Cities, Are You Meeting Your Climate Action Targets? A Case for Engaging Residents

As climate change accelerates at an alarming rate, cities have taken action with an ever-increasing sense of urgency. More than 32 states, as well as many cities and towns, have developed climate action plans (CAPs) that outline carbon emission reduction targets and adaptation strategies.

In addition to targeting municipality-owned assets, it is critical that a climate action plan sufficiently engage a city or town’s residents. As Joan Fitzgerald of Northeastern University has said, cities must go beyond implementing “random acts of greenness” to take on climate action with renewed intention and vigor, and engaging residents to lower their carbon emissions is a critical step to doing so.

Why the focus on residents?

1) Residents account for the bulk of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a city.
A study that looked at GHG emissions on a global scale across 73 nations found that over 70% of emissions are associated with household consumption. Another report from the World Resources Institute found that the energy sector drives the bulk of GHG emissions globally, and the bulk of those emissions come from the residential and transportation sector — the energy needed to fulfill the housing and transportation needs of ordinary residents. 

While it is still crucial that cities decarbonize their public buildings and industrial architecture, there also needs to be emphasis on engaging the residential sector. Encouraging engagement from citizens is critical if cities are to achieve their climate goals.

2) Encouraging residents to be more involved in climate action can influence local policy and create a virtuous cycle of greater climate action; both mitigation and adaptation. When citizens are more educated about or engaged in climate action and take it up as a cause that is important to them, it is more likely that they will vote for candidates who support these initiatives. This can have tangible impacts on the outcome of elections, especially local elections, making it more likely that a city elects officials who support a strong climate agenda. In turn, this can spur more action and engagement. 

Beyond the elections themselves, more engaged residents can also have direct influence on climate-related policies, regardless of who is in office. For pro-climate policies to pass, there needs to be some degree of pressure and support from the public. When residents are more engaged, it is more likely that they will come to the relevant public meetings or forums to voice their input and offer support.

But, how does one effectively engage residents?

People have competing priorities and limited time, and the climate crisis is often presented as this daunting issue that people have grown exhausted of hearing about.

1) Make it relevant to all residents

An important piece to engaging residents is to meet people where they’re at. Cities should help people understand the urgency of the climate crisis and what they can do about it, but they must do so in a way that ensures that information is meaningful to the target audience. For instance, there are many people who don’t care about the climate crisis as an environmental, moral, or social crisis, and it is an ineffective use of time and resources to try to convince them otherwise. But what most people do care about, however, is saving money. City officials can guide these groups to take relevant climate action by framing it in terms of lowering costs: Weatherizing your home is not so much about reducing your carbon footprint, for instance, but about lowering your heating and cooling utility bills. 

2) Make it convenient

Of course, the other important part of meeting people where they’re at is going to them, rather than asking people to come to you. Make climate action something people can easily fit into their lives, whether this is in terms of time, effort, or location. For instance, if you’re looking to host an informational meeting about solar panel installation, composting, or weatherization, it’s much more effective to include it as part of another meeting or event that people are already attending, rather than hosting a separate event and asking people to carve out time to come to that. Other meetings or events that people are already attending could be religious services, school events, civic association meetings, and grocery or food pantry shopping.

3) Be consciously inclusive

Meeting people where they’re at also means connecting with historically marginalized communities in a sensitive way. This means being aware of potential power dynamics and the impact of historical inequities, and meaningfully involving them through all steps of project or program implementation. A city can consider leveraging an ambassador program to do so. In an ambassador program, the city employs or trains community members that belong to certain communities to act as a representative of and facilitate engagement on behalf of the city. This is rooted in the idea that people are more likely to act on and be receptive to information presented by someone who shares similar identities, backgrounds, and beliefs as them.

4) Make it fun & engaging

Climate action should also allow people to ‘tick’ multiple checkboxes. For instance, people should have multiple reasons for wanting to attend a city-sponsored climate event: The compost event isn’t just for learning about backyard composting — it is also a free family activity where the kids can have fun outside, and you can meet new people in your community. Part of this lies in how the event is designed, but just as much of it is in how it’s marketed.

5) Share the work!

Most importantly, enacting robust climate action is not something a city government may want to do alone. Leveraging partnerships, particularly with local climate community-based organizations (CBOs), can be a critical aspect of increasing citizen engagement. Consider reaching out to your local CBOs and thinking of ways to integrate them into your city’s work.

6) Utilize existing resources

In their transition team playbook, the NetZeroCities project offers useful models for cities thinking about how to leverage partnerships to accelerate a climate transition. Their “spinout transition team” model, in particular, envisions a role for a CBO as a dedicated local organization that builds and facilitates strong connections between core actors in the community (the city government, local businesses, and educational institutions.) It acts as the central figure that brings together these relevant stakeholders to orchestrate the transition to a sustainable future. While this model should not be treated as a “one-size-fits-all” solution to building CBO-city partnerships, this could serve as a useful starting point for cities looking to partner with their local CBO, which is further adapted to the unique needs of the city.

Not sure where to start? 

Green Community Catalysts (GCC) is here to help city officials determine the best approach for engaging their residents. Several options should be considered:

• training staff on resident engagement,

• hiring staff with this experience,

• partnering with an existing community-based organization (CBO)

We’re here to help you figure out the best approach in your City - contact us to set up a free, 15-minute consultation.