By Brian O’Leary, AICP
People are rightly concerned about climate change and global warming. With more frequent extreme weather events, new federal and state policies on clean energy, and public interest in climate change, many communities have started preparing climate action plans, looking to their planners to help lead them through the process.
For many of us, this is a new area of planning that often involves expertise beyond our normal toolbox and also involves issues, such as air pollution, that have not typically been at the forefront of local planning.
Fortunately, there are a lot of resources available on climate action plans and many local examples of effective plans. The best place to start when considering a climate action plan is the state. The PA DEP has a lot of helpful information about climate action planning on their website, including the state climate action plan, which provides a good foundational start for a local plan.
Five years ago, the PA DEP started its Local Climate Action Plan Program, which provides grants and assistance for the creation of local plans and now uses Penn State to help facilitate the program. This program matches municipalities with students who assist with the plan. In the first four years of the program, 64 plans were completed, and links to these are available online.
The City of Bethlehem has an excellent climate action plan that is progressive, serious, and implementable, with an emphasis on resiliency and inclusivity. This plan won a chapter award in 2021.
Often, climate action is built into local sustainability plans. Delaware County has recently taken sustainability very seriously, creating a user-friendly and action-oriented plan, which can be found online.
In addition to specific climate action and sustainability plans, climate-related recommendations can be built into any regular comprehensive plans we do, as well as a wide variety of our other planning work. Climate action and sustainability planning now seem to be a regular part of a planner’s duties.
