Cuyahoga County's Environment & Education Committee on December 1 voted to advance the county's 2025 630 Climate Action Plan to the full council for subsequent readings.

Janita McGowan, deputy chief of sustainability and climate, presented the plan and an updated greenhouse gas inventory for calendar year 2022 (the most recent year available). McGowan said countywide emissions are down roughly 16% from the 2018 baseline and noted that to align with a 1.5'C pathway the county would need steeper reductions (presented in the plan as reaching a 63% reduction from the 2018 baseline). McGowan outlined emissions sources (about half from stationary sources such as electricity and natural gas, about 25% from industrial sources, and roughly 30% from transportation when combining on-road and air emissions) and framed the plan around mitigation and adaptation measures.

Melanie Knowles (director of sustainability) demonstrated an interactive online tool that allows municipalities to view greenhouse gas inventories and per-capita trends back to 2010. Knowles described a pilot with four communities (Beechwood, Brook Park, Maple Heights and Solon) that produced memos with tailored next steps and technical assistance. Staff emphasized many municipalities lack dedicated sustainability staff and that county technical support is designed to help local governments prepare grant-ready projects and identify practical actions such as energy-efficiency audits, urban tree canopy restoration and community energy aggregation.

McGowan said the greenhouse gas inventory was funded by the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) and contracted to Bridal Consulting Group, which also prepared the 2018 baseline; the inventory uses data from utilities, NOACA and other public sources. Committee members asked about methodology, municipal allocation of emissions (for example, airports or ports in municipal boundaries) and funding for follow-up technical assistance.

The committee voted to send the Climate Action Plan to the full council for a second reading and invited staff to return in the spring with an update on early implementation and outreach to municipalities.

What's next: Resolution 20250347 proceeds to the full council for required readings; staff expect to continue pilot work and to present implementation updates in spring.