Creating a Climate Action Plan

South Burlington is a member of the Vermont Climate Communities coalition, a network of cities and towns that have pledged to meet the targets of the State of Vermont and of the Paris Climate Accord. In the time since the City Council adopted this pledge in 2017, the City has hired an energy projects manager and pursued a number of key projects reducing our energy and carbon footprints.

Climate ActionFollowing presentations by the Energy Manager and Energy Committee earlier this fall, the Council asked staff to explore how one important piece of the pledge, the creation of a Climate Action Plan, could get underway.

Last week, staff shared a proposal to develop the Plan. The structure, objectives by sector, and key components of the Plan would be prepared in the first half of 2021 with assistance from the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Next, specific and measurable Plan components would be prepared, with a goal of broad community participation.
(Watch the video from the Council meeting.)

Councilors were supportive of the proposal and emphasized the importance of any work focusing on solutions that can be acted on at the local level and begun as soon as possible.

The Council had requested that staff explore how to get the Plan started earlier this fall, following a status report from the Energy Committee and Staff on energy projects and planning in the community.