Charlottesville's Climate Action Plan

Using a multi-layered approach to gather input from community members, organizations, stakeholders, and City staff, development of the Climate Action Plan began in Fall 2020/Winter 2021 and resumed in Spring 2022. The plan builds upon past work of the City’s Climate Program and provides a strategic framework to guide City and community actions to achieve our greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals of 45% by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.  

The Plan provides contextual and background information about GHG emissions in Charlottesville and identifies emissions reduction strategies for both community activities and municipal operations. More specifics are addressed within each area, including buildings and energy, transportation, and waste, among others. Each section presents strategies to guide the focus of actions as well as key actions to be taken within the next 3 to 5 years to keep Charlottesville on the path to our emissions reduction goals.

View Charlottesville's Climate Action Plan (PDF)

Developing a Climate Action Plan (CAP)

The City of Charlottesville has committed to developing a Climate Action Plan (CAP) aimed to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals of 45% by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The structure for the CAP will borrow from a strategic plan framework in order to prioritize actions to meet the 2030 goal and position Charlottesville to achieve its 2050 goal. 

Resource:  Climate Action Fact Sheets

Five fact sheets were developed in support of the City's Climate Action Planning process. They aim to provide an introduction to commonly discussed climate action strategies, concepts, and technologies and to serve as a resource for community members who may be newer to this topic and are interested to learn more.

Fact Sheet 1 - Build Right, Build for the Future
Fact Sheet 2 - Funding Climate Action
Fact Sheet 3 - The Fuel Switching Landscape
Fact Sheet 4 - Onsite Renewables
Fact Sheet 5 - Transportation

City Council Direction for the Climate Action Plan

City Council passed resolutions on May 6, 2019 (PDF) and July 1, 2019 (PDF) directing that the Climate Action Plan be developed pursuant to the adopted reduction goal and include the following aspects:

• Front Load Reductions - pursue steeper reductions in the near term
• Identify of Sub-Goals by Sector and by Strategy in the Climate Action Plan
• Address Equity Specifically in Goals and the Climate Action Plan
• Identify Measurement Frequency and Accountability Mechanisms
• Address Funding and Financing Options to Enable and Support Private Sector Action

Additional Strategies

Additionally, the Climate Action Plan will include, but not be limited to, strategies that address:

1. Further enabling private financial sector investment in energy performance upgrades for commercial properties in the City of Charlottesville through adoption of a commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing program; and
2. Effective funding programs and models for increased residential energy performance, including programs that are compatible with affordable housing and owner or renter-occupied housing; and
3. The feasibility of integrating zero emission vehicles into the municipal fleet and supporting increased community adoption of zero emission vehicles; and
4. Working in conjunction with regional partners to implement seamless programs and services to increase ease of participation for Charlottesville organizations and residents.

Preliminary Content for the Climate Action Plan

Prepared for the April 18, 2022 City Council work session, this preliminary content includes initial strategies and key actions for the Charlottesville Climate Action Plan (CAP). The CAP aims to achieve the City's GHG emission reduction goals of 45% reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. The CAP is envisioned as strategic in nature, with the strategies providing overarching direction to focus efforts and key actions identified to be pursued over the next 3-5 years.

• View the Preliminary Content for the Climate Action Plan (April 2022)

Community Engagement

Community engagement is a critical part of the CAP process, although delays have now put it on a fast-tracked timeline to restart engagement and complete the plan development in 2022. The City had adopted a multi-layer engagement approach involving a climate action liaison committee, core topic teams, open community discussion and input opportunities, and small group stakeholder engagement sessions. This structure aimed to leverage technical expertise, local knowledge, existing partnerships, and support within the community and is being adjusted to reflect the new timeline and City Council direction.  

Engagement Opportunities

• City Council Meeting - Vote to Adopt the Climate Action Plan as an Amendment to the Comprehensive Plan

The date of this City Council meeting is forthcoming. 

• Public Hearing - December 13, 2022

The process of adopting Charlottesville's Climate Action Plan as an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan begins with a public hearing at a joint meeting of the Charlottesville City Council and Planning Commission (Dec. 13, 2022).

• October to November 2022

The Climate Action Plan was first presented to City Council on October 3, 2022. Following Council's direction to bring the plan forward as a proposed amendment to the City's Comprehensive Plan, the Climate Protection Program invited community members and organizations to share feedback on the CAP document and ideas for how they want to be a part of moving climate action forward in Charlottesville, with input requested by Nov. 9, 2022.   Comments were received via a contact form on the City's website, through direct emails, verbal comments from members of City boards and commissions, and in-person at one of the four drop-in sessions hosted by City staff (two virtual on Zoom and two in-person at City Space).

• August 2022 Events

  • Listening Sessions - August 4 and August 10, 2022
    Two Listening Sessions in August provide an intentional space for voices in our community who are not traditionally involved in climate conversations. We invite all individuals to attend, as well as representatives from organizations whose work prioritizes marginalized communities, specifically those most impacted by climate change. The goal of these Listening Sessions is to gain input from underrepresented groups on the potential impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) reducing actions.
    
    

  • Community Town Hall/Workshop - August 17, 2022
    During this  virtual Community GHG Reduction Town Hall Workshop, the City of Charlottesville encourages all community members to provide input on developing our potential GHG reduction priorities.

• Community Survey - Open April 20 to May 20, 2022

The Climate Action Survey will inform strategies and actions for the City's Climate Action Plan, aimed at achieving Charlottesville's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals of a 45% reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.  

• City Council Work Session - April 18, 2022 (4:00PM)

Staff presented an update on the Climate Action Plan development progress and preliminary plan content. The presentation and Council discussion can be viewed online at the City's charlottesville.gov/streaming webpage. 

• Climate Liaison Committee Meetings - 1st meeting June 2021 & Ongoing

The Climate Liaison Committee is comprised of City management and regional government/institutional planning partners. Responding to the City Council Resolution for regional coordination as part of the Climate Action Plan, this committee offers ongoing regional perspective and awareness of climate activities and discussions as the Climate Action Plan is underdevelopment. It helps to both inform the Climate Action Plan and keep regional partners aware of how the City's climate plan is progressing.

• Equity in Climate Action - February 8, 2021

The City of Charlottesville has committed to including Equity as part of its Climate Action Plan and has partnered with the University of Virginia’s Institute for Engagement & Negotiation (IEN) to conduct this important conversation on equity for the City’s Climate Action Plan. This conversation around equity will be an integral part of the overarching discussions for all the community engagement efforts. In addition, we hope a separate continuous group will form to assist the City through the longer-term planning process.

We would like to have a diversity of community voices contribute to the conversation about how to ensure that the City’s Climate Action Plan represents our goals for climate equity. In addition to direct invitations that have been sent out, community members are invited to participate in this first important Equity in Climate Action conversation for the City of Charlottesville. 

• Community Workshop (Virtual & Recorded) - December 14 and 15, 2020

Watch the Workshop Recording (the December 14th session)
Provide feedback and responses via the Post-Workshop Input Form

Description
As the first workshop in support of the City developing a Climate Action Plan, this workshop includes an introduction to Charlottesville's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission sources, examples of climate action strategies from other communities, some high-level example scenarios for meeting Charlottesville's GHG emission reduction targets, as well  as an overview of the Climate Action Plan development process.  

Workshop Recording & Schedule
To help increase community access, the workshop was offered twice with a recording and links to feedback materials posted here after the event.  

The workshop was divided into four 30-minute sections, each including opportunity for questions and answers.  Community members can "tune in" live or on the recording to specific segments: 

• 00:00 - 00:30   Introduction and Overview of the Plan Development Process, Charlottesville's Emissions, and Example Climate Action Strategies
• 00:30 - 01:00   Stationary Sources of Emissions (Buildings' Energy Use - Residential, Commercial)
• 01:00 - 01:30   Renewable Energy 
• 01:30 - 02:00   Transportation

• Facilitated Community Stakeholder Discussions (by topic focus) - November & December 2020

Cville100 (Climate-focused Community Organizations) - process/topic scoping focus
Environmental and Climate Community Organizations
Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Service Providers + Property Managers