The city of Ann Arbor plans to become carbon neutral over the next 10 years. Ann Arbor City Council voted unanimously early Tuesday morning to adopt guidelines for community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.
The A2 Zero Carbon Neutrality plan would significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and offset the remaining emissions so that the community's overall carbon output is zero.
Some measures include powering the city's electrical grid with 100% renewable energy, reducing driving by 50%, and expanding the city's recycling and composting programs.
Christopher Taylor is the mayor of Ann Arbor. He says the city's plan outlines seven strategies to reduce climate pollution.
“Those relate, of course, to renewable energy generation,” he says. “They relate to the advancement in terms of transportation, energy efficiency, recycling, all manner of things in order to achieve carbon neutrality."
Other goals include expanding and electrifying public transit, and making it easier for companies and residents to afford solar panels and other ways to make buildings more energy-efficient.
“We are not going to solve the globe's problems here in Ann Arbor, but we can be part of a larger movement of communities who are doing what they can do in order to affect carbon neutrality and fight climate change,” Taylor says.
The plan is expected to cost just over one billion dollars.
Taylor spoke to Michigan Radio's Morning Edition.
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