October 2nd, 2008

3 Lessons from the Chicago Climate Action Plan

Posted by Siel, green LA girl

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People often think of California as an leader on environmental issues, but the latest big green initiative blows out of the Windy City! Earlier this month, Chicago unveiled its Climate Action Plan — a roadmap to cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.

Chicago’s already ranked as the fourth most sustainable city by SustainLane, making the Windy City the most sustainable city in the Midwest.  With this new plan — hailed as “aggressive and smart” by NRDC’s Josh Mogerman on the nonprofit’s Switchboard blog — Chicago’s now ready to take its first step toward meeting 1997 Kyoto global warming protocols, which the city committed to by signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

Of course, about 800 other mayors also signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Here are three innovative ideas from Chicago to help those cities create their own plans to slash greenhouse-gas emissions:

1. Make the global local. Global climate change can often seem like a faraway, nebulous problem — until local effects are clearly pointed out. So Chicago hired researchers — and became the first U.S. city to produce models that show the local effects of global warming. Chicago residents can now read a summary of those findings on the Plan’s website, which will hopefully motivate them to act now, before the climate of Chicago starts resembling that of East Texas.

2. Get businesses on board. Chicago’s Business Programs page makes it easy for businesses to go green by bringing to one place the many different eco-programs they can get involved in. From taking the Green Office Challenge to joining the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op, these programs show businesses that they don’t have to go it alone but can get greening help and advice — often while saving money too.

3. Prepare for change. While the Plan’s intended to lessen the effects of climate change, the city’s also going to work to adapt to changes that can’t be avoided by putting together a heat warning system, preparing for increased rainfall and flooding, and planting vegetation that can adapt to climate change.

Chicago’s Climate Action Plan isn’t perfect. While Chicago struck a deal with two coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions or shut down by 2017 as part of the Plan, NRDC’s Josh Mogerman fears these agreements don’t push far enough: “The plan should have sent a more aggressive signal that we are going to address climate change, by addressing all the root causes—particularly the major sources of climate pollution.” In addition, the Plan is just that — a plan. The hard work still remains to be done.

But if all 800 or so of the cities signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement came up with comprehensive climate action plans, the U.S. would really get on the path to sustainability.

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