Latest on the City’s Climate Action Plan
The City’s Climate Action Plan Task Force has been working hard this winter to put together the City’s first ever plan to tackle climate change. The goal, set by Council mirroring the State of Vermont and Paris Accord, is ambitious: to achieve 90% renewable energy use, and at least 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, by 2050.
Using the Vermont Climate Action Plan as a foundation, with the help of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, the Task Force has broken the work into three main sectors: Buildings/Thermal, Transportation/Land Use, and Other [energy production, government operations, natural systems, waste, and agriculture].
The Plan is setting measurable targets within each sector, using 2030 as the first goal line, and actions to meet each target.
The challenge is significant. Working targets for 2030 high impact actions include:
-75% of all vehicles registered in South Burlington to be electric or electric/hybrid
-A 10% reduction in total vehicle miles travelled by South Burlington residents
-New buildings built to net-zero energy standards
-Most existing homes and businesses converted to efficient electric heat (such as heat pumps) or an equivalent
-Most older homes weatherized
To learn more, and to see the first draft of the proposed actions to achieve these (and more) targets, visit the project website.
Ready to take action now? Consider these resources to help!
Electric and hybrid vehicles: Drive Electric Vermont (driveelectricvt.com)
Heat Pumps: GMP helps you save on heat pumps! - Green Mountain Power)
Weatherization: Residential Energy Audit & Weatherization – VGS (vgsvt.com)