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According to proposed rules issued by the state Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission earlier this month, Metro should plan to reduce per-capita carbon emissions from passenger vehicles from 2005 levels by 21 percent by 2025.

To achieve this goal, Metro is examining strategies to encourage people to travel more by public transit, bicycle and foot, and to make urban planning decisions that would reduce travel altogether. However, according to a recent poll, some of the strategies may be a difficult sell to the public.

鈥淧eople want houses and yards and a suburban lifestyle,鈥� Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden said. Ogden supports the reduction of emissions, but questions whether people would be willing to move to compact urban areas, and whether money would be available to make infrastructure change realistic, especially in the near future.

The Metro goal is just part of Oregon’s strategy to address climate change. The Oregon Global Warming Commission manages a list of more than 40 actions designed to help the state meet goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such actions include support of electric vehicles, creation of net-zero standards for new buildings, and determination of research priorities for the Oregon University System.

The statewide goals, adopted in 2007, call for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 10 percent by 2020, and by 75 percent by 2050.

While the Metro land-use and transportation strategies require infrastructure investment and public outreach, other strategies focus more on industry changes.

The Department of Environmental Quality is in the process of developing a low-carbon fuel standard. The agency is engaging stakeholders in the plan, and it has produced a report that outlines the different alternatives the standard would support, such as biodiesel, ethanol and electric vehicles instead of gasoline and diesel.

The emissions reduction target for Metro accounts for adoption of electric vehicles and low-carbon fuels, but those measures won’t be part of the strategies or scenarios Metro will use to form its plan.

At a Metro climate leadership summit earlier this month, local elected officials, planning experts, transportation and bicycling advocates and other stakeholders were informed of results from a recent poll concerning climate issues and strategies.

According to the poll, 36 percent of respondents said they somewhat or strongly supported creating more compact neighborhoods, while 48 percent said they opposed that idea. Respondents expressed more support for building public transit and encouraging people to travel by bicycle.

Summit attendees were asked to use the poll data and prioritize strategies for themselves. The results of that polling will be used to create some scenarios, which will be modeled this summer and then used to form a plan to help the region meet targets for reductions of emissions.