On June 25th, the Charlotte City Council unanimously passed the resolution for a “Sustainable and Resilient” Charlotte. This is a comprehensive resolution that calls for the city government to source 100% of its energy used in its own buildings and fleet from zero-carbon sources by 2030. It also creates an action plan for dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors by 2050.

With this move, Charlotte has taken a major step in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and significantly increase the quality of life for residents by investing in our air quality and growing our economy with green jobs.

Thank you to everyone who contacted Council Members and attended the meeting in support of this resolution. The bipartisan, unanimous support the resolution received is a testament to the hard work of Council Members, city staff, stakeholders and community members like you!

We applaud Council Member Dimple Ajmera, Chair of the Environment Committee, for her work to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, of which Sustain Charlotte was a member, to help craft the resolution over several months. This approach was collaborative, inclusive, and transparent and should serve as a model for future City Council efforts at community engagement.

Sustain Charlotte will continue to participate in the stakeholder process to help craft the Strategic Energy Action Plan, which will contain short, medium and long terms actions to deliver deep reductions in carbon emissions spanning all sectors.

Here is what we said at the meeting just before the vote:

Watch the video!

Hi everyone. My name is Michael Zytkow. I am the Program Coordinator for Sustain Charlotte.

Sustain Charlotte is a community based non-profit organization dedicated to educating, engaging, and uniting citizens to solve Charlotte’s sustainability challenges. Our mission is to inspire choices that lead to a healthy, equitable, and vibrant community for generations to come.

I am here tonight to express my organization’s support for the “Sustainable and Resilient Charlotte” Resolution.

The Resolution calls for the City of Charlotte to source 100% of its energy used in its buildings and fleet from zero-carbon sources by 2030. It also creates an action plan for dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors.

This is really great news, and if implemented, would truly make Charlotte a leading city in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A lot of effort went into the creation of this resolution and I want to thank all of those involved: our city council and mayor for addressing this critical issue, the environment committee, city staff including Rob Phocas, Envision Charlotte, and all the stakeholders involved including Sierra Club, Clean Air Carolina, 350, MeckMin and many more.

I especially want to thank council member Ajmera for including us all in the stakeholder process, which I found to be very transparent, inclusive, and collaborative.

Councilmembers, we need this resolution.

We need this resolution because it would improve our air quality and overall health.

We need this resolution because it would grow our economy with high paying green jobs.

We need this resolution because we have to address the rapid growth that Charlotte is experiencing. Forty-four to sixty people move here every day and we have to be proactive.

We need this resolution because sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

We need this resolution because Charlotte must lead on this critical issue.

In order to make that happen, we need you all! We need you all to support this resolution and I encourage you all to do so. Thank you very much.