Cleveland leaders to use Egypt trip to shape collective response to climate change - cleveland.com

Cleveland leaders to use Egypt trip to shape collective response to climate change - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Climate change is expected to be a big part of Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne’s agenda going forward as evidenced by his participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November.

Ronayne is already talking about changing the name of the county’s Department of Sustainability to reflect an emphasis on climate issues, as well as encouraging the transition to electric vehicles within the county fleet as an example to others.

Held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the conference was noteworthy for the number of Clevelanders – Ronayne and seven others - who made the 30-hour trip to the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula to talk about global warming.

It was an impressive showing of local leadership given that global warming, as the phrase suggests, is a global problem.

But John Mitterholzer, program director for climate and environmental justice at the Gund Foundation, said national governments aren’t doing enough to slow the rise in average temperature around the world, and that the burden of combating climate change is largely falling on local officials.

He said it was important to let the world know that Cleveland is showing leadership on climate change in a state that is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and yet does not wholly embrace the concern.

When the group wasn’t learning what other countries and other cities in the United States were up to, it was sharing Cleveland’s own story of resilience in times of environmental crisis.

Ronayne, who had just won election but had yet to take office when the conference was held, said he went to Egypt “out of a commitment to greater climate stewardship here in northeast Ohio,” to promote Cleveland’s proximity to the Great Lakes, which represents 20% of the surface freshwater in the world, and to tout the remarkable recovery of the Cuyahoga River.

He said he sees the region as a potential refuge for people and businesses from around the world that may be looking to relocate in the face of climate change.

“There’s nothing but opportunity in Northeast Ohio,” he said.

There have now been 27 annual gatherings of the organization known formally as the Council of Parties Framework Convention on Climate Change. The 2015 meeting (COP 21) resulted in the Paris Climate Accords, an agreement among countries to try and limit the increase in global average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above that of pre-industrial times.

The big achievement during the meeting in Egypt (COP 27) was an agreement among those countries most responsible for greenhouse emissions to create a fund to help those least responsible, and yet are among the most threatened, Mitterholzer said. “Africa being high on that list.”

Mitterholzer attended the previous global conference (COP 26), held in Glasgow, Scotland, having been asked to participate as co-chair of the Climate and Energy Funders Group, a collection of philanthropic donors seeking to combat climate change.

But this time around, Mitterholzer had a lot of company from his hometown. Joining him and Ronayne were Ronn Richard, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation; Stephen Love, program director for environmental initiatives at the Cleveland Foundation; Deepa Vedavyas, program director for neighborhoods and environment at the Cleveland Foundation; Michael Jeans, President and CEO of Growth Opportunity Partners; Alyssa Johnson, a fellow with the Gund Foundation; and Baiju Shah, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.

The Cleveland and Gund foundations paid for all the participants to attend, except Shah, whose business expenses were coverd by the partnership.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb did not go, but he appeared by video during a session hosted by Richard and also featuring Shah, Ronayne and Jeans talking about climate change initiatives in Northeast Ohio.

Mitterholzer said there were only about 20 people who attended the Cleveland event, which was held in the The Climate Registry section at the conference center, but close to 200 people tuned in online, including a couple watch parties from the Cleveland, to see a streaming of the session that aired at 8 a.m. back in Cleveland.

Jeans said during the session that it was important for Ohio – as a significant contributor in greenhouse gas emissions - to take responsibility for its actions.

“If we can reduce in Cleveland and in Ohio, then we’re reducing global emissions,” he said.

The group from Cleveland was among the contingent of “civil society” delegates from the various countries that met among themselves, Mitterholzer said, while the diplomats and minsters held their own meetings.

John Kerry, the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, led the U.S. delegation while President Joe Biden showed up for a day with other world leaders.

The Cleveland participants spent time hearing what steps others were taking to combat climate change, including a delegation from California that discussed how it’s using the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles as a deadline to electrify bus fleets.

Ronayne said he also made time to hear Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva talk about his commitment to preserving the rainforest.

Richard said he remarked to a Brazilian tribal chief – with the help of a translator – that he must be delighted having da Silva as president, given that deforestation rose dramatically under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. But the chief surprised Richard by saying it didn’t really matter who was in charge.

It remains to be seen where climate change efforts go in Cleveland. Shah said sustainability is an important issue to the members of the Greater Cleveland Partnership who see it as both “a business opportunity and to some extent a business requirement.”

Richard said the group from Cleveland bonded in Egypt and have already met once since returning to discuss how Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, private business and nonprofits can work together to develop an environmental strategy for the region.

Mitterholzer said the participants want to take what they learned and work to reduce emissions in a way that puts low-income communities of color, historically neglected when it comes to environmental concerns, front and center.

He said the group wants to make sure its experience in Egypt nets results and was not “just an interesting academic trip.”

One update to the county’s climate efforts that Ronayne envisions is having the Department of Sustainability become the Department of Climate and Energy to emphasize its focus on climate and providing green alternatives to fossil fuels. An example would be the plan to establish micro-grids that would supply electricity derived from renewable sources to pockets of business and industry around the county.

Ronanye said Cleveland’s commitment to the conference in Egypt has the opportunity to inspire other communities in Ohio, such as Franklin County (Columbus) and Hamilton County (Cincinnati) to attend the conference next year.

COP 28 is slated to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, this November.