Allegheny County Climate Action Plan

Allegheny County seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve quality of life for residents, and address historic inequities in environmental justice communities. To accomplish this, the County is pursuing its first community-wide climate action plan (CAP) and county operations roadmap—setting a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and charting a roadmap to achieve it.

Allegheny County engaged a consultant team including evolveEA to lead the County’s first climate action plan, building upon existing county achievements and collaborating with regional organizations. The development of climate actions and measures is informed by robust analysis and community and stakeholder engagement.

The project includes countywide and municipal operations greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and a robust operational assessment of municipal fleets, building systems, parks, and county programs. The effort also includes an extensive community engagement plan, including a website with asynchronous engagement, pop-up engagement at existing events hosted by regional organizations, and 8 in-person and virtual community meetings. An internal technical advisory committee and external climate working group are convening three times each throughout the process to acquire input, build technical knowledge and capacity, and prepare for plan implementation.

Currently in progress, the plan is guided by community and stakeholder-informed statements, including a vision and three guiding values. The prioritization of actions will be informed by their alignment with community benefits and opportunities for the improvement of county operations effectiveness, as well as GHG emission reduction potential, cost, savings potential, and more.