As our region continues to grow, so does the need for regional collaboration and local action to improve the quality of life through cleaner and healthier initiatives. These initiatives could take form in a multitude of ways, such as more walkable communities through the increase of pedestrian and bike friendly infrastructure, expanding transit opportunities to connect more communities throughout the region, incorporating renewable energy options in both new and existing structures, tree planting programs and more. Through this regional partnership, we can work together to forge new pathways in environmental stewardship that benefits every community in our region.
Centralina is helping member governments and partners develop shared strategies to plan for and achieve low-cost reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, create economic growth and job creation to foster a low carbon economy and see substantial public health co-benefits. Ultimately efforts focus on successfully accessing $4.6 billion in implementation grant funds designed to support local needs and priorities. If your organizational priorities can be supported by these funds, it is imperative that you be engaged with our region’s planning work – projects must be included in our region’s Priority Climate Action Plan to be eligible.
Our first step was to create a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) that includes a baseline of greenhouse gas emissions and short-term reduction strategies.
Regional stakeholders identified over 100 examples of implementation-ready project ideas that were categorized into seven focus areas or “priority measures” that will be the priority when pursuing implementation grant funding.