The City of Red Wing, Minnesota, adopted its climate action work plan (CAWP) in early August, which the city developed with the Great Plains Institute using our new, more agile approach to climate planning. The CAWP is a shorter version of a climate action plan, enabling Red Wing to make progress on near-term priorities that go toward its long-term goal of reducing emissions by 80 percent on or before 2040, without getting overwhelmed by a long list of actions. Red Wing is the first city to adopt the CAWP approach developed by GPI; our hope is that more cities—especially small and mid-size cities—use this as a more manageable path to accelerate effective climate action.
Here are a few takeaways:
- The CAWP approach enabled Red Wing to create an actionable work plan to make near-term progress on long-term goals.
- Red Wing’s inclusion of climate in its comprehensive planning process positioned the city to identify near-term priorities for action.
- The CAWP approach equips cities to implement achievable actions that reduce emissions while improving the quality of life for all in a community.
GPI designed the CAWP approach to focus on a community’s near-term priorities. Red Wing’s CAWP includes five strategies with 13 initiatives over a five-year time horizon. Like a traditional climate action plan, the Red Wing CAWP contains three main sections: an existing conditions report, a greenhouse gas inventory, and a five-year work plan reflecting the community’s priorities. What makes the CAWP different is the focus on the five-year work plan as opposed to a 20- or 30-year action plan.
The structure of the work plan includes strategies, initiatives, and actions:
- Strategies aim at the mechanisms used to reduce emissions, such as efficiency, clean electricity, fuel switching, reduced vehicle travel, etc.
- Initiatives are specific programs or policies the city can implement to deploy the strategies, such as adopting a building energy benchmarking policy to encourage commercial building efficiency.
- Actions support the initiatives by identifying the first steps necessary to get started on implementing a particular initiative.
The CAWP is also supported by supplementary materials intended to support the city in carrying out its plan. For example, community members in Red Wing wanted to reduce the energy burden for households with low to moderate incomes. Part of reducing the energy burden means broader access to jobs with a living wage. Red Wing alone won’t be able to build a robust workforce, but more cities implementing climate and energy planning will increase demand for a green jobs workforce. Reducing energy burden also means decreasing utility bills through more efficient homes and increased, equitable access to low-cost, clean electricity. To support these efforts, GPI compiled materials to get the city started, both with a baseline knowledge of financial programs available to income-eligible residents and a guide for inclusive engagement to ensure the programs go toward the intended audience.
Red Wing was well-positioned to take this approach because it had already included climate goals in its 2040 Community Plan. Most cities have a tool for long-range community planning. These plans—often referred to as a comprehensive plan—create a vision for how residents and business owners desire to shape their community’s future. Comprehensive plans map out future land use decisions that will determine how people travel, where development occurs and what kind, as well as manage and enhance environmental features like water bodies, urban forests, and parks. Plans often seek to improve the quality of life but miss the mark on the impact these decisions have on air quality, affordability, and equitable distribution of costs and benefits.
Ultimately, greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution are byproducts of how we use energy in our vehicles, homes, businesses, and through consumption of goods. Using climate as a lens for long-range community planning can help cities reorient their thinking around how they develop and the impacts on the most vulnerable residents. Setting climate targets and incorporating climate mitigation and resilience throughout comprehensive planning documents will help lead to better outcomes for all residents. Furthermore, it sets communities up to adopt and implement near-term, more focused work plans to reduce emissions.
By working with our regional and national partners, GPI intends to make CAWP templates and supplementary tools widely available. The accelerating pace of climate change underscores the urgent need for tools that support communities in taking action. By implementing short-term, achievable actions, more cities can begin to chip away at reducing their emissions while improving the quality of life for all.
Interested in learning more about climate planning and other services? Contact Abby Finis at [email protected] to find out more about how your community can reach its energy planning, sustainability, and climate action goals. You can also learn more about the services we provide on our Consulting and Services web page.
