Support and Strengthen Albemarle’s Climate Action Plan (Draft- Phase 1) 


WE NEED YOUR VOICE!

In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, our community faces unprecedented health and economic hardships, while continuing to endure another emergency that for years has affected both our economy and health: the climate crisis. This is a decisive moment for the County to prepare for the implementation of ambitious actions to combat both crises. By incentivizing investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy storage, Albemarle can ensure our community’s health, prosperity, and safety.

Last year, our community spoke, and the County of Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved ambitious climate targets. This year, your voice is needed once again to ensure that Albemarle’s leadership on climate is followed by an equally ambitious Climate Action Plan.

Support C3’s recommendations by adding your name below!

COMMUNITY CLIMATE LETTER TO ALBEMARLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - CLIMATE ACTION PLAN (DRAFT - PHASE 1)

Dear Albemarle County Board of Supervisors -

As residents of Albemarle County and the greater Charlottesville area, we share a common goal to protect the health and vitality of our community against effects of climate change impacting our built, social, and natural systems. The future of our community, our children, and our legacy is dependent on our commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

So, we thank you for setting leadership targets to reduce community-wide GHG emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. We also applaud the release of your Climate Action Plan draft - Phase 1 which reinforces your commitment to achieve these targets.

The Community Climate Collaborative works with businesses, nonprofits, households, and schools to advance individualized climate solutions, identify obstacles to action, and recommend policies that can accelerate climate action. While we are grateful for the County’s work on climate, we believe that by incorporating the following recommendations, Albemarle County can improve the present Climate Action Plan draft - Phase 1 and set Phase 2 for success. 

  • Albemarle County should adopt SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound) for each sector in its Climate Action Plan. A target can only be an effective guide for decision making and action implementation if it is possible to know and measure to what extent the target has been achieved. Clarity is essential to ensure that the target can be understood, implemented, and checked by a wide range of government officials and community stakeholders. It is time for us to move to more effective and result oriented targets.

  • Collaborations with existing community organizations should be explored to expedite action implementation. All climate actions included in Albemarle’s CAP were labeled as either “immediately actionable”, “initiate planning”, or “assess opportunities”. C3 believes that, provided with adequate partnerships and collaborations between the County’s staff and community climate supporters and experts, many of the CAP’s climate actions could be executed in a much more expedited manner  and with least possible budgetary impacts (something of utmost importance in contexts of great economic, and social, hardship; such as our present year of 2020).

  • Targets to guide equitable implementation of the climate actions should be identified. C3 believes that the promotion of equity is a necessary and desirable component of any realistic, effective, and long-standing CAP. Rightfully, the County has included equity as a key component throughout its entire CAP. Currently, however, Albemarle’s CAP does not set any specific strategy or target for guiding the implementation of climate actions in an equitable way. C3 believes that the CAP should include specific equity commitments by requiring that “historically economically disadvantaged communities” represent a certain percentage of the County’s benefited and engaged residents.

  • Albemarle County must commit to regular data collection, reporting, and inventories of GHG emissions. With less than 10 years to achieve a 45% reduction of GHG emissions, frequent measurement of our progress is essential. Albemarle County should gather and publish community-wide building energy use data annually, with separated values for each of the main energy consumption sectors (residential, commercial, governmental, and industrial); and commit to conducting a full GHG Inventory every two years.

  • Development of financing mechanisms for energy efficiency and clean energy improvements should be elevated in Albemarle County’s prioritization. Designing and implementing mechanisms to finance climate action, in a way that is widely accessible and economically attractive to Albemarle’s businesses and residents (especially those from “historically economically disadvantaged communities”), should be a high priority for Albemarle’s CAP. Currently, the only action that addresses this topic is classified as “assess opportunities”. With the support from community experts, the County can act much more expediently.

  • Clean transportation infrastructure should be prioritized for immediate action and coupled with SMART targets. C3 applauds the County’s desire to require new developments to provide EV charging stations (action T.3.1). This action should be elevated to “immediately actionable” and should be coupled with a minimum requirement of EV charging stations on County-owned parking lots.

Thank you, again, for recognizing the need to address this important issue. We believe that together we can ensure the health and vitality of our residents, protect our natural resources, and strengthen the resilience of this dynamic community we call home.

Sincerely,