Green Government Program

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

After adding approximately one million people in the 1990s, Maricopa County will again add another one million people in the first decade of this century. With a current population approaching four million and long-term projections showing the population nearly doubling again in less than 40 years, strategies to help maintain a vibrant quality of life will rely heavily on a healthy and sustainable environment. Recognizing the relationship between the environment and the County’s long-term success, Maricopa County has prepared and implemented the Green Government Program to reduce its carbon footprint, help save money, and enhance the region’s environment. This program is three pronged in its approach as it intends to: identify and implement operational activities in each department that can be altered, minimized, or eliminated to improve the environment; to provide a forum for synergistic cooperation across departments and communications to promote employee awareness that will result in environmental and fiscal efficiency; and to establish policies that promote environmentally sensitive development or county operations in the future. Guiding philosophies for each of these three portions of the program include short and long-term savings to the county, educating the public on county efforts, as well as positioning the county as a regional leader in sustainability.