology, Transportation and Land Use, Water Efficiency, Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Materials and Resources, and Quality of Life.
Involved Communities
The list of LEED Cities and Communities is always growing. See an updated list on the U.S. Green Building Council's website.