Significant, new federal funding and state comprehensive plan policy resources are combining to provide cities with a great opportunity to act on pursuing climate planning, mitigation, and resiliency work in your community.
With funding from the Legislature, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) in partnership with six other state agencies has been developing model policies for cities to reduce greenhouse gases and become more resilient to expected impacts of climate change.
Commerce recently released a summary of their progress and updates. Their project website has additional information.
On the federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed by Congress included significant investments in climate response. A global group of mayors dedicated to climate action have released a new guidebook for local elected officials on how to take advantage of these new resources.
The guidebook details:
- The potential impacts of IRA on climate action, including how funding is allocated and how the IRA can support economic and workforce inclusion.
- Strategic actions for local governments, including how to:
- Funding available for local government climate priorities, such as air quality and greenhouse gas reduction, housing, resilience, clean vehicles, and workforce development, offering an overview of IRA provisions by issue and illustrating how and where funding is being made available.
- IRA provisions related to local government climate action, detailing how much funding is available for IRA programs, who can access it, how it can be used, how it connects to environmental justice, and what roles local governments
might play.
- Additional resources, including links to guidance for local governments, economic inclusion resources, and useful tools and trackers.