Charlotte's new climate goals aim to balance reducing emissions with community improvement
In a unanimous vote last week, the Charlotte City Council approved an update to the city's climate goals.
Council originally set climate benchmarks in 2018, and the city established the Strategic Energy Action Plan to meet those goals by tracking and reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to cleaner sources of electricity.
The updated version, known as the Strategic Energy Action Plan Plus, expands on those goals by setting a benchmark to transition its entire light-duty fleet and cut citywide emissions by 72% by 2035, then reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
ALSO READ: Charlotte adjusts city-wide climate goals as 2030 deadline approaches
Additionally, Heather Bolick, the city's chief sustainability officer, explained that the new plan also focuses far more on climate adaptation and ways to make green technology more accessible to those who live and work in the city.
'One thing that we found through our engagement that was really important to the community was things like tree canopy and also reducing waste,' she said. 'We need more shade. We need a cooler city.'
Bolick explained a city study found Charlotte is experiencing triple the high heat days that it experienced on average 30 years ago, so finding ways to improve shade or reflect the heat rather than absorb it is an important part of the city's plan moving forward.
'We have concrete instead of asphalt,' she explained. 'We have cool roofs, and that reflects the heat back up into the atmosphere.'
The largest portion of the city's emissions comes from transportation, particularly road and rail. While Bolick explains the city is working to cut down on that through replacing its fleet with electric vehicles, adding more charging infrastructure, and advocating for the county transit plan to reduce car dependency.
The Peppertree Apartments are benefiting from another city's strategy. A partnership between the complex, a mobility nonprofit, and the city, Peppertree Apartments, launched an EV carshare program about three months ago.
As property manager Meg Martin explains, the program allows residents, many of whom make below the area median income, to reserve and drive one of the on-site EVs for less than the cost of an Uber or Lyft.
'A lot of our residents don't have actual vehicles, but they have a driver's license,' she said. 'This gives them a chance if they need to go to the doctors, if they need to go grocery shopping, or if they need to get their child to and from daycare.'
From the city's perspective, it's a win-win, allowing more families access to affordable point-to-point transportation while reducing emissions and making green technology more accessible. Bolick said the city hopes to get more programs like this off the ground, including the Solarize Charlotte-Mecklenburg program, which aims to make residential and community solar more affordable to residents across the city.
In the meantime, Bolick said the city is continuing to try and get all its electricity from zero-carbon sources by 2030 by building up its own solar generation. In the end, though, she said Charlotte can't meet its ambitious goals unless there's buy-in from local residents and businesses.
'The past six years we've been putting policy in place, programs, really setting ourselves up to get ourselves going,' she said. 'Now we're asking our community to come with us.'
VIDEO: Charlotte adjusts city-wide climate goals as 2030 deadline approaches
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