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Adopting the Climate Action and Resilience Plan Update
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WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul recognizes that the climate crisis caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and other sources, is increasingly exposing Saint Paul residents to flooding, poor air quality, extreme heat events, loss of tree cover, economic hardship, and psychological stresses; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul has a legacy of asserting climate urgency, including declaring a climate emergency in Saint Paul (RES 22-98) in January 2022 and adopting the City’s first Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP), in December 2019 (RES PH 19-416) which called for an update every five years to ensure the City stays on track with its goals; and
WHEREAS, the original CARP includes a goal to reduce emissions 50% by 2030 and the City has made significant progress toward this goal with a 26% reduction even as global emissions have continued to rise along with surface and sea temperatures, underscoring the urgency of responding to climate change; and
WHEREAS, the City has implemented numerous initiatives aimed at reducing emissions, adapting to climate change, improving the lives of Saint Paul residents, and creating better economic conditions for businesses, however, the City also recognizes that historically it has contributed a larger share of emissions relative to other parts of the world. Therefore, the CARP update contains an updated emissions reductions target to reflect the City’s fair share with a goal of reducing emissions 63% by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; and
WHEREAS, an outcome of the original CARP was the creation of the Climate Justice Advisory Board, to help ensure that implementation of climate initiatives result in equitable outcomes and whose members played a significant role in the development of the CARP update through the CARP Update Advisory Committee which consisted of 26 members and met 10 times to guide the development of the update; and
WHEREAS, the City led a year-long community engagement process that included multiple opportunities to provide input on the CARP update including a Climate Forum, an online survey, a community conversation toolkit, event-based activities and listening sessions though which nearly 1,000 people participated; and
WHEREAS, Climate change disproportionately puts disadvantaged communities at greater risk because systemic inequities leave them more exposed to environmental hazards while depriving them of the financial and infrastructural resources needed to prepare, adapt, or recover therefore the CARP update includes a particular focus on prioritizing actions benefiting those who are most vulnerable; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul has made significant progress toward completing the actions included in the original CARP but recognizes the need to accelerate progress, therefore the CARP update includes a Five-Year-Action Plan which identifies 25 priority initiatives selected based on community and staff input, and those where the City has the greatest authority to implement; now therefore be it
RESOLVED that the Saint Paul City Council hereby adopts the Climate Action and Resilience Plan Update, and commits to meeting the goals outlined in the Plan.