City-led Actions

City Councilors at volunteer event

How is the City of Milwaukie facing climate change?

 

VISION TO ACTION: COMMITTING TO CLIMATE ACTION

On October 2, 2018, Milwaukie City Council unanimously adopted the City’s first Climate Action Plan. Milwaukie’s Climate Action Plan is a bold roadmap for making real progress on climate change.

By adopting the Climate Action Plan, the City has committed to implementing 53 strategies across six different climate action areas. These are steps City leadership and staff can take to spearhead efforts, mobilize partners or support regional, collaborative action. Actions fall into three different categories:

  • Mitigation Actions that will reduce the emissions that come from producing energy to make our goods, grow our food, transport us around and keep us warm and cool
  • Adaptation actions that will prepare us for changing physical conditions
  • Sequestration actions that capture carbon and pull greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere

Soon, we will launch a tracking dashboard so the community can monitor the City’s progress implementing these 53 actions. Check back shortly for more information!

 

WHERE ARE WE STARTING FROM?

In 2016, Milwaukie generated approximately 262,574 metric tons CO2e of local emissions. Local (“sector-based”) emissions are those that are generated inside of the community’s geographic boundaries. When we consider the emissions generated outside of Milwaukie producing the goods, food, energy and services Milwaukians consume, our total carbon footprint is approximately ~520,000 MT CO2e. For a sense of scale, this quantity of emissions is equivalent to the carbon sequestered annually by 600,000 acres of average United States forest – a land area about 400 times the size of the City of Milwaukie.

View the image slideshow below to see what activities impact Milwaukie's carbon footprint.

 

PLANNING PROCESS

The City of Milwaukie hired a professional consulting team to guide the climate action planning process in 2017-2018. Over ten months, the team engaged hundreds of Milwaukie residents, organizations and key implementation partners through a Climate Action Plan Committee (CAPC), community summit and fair, online survey and several planning workshops. More information on the planning process is available in the documents linked below.

Planning Memos

CAPC Materials

Implementation Workshop Notes

Additional Planning Materials

Click any thumbnail image to view a slideshow

Milwaukie's 2016 Carbon Footprint Graph - Climate Action Plan
Be Involved in City Climate Actions Image