A Look Back at 2020
As difficult as 2020 was for all of us, as our Director of Programs and Communications, I wanted to share with you some encouraging news of what we were able to accomplish with your help last year.
C3’s mission is to elevate climate action and policy at the local level to greater heights in order to achieve a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and address longstanding energy inequity in our community. Our approach from the beginning has been to collaborate beyond “the usual suspects” (i.e. strong environmentalists) and broaden the tent. At C3 we like to say that we’ve never met anyone who doesn’t have a role to play in the climate solution.
So in the spirit of collaboration and positive change, I’d like to share with you six key accomplishments we’ve made as an organization with your help in 2020.
Climate Action Planning in the Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville
When Albemarle County released their Draft Climate Action Plan, C3 organized a County Resident Sign-On Letter asking for the Plan to be improved through the addition of SMART targets, regular inventories, and a greater commitment to equity. We were happy to see that when the final Phase 1 Plan was released, all of C3’s recommendations were included, making for a much stronger plan. Your voice matters!
After a full year had passed since the City of Charlottesville made its ambitious climate emissions target, C3 organized more than a dozen individuals to speak at Council to ask the City to accelerate its climate action. Subsequently, Council asked C3 to present the findings of our Uncovering Energy Inequity report during an October Council meeting, and community meetings for the City’s Climate Action Plan development began in December and will continue in 2021.
Taking Climate Action to Kids and Families
We were excited to publish our Climate Classroom Challenge in February, but the COVID-19 school closures quickly made that in-person work impossible. So we pivoted to support families and teachers by going virtual with C3’s online Climate Camp in April and May.
Weekly activities and actions were posted to assist parents and educators desperate for quality educational content for students now learning from home.
In the Summer, C3 partnered with the Virginia Discovery Museum to create Climate Action Activity Kits which were distributed by the City of Promise to families in the Tenth and Page neighborhood. Along with fun activities, the kits directed parents to energy efficiency programs to help reduce energy costs. Ashley Howard, the Early Childhood Coordinator at City of Promise told us, “Every single family that received one, LOVED it. Everything in the kit was easy to follow, fun, and informative and I actually had a few people calling and asking to get on the waitlist for more!” Then an eager teacher from our Green School Alliance, Mia Shand, learned of the kits and asked if we could partner to bring them to all 4th graders at Agnor Hurt Elementary School. Through a partnership with the County, we were able to deploy 35 climate action kits to schools in December!
Helping Homes and Businesses
From the beginning, C3 has advanced programs and policies that prove we can do more when we act together. Since our 2017 launch, C3 has supported more than 400 households and 100 businesses in reducing their climate emissions by nearly 5,000 tons. More than one thousand residents signed on to our advocacy letters to the City and the County encouraging solutions, energy equity, and climate leadership .
Addressing Energy Inequity
C3’s groundbreaking report, Uncovering Energy Inequity: An Analysis of how Energy Burden is Distributed in Charlottesville, Virginia, found that:
1 in 4 Charlottesville households experience an unsustainable energy burden, spending more than 6% of annual income on energy costs.
1 in 5 households are spending more than 10% of their incomes on energy.
C3 will be actively working to present community-informed solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while preventing displacement of long-standing Charlottesville residents.
We couldn’t do this important work without the hard work of our staff, Board of Directors, and our donors! Thank you all for a successful year.
—Teri Kent, C3’s Director of Programs and Communication