Page last updated on October 28, 2022 at 1:51 pm
Each week, Mayor Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Griffin provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives. In today's video, Mayor Hamilton discusses the Climate Action Plan with Assistant Director of Sustainability Lauren Clemens. Access all of the weekly video updates at bloomington.in.gov/videoupdates.
Assistant Director of Sustainability Lauren Clemens provided the community and members of City Council with an update on October 19 concerning the progress toward achieving community climate and sustainability goals. The presentation to the City Council and the Council Climate Action and Resilience Committee on October 18th and 19th covered the state of sustainability and climate action in Bloomington and the City’s ongoing efforts and investments to advance progress on the Sustainability and Climate Action Plans.
Annual reports to the public and council on community strategic plans, such as the 2018 Sustainability Action Plan and 2021 Climate Action Plan, are presented as part of a City-wide effort to maintain and expand transparency and accountability in government functions and services. The 2022 Climate and Sustainability Progress Report and prior progress reports can be found at: bloomington.in.gov/sustainability.
Transcript
John Hamilton:
Hi, it's Bloomington Mayor, John Hamilton. I'm right here in front of City Hall, and thanks for checking in today. I'm with Lauren Clemens. Thank you, Lauren, for being with us. Lauren runs the sustainable development part of city government, and we're here to talk about the climate action plan. So Lauren, why don't you tell us what is our climate action plan? How'd we get one?
Lauren Clemens:
Sure. Bloomington's climate action plan was adopted by the city council in 2021, in April, and since then, it's been active. We have a lot of different mitigation, so reducing emission strategies and adaptation strategies. And the goal of the plan is to reduce emissions in Bloomington by an additional 25%, and then work toward carbon neutrality by 2050.
John Hamilton:
20 to 25% from 2018 to 2030. 2030 is not very far away, actually. And then zero by 2050. So that was a big deal, getting the plan going, and tell us, are you reporting on that soon or how's it going? How are we doing on the climate action plan?
Lauren Clemens:
We've made a lot of progress. We have over 100 actions that are either completed, ongoing, or underway and tonight at the city council, I will be giving our annual report on the progress. And if anyone's interested in checking it out, we have it available on our website, both this year's report and the previous one, so you can compare the scope of what has been underway since 2018.
John Hamilton:
Great. So you go through all the chapters, kind of? The energy or buildings or transportation, food, waste, I don't know. There are more, I guess. And you report on each of those?
Lauren Clemens:
Yeah. So we have a lot of different sectors and goals for each sector. So the great part about the report is you can check, maybe you're more interested in transportation, see what's active in the transportation sector, what might not be started yet. It's a very ambitious plan, so there are a lot of different actions that we have underway.
John Hamilton:
Great. So recently, we've had a couple of things that have moved things along, maybe. One is the regional climate convening that has perhaps accelerated and then maybe even, well, I know it's more significant, was the local income tax, the economic development local income tax, which is helping fund a lot of the work you're paying attention to, right?
Lauren Clemens:
Absolutely. Both of those have really advanced goals of the climate action plan. One, the regional climate convening, which happened on October 4th, was really instrumental, as we had great panelists, and a keynote from Cummins, so that was a really huge step forward in starting that regional conversation. The economic development local income tax has also really improved the funding side of the climate action plan, even though the plan had been adopted. It's very ambitious and there are a lot of activities that both government will be spearheading, but also partnering with other organizations to move forward. So that dedication of funding, not-
John Hamilton:
How much did we dedicate per year, to that?
Lauren Clemens:
Yeah, for next year and for ESE's budget, it's over $1.6 million in climate funding. And that will go across different programs and support both programs that were started during recover forward initiatives, but then also funding new things that were unfunded prior.
John Hamilton:
Great. And we've kind of earmarked with the council $1.6 million a year specifically for that climate action plan, though lots of our parts of city government invest a lot of money in climate-related things too, which you help coordinate, right?
Lauren Clemens:
Absolutely. So we have the Mayor's committee on climate action, which also helps as a team-
John Hamilton:
It's called the Mayor's, but you really do a lot of the work. I know.
Lauren Clemens:
It's a collaborative team of different city departments. So in addition to the budget amount that's in economic and sustainable development, there are initiatives that cut across the entire city government. And that's not only for city operations but also community programs that city departments are helping to spearhead or support or lead with other partners across the community.
John Hamilton:
Great. Well, one reminder is the government is only a little piece of the climate stuff, and we're really leaning into it, and I thank the city council for that, with investments and with plans and we'd love the more you want to know about it, check out on the website. Lauren, thank you for your involvement in it and leadership in it, and we're really taking major new steps because we know how important the climate emergency is. Lauren, you actually have a new staff member joining too, right?
Lauren Clemens:
We do. Yeah.
John Hamilton:
We're doubling your staff from one to two, so that's great. If you want more information, please check it out on the website, and thanks for your attention so far.