‘We’re here to offer stability’: Cleveland updates Climate Action Plan

CLEVELAND, Ohio – President Trump may be derailing efforts to combat climate change, but that hasn’t stopped the City of Cleveland from keeping it a priority.

The city unveiled an updated Climate Action Plan on Tuesday – Earth Day – along with a roadmap for how the city will lead the communitywide effort to reduce carbon emissions.

A goal of the Climate Action Plan is to bring people, businesses and organizations together to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Net-zero means whatever greenhouse gas emissions that can’t be eliminated would be offset in some way by removing carbon already in the atmosphere.

“We have to move forward regardless of what the federal government’s actions are,” said Sarah O’Keeffe, director of sustainability and climate justice for the city.

The release of the Climate Action Plan is not a response to Trump or his actions, O’Keefe said, but has been in the works for two years.

She said the city is pressing ahead with its climate agenda because it’s what’s best for the health and well-being of the community.

The city first established a Climate Action Plan in 2013, with an update in 2018. Since then, Cleveland and the world have experienced more dramatic and disturbing climate-related episodes.

The Earth endured its warmest year on record in 2023, only to have it surpassed in 2024. And global greenhouse gas emissions hit an all-time high in 2023.

Locally, the smoke from Canadian wildfires contributed to record bad air quality in June of 2023, while rare tornadoes hit the city in 2023 and 2024.

The winters of 2022-23 and 2023-24 were the two mildest on record for Cleveland.

Greenhouse gases are blamed for global warming because they trap the sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere rather than allowing it to radiate into space.

The subsequent warming of the globe leads to dramatic weather events, such as more-intense storms and drought.

The Paris Agreement reached by 196 countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015 called for keeping the average change in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 in order to limit climate-related disasters.

Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement during his first term as president and did so again after taking office a second time.

Cleveland’s Climate Action Plan offers strategies for the community to reduce its carbon footprint, improve air and water quality and become more resilient in the face of climate-related hazards.

The city also released its Municipal Action Plan, which sets goals and procedures for the city and its employees to reduce carbon emissions and make its operations more sustainable.

“This is kind of us as a city saying we are leading,” O’Keeffe said.

The two plans reinforce “Cleveland’s ongoing commitment to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and implementing policies that prioritize equity, sustainability, and climate resilience,” reads a statement from the city. “Despite shifting national political landscapes, the City remains focused on securing cleaner air, safer streets, and a healthier, more just future for all Clevelanders.”

Changed priorities at the federal level include Trump trying to claw back federal grants that were to be used for such things as electric vehicle charging stations.

Last year the U.S. Department of Agriculture granted Cleveland $3.4 million to improve its tree canopy and the Department of Transportation granted $3.95 million to install electric vehicle charging stations. While the tree canopy grant remains active, the grant for the charging stations stalled before it ever got going, O’Keeffe said.

O’Keeffe said the city received notice of the charging station grant on Jan. 13 of this year, when President Biden was still in office. Once Trump took over, there was no more communication with the feds regarding the grant.

She said that since the city does not have a signed contract with the federal government, the grant appears to be in jeopardy.

Cleveland’s Climate Action Plan focuses on six areas; built environment, clean energy, clean transportation, nature-based solutions, resilient people and circular industry.

Among the many goals are to use land-use policy to reduce reliance on cars, make parks more accessible, increase the tree canopy, de-carbonize Cleveland’s transportation fleet, promote renewable energy, and make sure vulnerable communities are not unfairly exposed to environmental hazards.

“We’re here to offer stability to our local stakeholders,” she said, “and we’re going to continue doing that.”

Peter Krouse writes about the environment for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. He can be reached at pkrouse@cleveland.com.