Opinion | Big year for climate action in Madison - The Capital Times

Opinion | Big year for climate action in Madison | Guest Columns | captimes.com

Having recently returned from the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP28), I have been reflecting on the tremendous momentum and support for climate action and sustainability in Madison. We’ve made a lot of progress in 2023. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Madison became Wisconsin’s first municipality to adopt a building energy benchmarking and tune-ups ordinance.

In March 2023, the Common Council unanimously approved the Building Energy Savings Program (BESP) to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon pollution from large commercial buildings communitywide. The program is expected to cut climate pollution by an estimated 91,000 tons per year. That’s like taking nearly 18,000 cars off the road.

2. Madison has the largest municipal electric fleet in Wisconsin.

Five years ago, the city of Madison had no electric vehicles in its fleet. Now we have 100 and aim to become the first large government fleet in North America to get out of gas engines completely by 2030.

3. We launched a new air quality monitoring initiative with funding from U.S. EPA.

The city of Madison is leading a new collaborative project to install a citywide network of air quality sensors to help understand air pollution in our community. These sensors will provide real-time air quality information that will help inform new strategies to reduce pollution and protect community health.

4. Metro Transit secured $38 million for electric buses and sustainable facilities.

In June 2023, the city of Madison was awarded a Federal Transit Administration grant to purchase another 16 all-electric, 60-foot articulated buses for the new east-west bus rapid transit (BRT) system, growing the clean BRT bus fleet to 62.

5. The city added solar panels at 11 facilities.

In 2023, we installed 690 kilowatts (kW) of solar, bringing the city’s total behind-the-meter solar capacity to 1,700 kW at 42 facilities. Now, 74% of electricity for city operations comes from renewable sources.

6. Madison continues to be a voice for climate action at the national level.

This year, I took the gavel as the national chair of U.S. Climate Mayors, a group of over 500 mayors working to accelerate climate action in the United States. I also served as co-chair of the U.S. EPA’s Local Government Advisory Committee’s (LGAC) working group on climate mitigation. In these roles, I collaborate with other cities, share examples of our climate successes and represent the needs of our community.

7. The city adopted a new Transit Oriented Development zoning overlay that will incentivize climate-friendly development.

In January 2023, the city of Madison adopted the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Overlay Zoning District to encourage development along high-frequency transit corridors. This policy promotes pedestrian-oriented, compact, mixed-use development.

8. The Efficiency Navigator Program provided free energy-saving upgrades to 88 multifamily housing units.

In April 2023, the city of Madison, Sustain Dane and Elevate successfully completed the first round of the Efficiency Navigator Program, which provides energy upgrades to affordable multifamily housing. Through this program, 88 rental units in 13 buildings on the north side and southwest side of Madison received over 60 efficiency upgrades, which reduced energy bills by $300 to $500 a year in each building while also reducing carbon pollution.

9. Madison celebrated the largest ever class in the GreenPower training program.

The Engineering Division’s GreenPower program prepares participants for employment opportunities in the solar energy and electrical industries while also increasing the city’s generation of renewable energy. Each year, the city hires trainees from non-traditional trade backgrounds to work alongside Engineering Division electricians to install solar arrays at city facilities.

10. The MadiSUN program kicked off its seventh year of helping homes, businesses and nonprofits go solar.

In March 2023, the city of Madison launched another successful year of the MadiSUN program at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which received a $10,000 grant in 2021 to install a 21.6 kW rooftop solar array. So far we’ve helped 281 households, 19 businesses and 19 affordable housing and nonprofit projects access the benefits of clean energy.

11. Madison Water Utility received funding to remove PFAS contamination from drinking water.

In November 2023, the city of Madison received $3.5 million in funding from a water pollution settlement, which the Madison Water Utility will use to build Wisconsin’s first well-specific municipal PFAS treatment system at Well 15.

12. The city’s Sustainability and Resilience Program welcomed two new staff members.

We added two Sustainability Program coordinators to help advance our sustainability and climate action initiatives.

13. We had a record-breaking year for food scraps collection at farmers’ markets.

For the second year in a row, we’ve partnered with local nonprofit Sustain Dane to provide free food scraps collection at the South Madison and Eastside farmers’ markets from June through October. This year, we collected more than 18,800 pounds of food scraps that were composted instead of ending up in the landfill.

14. We’re collaborating with municipal, state and nonprofit partners to secure federal funding for local climate action.

Throughout 2023, sustainability staff worked closely with partners to apply for funding opportunities provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance clean transportation, energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental justice.

Thank you to everyone in our community, including city staff and all our partner organizations, for making these wins possible. I’m happy to celebrate the many successes the city of Madison has achieved this year and look forward to building on that success in 2024.