CLEVELAND — "I am so excited to kick off the city's first ever Decarbonization Summit. We have a lot of important work to do here today."
Those words were spoken by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb at the city's Decarbonization Summit on April 13.
Decarbonization stands as a beacon for climate change, as well as meeting and exceeding the measures necessary to hit net zero emissions by 2050. In order to allow for decarbonization, the city is looking at sizable reductions in soot, smog, and super pollutants.
With this being seen by many as a "public health intervention," some of the questions that bear answering, according to Cleveland Director of Sustainability and Climate Justice Sarah O'Keeffe, are as follows:
- What changes in infrastructure are required and when?
- Where will these changes take place and how will they impact our communities?
- What changes will decarbonization bring for our energy, industry, transportation, and food and land systems?
- What is the cost of these changes?
- What policies are needed?
- How will this impact jobs?
O'Keeffe spoke candidly and directly, acknowledging this is a collective effort with plenty of room for Cleveland and city government officials to propel our area as one of the leaders in climate justice.
With Cleveland already slated to update its climate action plan, according to O'Keeffe, one of the items that has since changed within the past several years has been that of technology and the availability of that technology.
Though many believe there is a high cost to correcting this issue, O'Keeffe says there isn't a one set price tag for fighting these issues because they are multi-tiered and multi-level. However, breaking that down dimensionally, allows for a better pathway towards correction, ie what does it cost to electrify school buses, what does it cost to electrify public transportation, or green our vacant lots?
"We want to improve community health and equity both now and in the future and we want to make that measured progress, because Cleveland cannot wait," says O'Keeffe.
If you'd like to learn more about what you can do and what measures the city is taking, you may visit sustainablecleveland.org.