St. Louis
City Scorecard Rank
28
St. Louis, MO
40.00Scored out of 100Updated 10/2020
Community-Wide Initiatives
Score: 4.5 out of 15 points
Community-Wide Summary List All
The City of St. Louis has formally adopted the Sustainability Plan. The Sustainability Action Agenda updates the plan’s goals.
Last updated: September 2021
Community-Wide Climate Mitigation and Energy GoalsList All
Climate Mitigation Goal
The Sustainability Action Agenda sets a goal to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. Based on ACEEE’s analysis of past years emissions data, ACEEE projects that the city will achieve 75% of the per-capita emissions reductions required to achieve its 2050 community-wide GHG emissions reduction goal.
Energy Reduction Goal
While the city’s Climate Action & Adaption Plan and Energy Benchmarking program have the intention to reduce energy use within the community, neither have established a quantifiable energy reductions goal.
Renewable Energy Goal
The Board of Alderman approved a resolution to procure 100% of electricity from clean energy sources such as wind, solar, and energy efficiency measures by 2035.
Last updated: September 2021
Equity-Driven Approaches to Clean Energy Planning, Implementation, and EvaluationList All
Equity-Driven Community Engagement
We were unable to determine whether relevant decision-makers have taken a unique and expanded approach in conducting engagement for multiple clean energy initiatives with marginalized groups compared to engagement with other city constituencies.
Equity-Driven Decision-Making
We were unable to determine if the city has created a formal role for marginalized community residents or local organizations representing those communities to participate in decision-making that affects the creation or implementation of a local energy, sustainability, or climate action plan.
Equity Accountability Measures
We were unable to determine whether the city has adopted specific goals, metrics, or protocols to track how multiple energy, sustainability, or climate action initiatives are affecting local marginalized groups.
Last updated: September 2021
Clean Distributed Energy ResourcesList All
The city is piloting a community solar program at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
Last updated: September 2021
Mitigation of Heat Islands List All
UHI Mitigation Goal
We could not verify if the city has adopted a quantifiable urban heat island mitigation goal.
UHI Policies and Programs
St. Louis is a member of the Green City Coalition, which runs the Urban Greening Program. The Program has a budget of $13.5 million to spend on demolishing vacant and abandoned buildings as a means to reduce impervious surfaces while also restoring the Bissel Point Watershed.
Last updated: September 2021
Buildings Policies
Score: 19 out of 30 points
Buildings Summary List All
The City of St. Louis has jurisdiction to adopt its own building energy codes. The city adopted a benchmarking and disclosure policy. The city also offers several incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. St. Louis adopted building performance standards for commercial and multifamily buildings.
Last Updated: June 2021
Building Energy CodesList All
Overview
The State of Missouri allows local jurisdictions to adopt building energy codes more stringent than the state’s code. In 2018, St. Louis adopted the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) by ordinance, along with several other of the 2018 ICC codes. To learn more about Missouri’s building energy codes, please visit the State Policy Database.
Commercial
Commercial properties must comply with the 2018 IECC. The city’s zEPI score for their commercial energy code is 41.5.
Residential
Residential properties must comply with the 2018 IECC. The city’s zEPI score for their residential energy code is 53.1.
Solar-readiness policies
St. Louis adopted a solar-ready ordinance for commercial and multifamily buildings in January 2020.
EV-charging readiness and infrastructure policies
Saint Louis Board Bill Number 162, 163, and 181 sets EV-ready and infrastructure requirements for commercial and multifamily buildings.
Low-energy use requirements
St. Louis ordinance 67414 requires new municipal buildings achieve LEED Silver certification.
Last Updated: June 2021
Building Energy Code Compliance and EnforcementList All
St. Louis has 160 full time employees but none are dedicated to one specific code such as the energy code. The city uses plan reviews to verify compliance with building and energy codes. The city partners with US Green Buildings Council to provide training on the building energy code.
Last Updated: June 2021
Policies Targeting Existing BuildingsList All
Building performance standards
Ordinance 71132 requires commercial, multifamily, institutional, and municipal buildings greater than 50,000 square feet to achieve phased energy use reductions.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
St. Louis adopted the Building Energy Awareness bill. It requires certain buildings to record annual whole-building energy and water consumption data in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. City-owned buildings began benchmarking in the first year under the ordinance in 2017. The city required privately-owned commercial and multifamily buildings 50,000 square feet to comply starting April 2018. Both city- and privately-owned buildings will be required to report their consumption information each year thereafter.
Incentives
PACE financing is available for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in residential and commercial buildings.
Last Updated: August 2021
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Workforce DevelopmentList All
The City launched a Solar Workforce Development Pilot in 2020. In the first year, 10 individuals participated in the training modules. Straight Up Solar offered three participants paid internships and one program graduate a permanent job. The program administrators are planning the 2021 pilot and permanent program.
Last Update: August 2021
Transportation
Score: 8 of out 30 points
Transportation Summary List All
The transportation authority serving the City of St. Louis is The Bi-State Development Agency. The Agency also provides the public transportation for the city and the broader metropolitan area, including bus and light rail service. The East-West Gateway Council of Governments is the MPO in charge of conducting metropolitan transportation planning. Its area of jurisdiction encompasses St. Louis and many cities and counties in both Missouri and Illinois. The Department of Highways and Traffic is the county agency charged with managing the city’s transportation network.
Last updated: January 2017
Sustainable Transportation Planning List All
Sustainable Transportation Plan
St. Louis does not have a sustainable transportation plan in place
VMT/GHG Targets and Stringency
St. Louis does not have a VMT/GHG target in place for the transportation sector.
Progress Achieved Toward VMT/GHG Targets
Although St. Louis does not have a codified VMT target, the City did conduct a GHG Analysis of 2018 emissions which was completed in October of 2019. The city's overall emissions profile was shown to have decreased by 1,506,516 metric tons CO2e from 8,081,418 in 2005 to 6,574,902 in 2018. During that same period the community transportation sector's share of the larger city emissions profile decreased from 23% (1,858,726.14 metric tons CO2e) in 2005 to 17% (1,117,733.34) by 2018.
Last Updated: December 2021
Location Efficiency List All
Location Efficient Zoning Codes
St. Louis’s Ordinance 69199 was adopted in 2012 and creates a new form-based overlay district to be incorporated into a St. Louis zoning code.
Residential Parking Policies
The city allows one or more parking spaces per residential unit.
Location Efficiency Incentives and Disclosure
St. Louis has no incentives available through the city to promote location efficiency.
Last Updated: December 2021
Mode Shift List All
Mode Shift Targets
St. Louis does not have a mode shift target in place for the transportation sector.
Progress Achieved Toward Mode Shift Targets
St. Louis does not track progress towards their mode shift target.
Complete Streets
St. Louis has a Complete Streets policy.
Last Updated: December 2021
Public Transit List All
Transportation Funding
The transportation entities that serve the City of Saint Louis have received $277,812,990.40 on average annually between 2015 and 2019. That equates to roughly $177.40 per capita between 2015 and 2019 within the Authority's service area.
Access to Transit Services
The Transit Connectivity Index measures transit service levels. It is based on the number of bus routes and train stations within walking distance for households scaled by frequency of service. The City of Saint Louis Transit Connectivity Index value is 8.4, scoring 1.5 points in the City Scorecard.
Last Updated: December 2021
Efficient VehiclesList All
Vehicle Purchase Incentives
Ameren provides a $3,000 rebate on Nissan Leaf purchases.
Vehicle Infrastructure Incentives
Ameren provides incentives for charging infrastructure.
EV Charging Locations
The City has 66 charging ports available for public use, equivalent to 22 ports per 100,000 people.
Electric School Bus Goal
Saint Louis does not have an electric school bus goal.
EV Transit Bus Goal
Saint Louis's metro has a goal to add at least 14 fully electrified buses to its fleet.
Last Updated: December 2021
Freight System EfficiencyList All
St. Louis does not have a sustainable freight transportation plan in place nor does it have any policies that address freight efficiency.
Last Updated: December 2021
Clean, Efficient Transportation for Low-Income CommunitiesList All
Affordable New TOD Housing Policy
St. Louis does not have any requirements or incentives in place to encourage the development or preservation of affordable housing in transit-served areas.
Connecting Existing Affordable Housing Stock to Efficient Transportation Options
St. Louis does not provide any subsidies for efficient transportation options to low-income residents.
Last Updated: December 2021
Energy & Water Utilities
Score: 6.5 out of 15 points
Energy & Water Utilities Summary List All
Ameren Missouri, formally Union Electric Co., is the primary electric utility serving the City of St. Louis. Spire Missouri (formerly Laclede Gas), an investor-owned utility (IOU), is St. Louis’s primary natural gas utility. The State of Missouri requires all IOUs to capture all cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities. To learn more about the state requirements for electric and gas efficiency, please visit the Missouri page of the State Database.
The St. Louis Water Division is the municipal utility that provides drinking water services to St. Louis. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is the regional utility which treats the city’s wastewater and manages the stormwater.
Last Updated: July 2021
Electricity and Natural Gas Efficiency SavingsList All
In 2019, Ameren Missouri reported 316,306 MWh in net electric incremental savings, representing 0.98% of retail sales. In 2019, Ameren Missouri spent $66,444,000 on electric energy efficiency programs, which represents 2.33% of its retail revenue.
In 2019, Spire Missouri reported 2.42 MMtherms of net natural gas savings at the meter, which represents 0.18% of its retail sales across the utility’s service territory. In 2019, Spire Missouri spent $6,397,222 on energy efficiency, which equates to $5.81 per residential customer. These savings and spending figures cover the entire jurisdiction of both utilities, not just the City of St. Louis.
Ameren Missouri offers electric efficiency incentives and technical assistance to residential and commercial/industrial customers. Spire Missouri similarly offers natural gas efficiency programs to residential and business customers.
The City of St. Louis partners with Ameren Missouri and Spire Missouri in a number of programs and utility representatives serve as board or commission members for multiple city programs. For example, the city and utilities partner through the Set the PACE St. Louis financing program to help homeowners and commercial, industrial and multifamily property owners access affordable, long-term financing for smart energy upgrades to their buildings. Ameren Missouri participates in the Board of the recently passed Building Energy Performance Standard program.
Last Updated: July 2021
Low-Income & Multifamily EE Programs List All
Low-Income Programs
Ameren Missouri, in partnership with Spire Missouri, offers a Community Savers Rebate Program to qualified low-income residential customers. This program is available to multifamily buildings with three or more units in the building that meet income qualifications. The program provides education, HVAC tune-ups and a variety of direct-install, no-cost, energy-saving measures including LEDs, faucet aerators, programmable thermostats, low-flow showerheads, and ENERGY STAR refrigerators and window units. In addition, incentives are available for common area lighting and whole building retrofits for standard and custom projects. In addition, Ameren Missouri offers a Multifamily Income Eligible program, Single Family Income Eligible Program, and Low-Income Grant program.
In 2019, Ameren Missouri’s achieved 6,500 MWh in energy savings, while spending $5,455,000 and serving 1,368 low-income customers.
Spire Missouri offers a Low-Income Weatherization Program to customers in St. Louis and throughout its service territory. The program offers weatherization measures including weather-stripping, caulking, HVAC filter replacement, HVAC repair/replace, and low-flow faucet aerators and showerheads. The program partners with the local government agencies, Community Action Agencies (CAA), the Weatherization Assistance Program, Committee to Keep Missourians Warm, Earthways Center, US Green Building Council, and Energy Efficiency for All.
Spire Missouri partners with the Community Action Agencies and leverages Low Income Weatherization Assistance Program (LIWAP), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and energy assistance dollars from Spire’s Dollars Help program. Spire also leverages funds from Independence Power & Light for the co-delivery program in Independence service territory. Spire covers health and safety measures 100%, including ASHRAE ventilation fans, energy recovery ventilators, new power vented water heaters, new furnaces, and smoke & CO monitors.
In 2019 according to Spire Missouri, it spent $1,510,734 on its low-income programs and served 2,927 low-income customers. Savings data for 2019 was not available.
Multifamily Programs
Ameren Missouri and Spire Missouri jointly offer the Multifamily Low-Income Program for low-income multifamily buildings. This program delivers long-term energy savings and bill reductions to tenants, owners, and operators of multifamily low-income properties. This will be achieved through education and a variety of directly installed and incentivized energy-saving measures in tenant units, whole-building, and common area improvements. Ameren Missouri also offers the Multifamily Market Rate program which provides buildings with an energy assessment, incentives for energy-saving building upgrades, and incentives for energy-saving products.
In 2019, Ameren Missouri achieved 5,836 MWh in energy savings, while serving 1,280 multifamily housing units And spending $2,730,000. In 2019, Spire Missouri achieved 0.10 MMtherms in energy savings and spent $382,030 on its multifamily program.
Last Updated: August 2021
Provision of Energy Data by UtilitiesList All
Ameren and Spire provides automated benchmarking services. Ameren created a new tool called the Benchmarking & Energy Efficiency Portal (BEEP) so building owners can get monthly, electric data automatically uploaded to properties created in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The city of St. Louis provides community wide energy usage information for planning and evaluation purposes through their Annual Benchmarking Report.
The City of St. Louis does not advocate for better access to utility data for ratepayers or the establishment of data-sharing agreements between the city and its utilities.
Last Updated: July 2021
Decarbonization and Climate Change Mitigation Efforts of Energy UtilitiesList All
Utility Climate Mitigation Goal
In 2020, Ameren committed to a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with an interim goal of 50% reduction by 2030, and 85% by 2040, and 100% by 2050 from 2005 levels. To achieve 50% by 2030, Ameren will need to reduce emissions by 3.8% annually from 2019 levels.
City-Led Efforts to Decarbonize the Electric Grid
In 2020, the City of St. Louis signed on to Ameren's green tariff program to procure renewable energy. Ameren is adapting the program now, and the city plans to revisit the program offering in June 2020.
Last Updated: July 2021
Efficiency Efforts in Water ServicesList All
Citywide Water Efficiency and Goals
The City of St. Louis’s Water Division and the energy utilities do not offer joint water or energy efficiency programs. At this point, the City of St. Louis Water Division does not have a goal to reduce water usage, nor does it offer water conservation rebates or incentives to city residents.
Water Plant Efficiency and Self-Generation
There is currently no goal established for saving energy through the municipal water system operations. The City's Water Division has entered into a formal Energy Demand agreement with Ameren Missouri and is saving energy through this program. The city’s water system does not self-generate its own energy.
Last Updated: August 2021
Local Government Score:
2 out of 10 points
Local Government Climate and Energy Goals List All
The City of St. Louis adopted the Climate Action and Adaption Plan. The Plan includes actions for municipal operations.
Climate Mitigation Goal
In 2018, St. Louis achieved its goal to reduce municipal greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 2005 levels by 2020. St. Louis established a citywide goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 as part of the city’s commitment to the Global Covenant of Mayors. Based on ACEEE's analysis of past years emissions data, ACEEE projects that the city will not achieve its 2050 municipal GHG emissions reduction goal.
Energy Reduction Goal
We were unable to find information regarding a municipal energy reduction goal.
Renewable Energy Goal
The Board of Alderman passed a resolution to use 100% renewable electricity by 2035 citywide.
Last updated: June 2021
Procurement and Construction Policies List All
Fleet Policies and Composition
St. Louis does not have fuel efficiency requirements for the public fleet. Executive Order 68 requires the city to prioritize the purchase of low and no emission vehicles over comparable internal combustion engine vehicles. The City has a no-idling ordinance (Ordinance 68137) and telematics devices installed in 475 vehicles to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. The city has used VW Trust funding to acquire 8 EVs and several dual port EVSE. We were unable to find data regarding the city’s fleet composition.
Public Lighting
The city and county’s lighting regulations require lighting controls and call for automatic extinguishing of streetlights when sufficient day light is available. The city and county’s lighting regulations require lighting controls and call for automatic extinguishing of streetlights when sufficient day light is available. St. Louis has converted approximately 40-50% of streetlights to LED.
Onsite or offsite renewable systems
We were unable to find information indicating that the City has installed onsite or offsite renewable energy systems.
Inclusive procurement
St. Louis has set carveouts for minority and women-owned businesses. The PACE St. Louis program has M/WBE goals.
Last updated: June 2021
Asset Management List All
Building Benchmarking and Retrofitting
St. Louis currently benchmarks 19.5% of municipal buildings. The City benchmarks 16 properties 50,000 square feet or larger that are subject to the City's benchmarking ordinance.
Comprehensive Retrofit Strategies
We were unable to find information on a comprehensive retrofit strategy in St. Louis.
Last updated: June 2021