Climate Action Goals
Climate Change Mitigation: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In 1989, Minneapolis joined the City of Saint Paul in an effort to be among the first cities in the world to develop comprehensive plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- 2012: Minneapolis set a target to reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by 2015 and 30 percent by 2025 using 2006 as a baseline. Minneapolis tracks and reports on greenhouse gas emissions annually to show progress on its emissions reduction goal.
- 2013: The Minneapolis City Council adopted the Minneapolis Climate Action Plan which contains a comprehensive set of emissions reduction strategies in three areas: buildings and energy, transportation and land use, and waste and recycling.
- 2014: Minneapolis was one of 16 communities chosen as a Climate Action Champion by the White House and U.S. Department of Energy. Minneapolis won the designation because of its commitment to clean energy, including such actions as leveraging its energy utility franchise agreements to establishment of a first-in-the-nation City-utility Minneapolis Clean Energy Partnership, as well as the Minneapolis Climate Action Plan and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of 15 percent by 2015, 30 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2050.
- 2015: Mayor Betsy Hodges signed the Compact of Mayors, the world’s largest cooperative effort among mayors and city officials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, track progress, and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Additionally, Minneapolis joined as one of 17 cities across nine nations that have launched the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, a collaboration of global cities committed to reducing greenhouse gas pollution by 80 percent or more by 2050 or sooner.
- 2016: The Minneapolis Clean Energy Partnership released its first annual report to capture the 2015 efforts in developing the Partnership's structure, relaying its activities, establishing the first two-year work plan and adopting baseline metrics. This report demonstrates a complete picture of the City's greenhouse gas profile related to buildings and energy production, consumption and savings opportunities.
- 2017: The Minneapolis Clean Energy Partnership released its second annual report to provide descriptions and data related to the achievements of energy conservation activities in Minneapolis in 2016, renewable energy consumption, and overall energy consumption in the City. The report contains eight sections, which correspond to eight metrics that were approved by the Partnership Board as being critical areas of measurement in tracking progress toward the Minneapolis Clean Energy Partnership 2017-2018 Work Plan goals.
Last updated Mar 5, 2018
