Climate Action Plan
In partnership with over 150 elected leaders and 1000 volunteers, Climate Action KC and MARC developed a Regional Climate Action Plan that was subsequently adopted by the MARC Board of Directors in March 2021. The plan conveys a comprehensive strategy heavily influenced by community input, the lessons of Project Drawdown, and the needs of our most vulnerable communities.Â
The plan developed a Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Inventory which showed that 63% of GHG emissions in our region are attributed to buildings. Â It sets forth three timelines for achieving net-zero: 2035 for all municipal government activities, 2040 for all buildings (2030 for all new buildings), and 2050 economy-wide.
Net Zero Kansas City Region by 2050
The Kansas City Regional Climate Action Plan (CAP) aims to transform the metropolitan area into a more resilient, equitable and healthy community. An ambitious set of interrelated strategies will help to mitigate climate change by achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and adapt to and bounce forward from the many risks climate change poses. Linkages among plan strategies are abundant and intentional.
Our Plan is Ambitious, Comprehensive and Urgent
It creates a new platform to build on, accelerate and scale up existing efforts through new models of collaborative regional leadership. Resilience-focused investment will catalyze long-term prosperity and health.
Interim net zero goals focus on local government operations (by 2030), energy generation (by 2035), and homes and buildings (by 2040).
The Mid-America Regional Council and Climate Action KC have worked to bring together broad and diverse community perspectives and technical expertise to develop a set of goals and actions that comprise the Climate Action Plan.
The Climate Action Plan serves Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, and Ray counties in Missouri.
Background
Greater Kansas City is one of four U.S. regions selected by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) to receive technical assistance to develop a regional Climate Action Plan. This award, part of the European Commission’s International Urban Cooperation (IUC) Regional and Metro-Scale Climate Leaders initiative, which supports an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in the Kansas City region and helps coalition members formulate the regional Climate Action Plan. GCoM introduced this regional initiative to foster more ambitious and widespread action on climate change. The other regions involved are Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.
GCoM is an international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to an inclusive, just, low-emission and resilient society. There are currently 154 members of the GCoM in the U.S., all of whom have made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change.
