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Comprehensive Environmental & Climate Action Plan
Frequently Asked Questions
Dallas CECAP
Climate Change
The Dallas Comprehensive Environment & Climate Action Plan (CECAP) will create a comprehensive roadmap that outlines the specific activities that the city can undertake to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve environmental quality in the city. It will build upon our understanding of the climate and other environmental challenges facing Dallas, existing efforts by the City and other stakeholders, information synthesized in the new City of Dallas greenhouse gas inventory, and with community input. The Plan will focus on activities that can achieve the greatest emission reductions and deliver the most benefits to communities most affected by climate change impacts.
Here are a few examples of similar plans from other Texas cities: Austin Community Climate Plan (http://austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Sustainability/OOS_AustinClimatePlan_032915_SinglePages.pdf) and San Antonio Climate Ready: A Pathway for Climate Action and Adaptation (https://saclimateready.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SACR-REPORT_FINAL_spreads-1-25.pdf)(in progress).
The intention of this plan is to not be a comprehensive plan, parks master plan or a strategic water plan. However, since the impact of climate change reaches various sectors, the plan will draw on elements from these sectors and help guide action related to them in the future.
The first and foremost concern of the Dallas CECAP is quality to life. The plan will focus on reducing impacts of climate change on the city as well as the impact of the city on the climate and at the same time creating co-benefits for the entire community.
The plan’s goals include:
• Prepare the community for the impacts of climate change.
• Create a healthier and more prosperous community by addressing climate change.
• Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• Encourage residents and business to take action!
The City of Dallas is committed to meeting the international emission reduction targets set by the Paris Agreement in 2016. Mayor Mike Rawlings signed the Mayors Climate Agreement and committed his support to meeting these targets.
“With no current state or federal action on climate change, it is apparent that local governments must shoulder the burden," said Mayor Rawlings in a statement. "The City of Dallas accepts this responsibility and is actively working towards building a greener, more resilient city. Addressing climate change should not be a controversial or partisan issue, and local leaders and the marketplace should work together in pursuing climate action."
“That’s why I am excited that we have approved funding for a Comprehensive Environmental Action Plan. The City’s Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability will have the resources and responsibility to chart a path of environmental and climate action for the coming years in alignment with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.”
The project is led by the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability. Through a competitive process, the team of AECOM technical services, Arredondo, Zepeda & Brunz, LLC and K Strategies, were selected as the consultants on this project.
There is also an Environmental Planning Task Force, an internal committe composed of representatives from relative departments in the City of Dallas, and a Stakeholder Advisory Group, which includes representatives from businesses, universities, and community organizations throughout Dallas.
The CECAP process includes a comprehensive public engagement process that specifically seeks to engage low-income communities of color, who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, yet are typically the least engaged in planning processes. We will host town hall style events across the city to understand what types of environmental challenges communities are facing and are most concerned about, and in the second round of input, what types of actions the community supports. Concurrently, we will document ongoing actions by reviewing past plans pertinent to the City’s priorities. These activities will inform Dallas’ CECAP vision for the future.
Based on the results of the plan and data review tasks, and stakeholder engagement, we will propose quantitative, sector-specific municipal and community goals aimed at enhancing the city’s environmental performance by a specific timeline. Where applicable, existing goals will be leveraged and built upon. Goals will be evaluated against C40’s Deadline 2020 guidelines, and in line with federal, state and international standards and best practices including the Paris Climate Agreement and the recommendations of ICLEI and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN).
Once goals go through review by stakeholders and are finalized, we will develop sector-specific community-based actions to make progress towards goals. We recognize the need for any proposed actions to pass an equity test, for example, any actions we propose to address extreme heat impacts in Dallas will prioritize areas such as West Dallas, which have the highest concentration of urban heat islands due to underlying socioeconomic inequities according to maps produced under the Smart Growth for Dallas project
The proposed actions will be reviewed by stakeholders and finalized based on their input. For the prioritized actions, we will develop a high-level profile that identifies lead agencies, qualitative co-benefits, implementation steps, high level community cost ranges, and progress metrics.
Throughout the process, input will be sought from a stakeholder advisory committee and an inter-departmental inter-agency planning Task Force.
Dallas City Council approved the CECAP initiative in September 2018 and the project kicked off in February 2019. Six meetings across the city will take place in the two weeks following a Townhall at Earth X on April 27th. This process will inform the community’s direction and vision for the future. Between May to mid-September, the team will develop initial actions, based on the input received from the community. The team will share these initial ideas with the community in another round of meetings across the City in September. From October to January, the team will finalize actions, which will be synthesized into a living document the city and community can use to guide decisions. The plan is scheduled to be adopted by the city council mid-March 2020 and launched on April 22, Earth Day 2020!
The City is developing its first-ever 5-Year Strategic Mobility Plan (SMP). This important document will establish a Strategic Vision for transportation in Dallas that emphasizes integrated transportation decision-making with housing, economic development, equity, and the environment.
The recommendations made in the SMP will play a significant role in meeting the GHG emissions reductions targets set by the CECAP. This will require a collaborative partnership between these concurrent efforts to ensure their goals are aligned. In addition, this project will explore climate specific topics (such as fuel switching) in transportation, which may not be central to the SMP.
Source: City of Dallas Strategic Mobility Plan(https://dallascityhall.com/departments/transportation/Pages/Strategic-Mobility-Plan-.aspx)
In addition to the formal community workshops, an online presentation and survey is available for those who cannot attend the workshops. Our targeted outreach with smaller groups (neighborhood groups, religious organizations, non-profits, etc.) will be consistent with the community workshops and utilize the survey to collect the same information.[LT1]
[LT1]City to agree or build upon this answer
All material from community workshops will be available online (including the boards, a recorded presentation and the survey). Anyone can take the materials and share it with family, friends, coworkers and local organizations so that as a as many citizens as possible are included in the planning process.
If you would like to contact us directly, email us at deqs@dallasclimateaction.com or call us at 214-670-1200.
Based on input from stakeholders and results of the plan and data review, the project team will work with the stakeholder advisory committee to articulate a community vision and propose quantitative, sector-specific municipal and community goals aimed at enhancing the city’s environmental performance by a specific timeline. These goals will provide a framework for the actions.
The City Council has directed the City to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, therefore the CECAP will lay out a road map for what steps the City will need to take in order to get there. More detailed implementation steps will be laid out for the next 5 years, with the understanding that the Plan will need to be updated on a regular basis, depending on performance achieved, how climate science evolves, how the Texas electricity grid decarbonizes etc.
(It will depend on the types of actions that are developed)
The City Council identified a carbon neutrality goal by 2050. The City will be monitoring the performance of the actions identified within the Plan to track the status of the actions as well as whether city emissions are reducing over time (through regular GHG inventory updates). The actions are likely to be a mix of policies (including mandates) and programs and incentives. The mandates will be enforceable. Incentives, programs are not enforceable per se, but the City will be encouraging participation by the community through outreach and education.
We know that climate change will have the most impact on vulnerable communities including children, the elderly, low income communities, and in particular, communities of color. We are working to ensure that the voices of these communities are heard and included in the planning process. The plans actions will aim to address the needs of and provide benefits to those most burdened by climate impacts, yet with the least means to cope.
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