Green Cincinnati Plan

New Green Cincinnati Plan

The New Green Cincinnati Plan is nearing completion. Two public meetings have been scheduled to allow citizens to comment on the current draft (which will be posted here on Friday, May 10^th):

Wednesday, May 15, 6-8 pm	Thursday, May 16, 6-8 pm
Evanston Recreation Center	Westwood Town Hall Recreation Center
3204 Woodburn Ave.	3017 Harrison Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45207	Cincinnati, Ohio 45211

Please attend if you are interested in learning more about the New Green Cincinnati Plan, have questions or suggested improvements. In addition to the public meetings, interested parties can email their comments to steve.johns@cincinnati-oh.gov. The comment period is from 5/14-5/28.

Below are links to the current draft of the plan. Please note that due to possible changes in content, the drafts below have not been formatted for printing. The "Content Draft" contains general language about the plan and recommendations. The "Implementation Matrix" outlines how the recommendations will be implemented. The "Detailed Descriptions" include more detail about individual recommendations of the plan.

Background

The Green Cincinnati Plan is a roadmap for how Cincinnati can become a national leader in addressing global climate change -- and make Cincinnati a healthier place to live.

Cincinnati is one of more than 1,000 U.S. cities that has committed to reducing its contribution to global climate change. Fortunately, the more we learn about how to combat climate change, the more we realize that climate protection measures are mostly things that we have good reason to be doing anyway.

Climate protection measures can help conserve scarce natural resources, save money, enhance the local economy, improve air quality, create jobs and improve public health.

But, as with so many things, there is more than one way to do it, and whether climate protection helps or hurts our community depends on the paths we choose.

Summary

The Green Cincinnati Plan:

identifies more than 80 specific recommendations for how to reduce contributions to global climate change. The recommended actions generally share several characteristics:
- effectively reducing green house gas emissions.
- reducing dependence on non-renewable energy sources
- saving more money than the recommended actions cost
- supporting local job creation and the local economy
- helping clean Cincinnati's air, land, and water
- relying on voluntary rather than regulatory approaches
quantifies annual contributions to global climate change at 8.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) for the City of Cincinnati, and 432,000 tons of CO₂e for Cincinnati City government. At 25.5 tons per person, Cincinnati is slightly above the national average of 24.5 tons per person.
establishes greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of 8% within four years, 40% within 20 years, and 84% by 2050 (42 years).
presents a strategy to implement the Plan's recommendations

Making It Happen

Implementation of the Green Cincinnati Plan and its 80-plus recommendations began shortly after plan was approved in June 2008. A Steering Committee was established with members from business, government, and environmental, academic, and civic organizations. Quarterly meetings serve as status updates and direction setting interfaces.

City departments, non-profit organizations, businesses and interested citizens formed task teams to assist with the recommendations.

By the plan’s one-year anniversary, implementation activities and/or projects had begun for more than 60 recommendations.

Most projects are long-term. Champions, their organizations and numerous volunteer teams are working to further the Plan's recommendations and goals. Grants and other resources are also being solicited to support the efforts.

Examples of some of the active initiatives:

LEED buildings in Cincinnati
Energy retrofits for 40 City-owned facilities
Energy audits/retrofits for residential and non-profit properties through the Cincinnati Energy Alliance
CPS Science Curriculum Council presentation
Free City parking for all-electric cars
Renewable energy installation
Metro’s hybrid buses
Food Task Team
Urban agriculture on vacant City land