City of Cleveland to Launch Updated Climate Action Plan at Sustainable Cleveland Summit Sept. 20-21

Plan focuses on a community-wide vision to make equity, engagement, and emissions reductions central in City’s response to climate change

CLEVELAND – Over the past year, the City of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability engaged more than 450 people to inform the updated Cleveland Climate Action Plan (CAP). The update maintains the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, with interim goals of 16 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by 2030. Implementing the CAP will be a major focus of Mayor Frank G. Jackson’s 10th Annual Sustainability Summit, taking place Sept. 20-21, 2018 at Cleveland Public Auditorium.

“Given the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, it is even more important for Cleveland and other cities to lead on climate action,” said Mayor Jackson. “This Cleveland Climate Action Plan is critical to ensuring we transition to a sustainable economy while cleaning the environment and protecting our most vulnerable residents.”

The plan includes 28 key objectives in six focus areas:

• Energy Efficiency and Green Building
• Clean Energy
• Sustainable Transportation
• Clean Water & Vibrant Green Space
• More Local Food, Less Waste
• Cross-Cutting Priorities

“This plan is about much more than climate change,” said Chief of Sustainability Matt Gray. “This CAP update builds off our progress by firmly establishing a series of cross-cutting priorities: (1) social and racial equity, (2) good jobs, green jobs, (3) resilience to the impacts of climate change, and (4) business leadership.”

This CAP update prioritized engagement and involved the community, including 90 members of the Climate Action Advisory Committee, 300 resident leaders who participated in 12 neighborhood workshops, and those who contributed to the 200 comments received during the public comment period. The commitment to update the initial 2013 plan and report publicly on its progress has elevated Cleveland nationally and across the globe, including:

• In parallel with the Global Climate Action Summit, the City of Cleveland was selected in Sept. 2018 as the U.S. winner of the World Wildlife Fund’s One Planet City Challenge. Cities were evaluated on their level of ambition and innovation for low carbon development.
• Cleveland was recognized in summer 2018 as a top five city globally in climate change reporting by the Carbon Disclosure Project, alongside Paris, Mexico City, Durban, and Sydney.
• Cleveland became compliant with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, making it one of the first 10 U.S. cities to do so. The Global Covenant is an international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low emission, resilient society.

The updated plan and the extensive engagement process behind it were supported in large part through a Partners for Places grant that looked to Cleveland as one of seven cities to incorporate equity into sustainability efforts. Each action under consideration for the plan was reviewed using a Racial Equity Tool developed by a subset of the Climate Action Advisory Committee. Additional support was provided by The Cleveland Foundation and The George Gund Foundation.

For more on the Cleveland Climate Action Plan and the City of Cleveland’s commitment to sustainability, visit Sustainable Cleveland at www.sustainablecleveland.org/climate

About the City of Cleveland

The City of Cleveland is committed to improving the quality of life for its residents by strengthening neighborhoods, delivering superior services, embracing diversity and making Cleveland a desirable, safe city in which to live, work, play, and do business. For more information on the City of Cleveland, visit online at www.city.cleveland.oh.us, Twitter at @cityofcleveland or Facebook at www.facebook.com/cityofcleveland

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