Northeast Ohio Counters Climate Change Through Regional Cohesion

A region without a climate action plan and vocal opposition to climate action leveraged existing local plans, corralled disparate data, and engaged diverse stakeholders to craft innovative greenhouse gas reduction measures (i.e. actions). These efforts fostered a framework to both reduce people’s impacts on climate (mitigation) and climate’s impacts on people (adaptation).

Northeast Ohio planning staff and elected officials welcomed contradictory viewpoints through open dialogue and diverse engagement opportunities to forge a foundation of common regional interests. Participate in small-group engagement and experience how Northeast Ohio’s integration of collaborative government, stakeholder input, and regional data yielded a $130 million United States Environmental Protection Agency Climate Pollution Reduction Program grant in July 2024.

Northeast Ohio will develop an unprecedented 63 megawatts of solar arrays on brownfields and landfills to put the region on a path toward its 2030 and 2050 emissions-reduction goals. Closing a peaking, coal-fired power plant will create a 1,000+ acre, public, lakefront nature preserve on a blighted brownfield site. This is a replicable model in which affordable, renewable energy development enables habitat restoration, improves air and water quality, and provides recreational opportunity for low-income and disadvantaged communities.

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