The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has approved its latest action plan to address climate change, support a resilient region, emphasize sustainability and economic competitiveness while protecting the public health. The commission anticipates submitting the plan to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in early December.
The Metro Atlanta Climate Action Plan (MACAP) provides a roadmap to protect local communities from pollution and deliver cleaner air. The plan outlines 24 measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, targeting key sectors including trees and greenspaces, waste and materials, residential and commercial buildings, transportation, energy and industry.
Achieving near net-zero carbon emissions in the Atlanta area is a process estimated to take several years to complete. Through the action plan’s guidance and implementation, ARC plans to reduce economy-wide emissions 50% below 2005 emissions by 2035 and by 80% to 85% by 2050. The commission projects that the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions reduced through these measures will be more than 64 million tons.
Plans for the transportation sector largely consist of transitioning existing fleets to electric vehicles (EV) and expanding EV charging infrastructure. Multimobility will also be a priority to reduce vehicle miles traveled by promoting walking, biking, transit, teleworking, carpooling and public transit modes of transportation.
Energy efficient retrofitting and electrification measures are the primary mechanisms slated to lower the carbon footprint of residential and commercial buildings. These include updating HVAC systems, electrifying homes and businesses, installing cool roofing, increasing insulation and other energy-efficient options. ARC will collaborate with local governments to adopt efficient residential and commercial energy codes and green building standards.
The industrial sector will have similar retrofits in store for it as ARC will continue to promote efforts to adopt energy efficient improvements for existing buildings and processes. These will include updated HVAC systems, geothermal HVAC systems, new lighting, cool roofing and conversion to electrical systems from gas-powered systems. Plans also include decreasing emissions by improving industrial processes and capturing heat to support HVAC operations or generate electricity.
Solar power will be a priority focus for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. The document outlines efforts to increase urban-scale solar by installing solar panels on landfill and wastewater sites alongside building community solar on small acreage areas. Additional work will expand the installation of rooftop solar and battery storage systems, capturing biosolids and biogas at wastewater treatment plants and methane at landfills to create energy. ARC also intends to implement electricity demand response actions to shift energy use to off-peak times for facilities, businesses and homes.
The waste and materials sector will prioritize reducing the amount of landfill waste by promoting composting. Additional reduction of construction and demolition waste will focus on creating material-efficiency buildings, supporting building adaptive reuse and deconstructing buildings to reuse and recycle their components.
ARC plans to increase tree canopy and vegetative coverage across the region through afforestation and green infrastructure initiatives. The document includes measures to restore and protect temperate-climate working forests and urban tree canopies.
The final measure included in the plan is a cross-sector initiative to provide incentives and technical assistance to help local governments adopt climate mitigating policies, ordinances and programs.
ARC’s next step toward implementing the MACAP will be to engage regional organizations to advance the plan toward action and implementation.
Photo by Nate Hovee from Pexels
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