County Climate Action Plan Unveiled: Focused On 7 Key Areas

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Montgomery County unveiled its Climate Action plan Wednesday, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035.

“We are already feeling the impacts of climate change here in our County—hotter summers, increased flooding events, and more extreme storms,” County Executive Marc Elrich said in the plan. “The strategies outlined in this plan focus on those in our community who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and identify opportunities and co-benefits to enhance racial equity while reducing emissions.”

The Climate Action Plan has 86 actional steps that are focused on seven key areas:

• Reduce emissions from energy, buildings and transportation
• Center racial equity and social justice by assessing who is most vulnerable to climate changes
• Identify nature-based carbon sequestration
• Reduce climate risk by improving infrastructure such as drainage system and floodplain maps
• Identify climate governance by reporting on plans and progress and “institutionalize” climate change innovation in the government
• Engage the community as partners in climate action, including a resident coalition

Some of the 86 action steps include:

• An opt-out renewable energy plan for county residents
• Create an ordinance that would require building owners to replace fossil fuel equipment with electric options before they are able to sell their building or renew a lease
• Increase frequency of transit service
• Conserve existing wooded areas instead of allowing them to be developed
• Create codes to require green infrastructure for new and existing properties, which could include runoff retention or rain gardens, a system that is supposed to prevent polluted rain runoff
• Establishing new climate specific positions within local government
• Be more focused on seeking out the inout of people who may not be involved in policy making for reason of past or present discrimination, immigration status, or time constraints

“The urgency of climate change inspires Montgomery County to serve as a model for other jurisdictions,” said Elrich at the plan’s unveiling in Wheaton on Wednesday. “Combatting climate change provides an opportunity to build a healthy, equitable and resilient community. There is no magic wand to accomplish this monumental task. We must take big, bold steps—and many of them.

“Collectively, communities across the State of Maryland, the country and the world must tackle climate action at the scale that is necessary to curb the cataclysmic social, environmental and economic impacts of climate change.”

You can find the full Climate Action Plan here.