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Columbus updates climate action progress, highlights building standards and community solar plans
Summary
Deputy Director Schockey told the Public Utilities & Sustainability Committee the city’s 2022 greenhouse gas inventory shows a 6.5% emissions drop despite 13% population growth and outlined work groups, a 2024 progress report and a 2025 community solar plan funded in part by Solar for All grants.
Deputy Director Schockey reported to the Columbus Public Utilities & Sustainability Committee that the city’s 2022 greenhouse gas inventory shows emissions fell 6.5% even as population grew 13%, and reiterated the city’s goal of a 45% reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
Schockey said the Climate Action Plan’s implementation rests on five work groups — buildings, transportation, waste, sustainable neighborhoods and climate solutions — and noted the office published a 10‑page 2024 progress report focused on 2025 targets. “We’ve had a 13% growth in population. At that same time, we have reduced emissions by 6.5%,” Schockey said.
The presentation highlighted building‑sector gains tied to benchmarking, energy efficiency and renewable procurement. Schockey identified the city’s energy and water benchmarking and transparency ordinance as foundational and described Department of Energy grants carried out with regional partners to support building upgrades. She said Clean Energy Columbus, the city’s community choice aggregation program, provides a 100% renewable option to participating residents and is being expanded.
On community solar, Schockey said legal limits on virtual net metering with investor‑owned utilities constrain some options, but the Division of Power is developing a community solar plan as a 2025 goal. She told the committee the Solar for All funding awarded through the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority and the Industrial Heartland Solar Coalition will help finance arrays and programs for single‑family and multifamily customers.
Council members pressed on new‑building standards and incentives. Schockey said the office has focused on existing‑building performance standards but will work with the buildings work group on incentives and research about new‑building requirements. She cautioned that Ohio state law may limit what local government can require, and recommended further legal and policy review before imposing new mandatory standards.
The committee did not take formal action; members asked staff to continue work through the buildings work group and to return with more detailed proposals and legal research.
The committee moved next to the Division of Water’s presentation on a lead replacement pilot.
