RESOURCES

On October 4, 2023, Baltimore Office of Sustainability held a virtual public meeting to provide an broad overview of the draft Climate Action Plan. The meeting provided background on the plan. It provided a summary of the actions contained in the plan, previous public engagement strategies, how to the priority actions contained in the draft plan were selected, and more.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott and Director of the Office of Sustainability, Lisa McNeilly, announced an updated set of goals for Baltimore City’s Climate Action Plan.

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At the direction of Mayor Scott, the City has set a series of targets to achieve 100% carbon neutrality by 2045. The Scott administration is aiming for a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2025, a 60% reduction in emissions by 2030, and full carbon neutrality – or 100% reduction in net emissions – by 2045. 

Baltimore’s Disaster Preparedness and Planning Project (DP3) was originally produced by the Department of Planning in 2013 to detail the City’s strategy to locally address both existing hazards and future hazards due to intensifying climate change impacts.

The DP3 went through an intensive update process in 2018 and was officially adopted by the City in December 2018. The DP3 fulfills Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements to regularly update our formal plans and includes additional elements the City plans to develop over the next 2-3 years.

The Climate Action Plan for the City of Baltimore provides residents, businesses, and City government with a framework for achieving the City’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. The framework includes sections on Energy Savings & Supply, Land Use & Transportation, and Growing a Green City. Buildings in Baltimore contribute 79% of our greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Savings & Supply chapter addresses this through a total of 17 strategies geared to mitigate emissions from our City’s residential, commercial and industrial building sectors

The 2019 Baltimore Sustainability Plan’s public engagement process touched 1,000’s residents. Ideas were gathered and analyzed, best practices were studied, and aspirations and actions were developed for becoming a more sustainable and equitable city.

The plan uses a racial equity lens to heighten awareness of disparities and remind us of the need for justice in everything we do. It articulates strategies, actions, and measures of success across 5 core themes and 23 topic areas: