KLA (Kim Lundgren Associates)

Yes, every day *should* be Earth Day. And at KLA, it is. As a company committed to working with local governments on climate action, sustainability, and resiliency efforts, we're using today to highlight our core values and vision statement. Our work with towns, cities, and counties across the United States is underscored by authenticity, equity, innovation, impact, and leadership - and those values have led to our focus on high-impact strategies that can lead communities to become safer, cleaner, and more sustainable at the pace that the climate crisis demands. See the work we do across the country (on Earth Day, and every day): https://hubs.ly/Q02tBjt30 #earthday #earthday2024 #sustainability #climatechange #resilience #localgovernment #localgov #smallbusiness #visionstatement

We've got our heads down at work helping client communities on their sustainability and climate action journeys. Then we go home and.....do the same thing in our own lives! It's what passion for our mission looks like. In our latest blog post, our Director of Climate Solutions Tacy Lambiase walks us through her electrification process including their brand new, treasured heat pump. Even though you can't run and grab a heat pump at the last minute to stuff in a stocking, the clear message is to START NOW. #heatpumps #missiondriven #localclimateaction https://lnkd.in/eFmCj7yh

Instead of food baskets or other corporate gifts, KLA was proud to make a donation to Pisgah Legal Services based in Asheville, NC, on behalf of our clients and partners. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene across Western North Carolina and beyond underscored our mission to elevate local climate action to match the urgency of the climate crisis. We're proud to support a group that is helping the region rebuild, starting with the immediate disaster recovery needs but expanding to facilitate long term stability and resilience and focusing on the most vulnerable among us. You can check them out at https://lnkd.in/gVWh9W4 At KLA we consistently seek out local community-based organizations as partners in our climate action planning and community engagement as well as recipients of charitable giving. We encourage you to do the same with groups in your backyard.

Kim Lundgren, Mike Steinhoff and Margot Paolucci snuck in one last client visit for 2024 last week. Good to see Tory Jackson, P.E. and Annamarie Smith, Marco N. Velotta, AICP, Jared Bilberry along with Robert B. and plenty others from Clark County. Closing out the year strong with another meeting (this one hybrid) with the #AllinClarkCounty Regional Climate Collaborative. #ClarkCountyNV #regionalcollaboration #localclimateaction

Tacy Lambiase, Sarah Carista, Carley Petrone and Hannah Arledge touched down in Easton, MA this week for the first Advisory Group meeting as they develop Easton Forward, their climate action plan. Packed house with more than 25 Easton town staff, Committee for Climate Action Planning and community members on hand. In breakout groups we brainstormed opportunities, barriers, equity and data considerations within the plans' focus areas: energy, buildings, transportation and land use, minimize waste, resilience and healthy community, natural resources. Bonus: We got to unveil their new Easton Forward branding! Successful first visit with our newest client. Thanks Sean Dugan, MPA, MS and the Town of Easton, MA team for having us.

What she said! We couldn't do what we do without the community-based partner organizations already hard at work in their communities, so we're thrilled to give back to groups like Perkins School for the Blind, Kheprw Institute, and CHR Inc and Mary House.

If you love finance, HR, IT and all things operations and you live to create a well-oiled machine, have we got a gig for you! We're on the hunt for a Director of Operations to join our team of, #humblebrag, rockstars. Bonus: you'll get paid to fight climate change. Check out the job description, please share with your networks and send resume and cover letter to careers@kimlundgrenassociates.com #jobs #climatejobs #greenjobs #hiring https://lnkd.in/exrNru4a

At KLA we are always evolving our approach to climate action planning as the urgency of the climate crisis dictates. Something we have noticed lately is an increase in requests for cost benefit analysis (CBA) or some kind of financial analyses in CAP RFPs. Over the years KLA’s Director of Climate Analysis, Mike Steinhoff has seen many references to CBA for lots of things that aren’t necessarily CBA and has been thinking about what the tool is really good at for local climate action. "Sometimes people just want to know if an action will pay for itself. Honestly that’s a criterion we need to drop if we have any chance of solving the climate crisis. A well-designed CBA can be a great tool for determining if a policy or project should be implemented, based on whether it improves the welfare of constituents impacted by the action. This approach helps demonstrate where benefits exceed costs, justify moving forward with implementation of an action, and develop content for effective engagement. Again, if we are going to take the action needed to hit targets, CBA doesn’t tell us much since basically everything needs to be done yesterday. More often we are finding cost-effectiveness to be a better screen for evaluating how we transition different sources."   What do others think? What are the kinds of things you have successfully or unsuccessfully tried to demonstrate with CBA? Other methodologies or suggestions out there?

The idea of a "climate haven" was washed away this fall as we witnessed Western North Carolina residents evacuating to (not from) coastal areas in the wake of Hurricane Helene. It was the latest devastating reminder that climate change wreaks havoc in many different and often unexpected ways—and that no corner of the country is truly safe. Through our work with clients from Clark County/Las Vegas to Buffalo, NY, facing extreme weather, deadly heat, drought and coastal flooding, we've sharpened our focus on the highest impact resilience strategies. In a recent blog post, our Climate Analysis Manager Carley Petrone dove into some of those best practices. https://lnkd.in/eHgpWhZw

Our Climate Analysis team spends a lot of time buried in data, identifying where and how communities can get the biggest bang for their buck with GHG emissions reductions. But we also know how to take a step back (or in this case up) to get the 30K-foot view of the work we're doing. ✈️🌎💻 That's a pretty nice planet we've got, thankful that we're on the front lines helping protect it and us. 📸 by Sarah Carista flying over Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon after a recent client visit in Clark County. #ClarkCountyNV #climatechange #thankful