Cleveland Heights committee advances Climate Forward plan aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050

The Municipal Services and Environmental Sustainability Committee of the City of Cleveland Heights on Wednesday heard a presentation on the Climate Forward plan from Andy Buaten, the city’s sustainability and resiliency coordinator, who called the effort “a journey of a thousand miles” that begins with small steps.

The plan is a community-driven, living document that sets a communitywide target of a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050 and lays out sector-by-sector strategies and an implementation roadmap. Buaten told the committee the city completed two greenhouse gas inventories (one for city operations and one for community activities) and identified buildings/energy, transportation and residential energy as the top emissions sources.

The plan draws on community engagement—Buaten said the process included 11 community events, more than 230 survey responses and roughly 440 participants—and on established technical tools, including an ICLEI software model and Cuyahoga County and U.S. climate-toolkit methods, to assess vulnerability and model emissions trajectories. The plan pairs mitigation strategies (renewable energy expansion, energy efficiency, electrifying the city fleet and transportation alternatives) with resilience measures such as resilience hubs and strengthened local electricity infrastructure.

Buaten emphasized equity as a central element of the plan’s vulnerability and resilience work, saying the planning process mapped where “adaptive capacity” varies across neighborhoods and identified groups disproportionately affected by climate impacts, including renters, seniors, youth and low-income households. He cited a 2016 microburst event that caused about $400,000 in emergency response and cleanup costs as an example of local impacts the plan is intended to address.

The plan identifies high-impact pathways and includes a monitoring framework. Buaten said the inventories will serve as baselines to measure future progress and that the city will use key performance indicators and dashboards to report implementation status. He said the plan was prepared with input from city departments and regional partners, including the RTA, and that ICLEI modeling was used to compare a business-as-usual forecast with the emissions path that would result from full implementation of plan actions.

Committee members indicated support for forwarding the document to council. Committee President Tony Cuda asked whether it was acceptable to move the plan to council for a vote on Monday evening; committee members present agreed to forward it for council consideration.

The plan and its implementation roadmap—including estimated costs, timelines and oversight responsibilities—are posted on the city website and were attached to the committee agenda. Buaten said staff would continue community outreach, pursue partnerships with local businesses and institutions, and provide periodic metrics updates as the city begins implementation.