KINGSTON – The City of Kingston is about to launch its Climate Action Plan 2030 process with a virtual public meeting on Thursday, January 14 at 5:30 p.m. It will be co-hosted by Citizens for Local Power.
The Climate Action Plan 2030 will serve as a blueprint for the city to address and plan for the future of the local climate and radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years.
“The public is being asked to co-author the Climate Action Plan 2030, which will solidify concrete steps to reach our shared climate goals for our community,” said Julie Noble, the city’s Environmental Education & Sustainability coordinator. “Creating this document will be a monumental task, and we are asking for the public to tell us what’s important to them and devise a plan for implementation. We have an incredible project advisory committee, and we also need the commitment of the broader Kingston community to reach these ambitious goals.”
“The City of Kingston has been working steadily for the past 10 years to make our community greener and more sustainable,” said Mayor Steven Noble. We are proud of the work we’ve already done, and we now look to the people of Kingston to help with the work ahead. We encourage feedback from the community so that together we can create a cleaner and healthier Kingston.”
The Conservation Advisory Council, a City of Kingston commission made up of community members, was formed in 2008 to steer the first Climate Action Plan process. In 2010, with State funding, the City of Kingston commissioned an initial 10-year Climate Action Plan which laid out action-based goals to reduce carbon emissions. That plan was developed by a climate analyst and addressed a broad range of goals on the City level, such as LED conversion and transition to a green fleet for municipal vehicles. With the implementation of many of the goals set forth in the Climate Action Plan, the City of Kingston has achieved Silver status as a Climate Smart Community. The accomplishments from the 2010 Climate Action Plan were primarily centered on municipal level actions and impacts, and the CAP 2030 will dive deeper into addressing municipal operations. However, the primary focus of the new 10-year plan will be community-based actions such as environmental systems change, addressing policy and practice, and stewarding a cultural shift toward a more sustainable future for Kingston.
