Have you taken on new sustainability habits this year? Or maybe you began your journey with research before deciding what steps you'll take next? Either way, we salute you for your curiosity and ambition to take the first steps to living a little more greener. To help inspire your journey, we'd like to share a story from our team member Patti as she navigates her own sustainability journey and tests new waters (and products).

One of the goals of our Cleveland Climate Action Plan includes reaching 100% of electricity demand from clean, renewable energy by 2050. In the environmental world, this is sweetly shortened to 100RE. To help us achieve this goal, we released Cleveland’s Clean and Equitable Energy Future report a few weeks ago, which is an action-oriented roadmap the City can follow for successful implementation of the 100% clean energy transition by 2050. 

The City of Cleveland was the first city in the state of Ohio to commit to powering itself with 100% clean and renewable energy sources by 2050. To help us achieve this critical goal, an action-oriented roadmap, known as Cleveland’s Clean & Equitable Energy Future, was developed. 

The report includes a deep analysis of current and projected future energy use by the City of Cleveland and the community. It includes modeled scenarios which demonstrate various Clean Energy Pathways the City can take to reach its 100% renewable electricity demand target.

These pathways enable the City to achieve its goal of 100% clean energy, while also generating millions of dollars of public benefits. These stem from utility bill savings and reducing energy burden for residents, the creation of green jobs, and public health benefits for Clevelanders.

You can find the full report here, and some FAQs to accompany the report here.

In our latest presentation, we gave a broad overview of this report and the various pathways the City could pursue to achieve its goal of 100% clean energy. If you missed it or would like to re-watch it, you can find the video here: Cleveland's Clean and Equitable Energy Future - YouTube.

• An Equitable Clean Energy Future: Pathways to Implementation
• Plug into EVs: What's New Locally, Regionally, and Across the State
• Residential Energy Efficiency: There's Something in it for Everyone

If you have any questions about Cleveland’s Clean and Equitable Energy Future, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

During the holiday season, food and gifts contribute to a high increase in household waste. According to the Ohio EPA, Americans throw out 25% more trash and 33% more food than any other time of the year. That amounts to 25 million extra tons of garbage that goes into landfills, creating more greenhouse gases such as methane, which is ultimately released into the atmosphere.

While this year’s holiday season may look a little different and perhaps include only your immediate household members, we encourage you to keep holiday waste to a minimum, to create a sustainable habit for years to come. Here are some tips to reduce waste over the holidays by making a few changes to our annual routines:

Today is Energy Efficiency Day, and we wanted to share some basic tips to help you save energy and money, and improve the comfort of your residence. By finding ways to use less energy, through both conservation and efficiency measures, you can reduce your individual carbon footprint and lower your utility bills.

Today we celebrate International Youth Day! Across the world, countless young people are taking action in their communities to create a more sustainable future. We wanted to highlight one of those youth - our Youth Sustainability Leadership Program (YSLP) participant Kynnedy Simone Smith. She became involved in the world of sustainability at quite a young age and has been on an ascending path towards an exciting career.

Every year leading up to 2019, Cleveland has focused on one of the key areas fundamental to a sustainable city. The Sustainable Cleveland Celebration Years are designed to be accessible to all members of the community — households, neighborhoods, businesses, and institutions can all participate, either in collaboration or independently. In 2019, we are celebrating the Year of People!

Why People?

At its core, SC2019 is built on engaging citizens to reshape our city’s future. SC2019’s motto, “Together, we’re building a thriving green city on a blue lake,” emphasizes empowerment, cooperation, action, quality of life, and abundance. People, not programs, are the answer to true and lasting climate action and sustainability in Cleveland. This means that a whole system, citizen-centered approach will be needed to align climate action with the assets, capacity and priorities of Cleveland residents and business owners.

The Sustainable Cleveland "system" includes residents from every Cleveland neighborhood, business owners, and stakeholders from many organizations and corporations.  In order for Cleveland residents to care about and to act upon climate change and other sustainability topics, they must connect to their everyday lives; they need to recognize climate change and climate action in their own backyards. By building upon what most people care about—safety, health, youth, education, jobs—there is potential to engage Cleveland’s residents and to be led in more creative directions as we become a Green City on a Blue Lake.

Learn More

Progress Dashboard: Check out our progress dashboard to keep up with the strides we have taken on many sustainability indicators since 2009!  We are extremely grateful to the people of Cleveland who have helped us get this far and we continue to look for people to engage in the future! 

Climate Action: The City of Cleveland has partnered with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and ioby (in our back yards) to update the Cleveland Climate Action Plan, with a focus on equity and engagement. Residents may use our Neighborhood Climate Action Toolkit to engage their community in sustainability.

Report from the Community: The Sustainable Cleveland Report from the Community will be released this summer and will serve as a high-level summary for the SC2019 initiative- capturing highlights and success stories since SC2019’s launch in 2009.

Do More

Get involved in the Year of People at home, at work and in your community!

Enter the photo contest!  SHARE a photo of yourself or others doing a sustainable activity in Cleveland! 

Year of People Kickoff: Join us as we kickoff the Year of People at City Hall Rotunda in January!  We will be celebrating the individuals who make up many of our sustainability partners.

Sustainable Cleveland Summit: Register now for the 2019 Sustainable Cleveland Summit,to be held October 16th 8am-5pm at Cleveland Public Auditorium.

Potluck in the Park: Get to know your neighbors by attending Vital Neighborhood Working Group’s annual Potluck in the Park event at Dunham Tavern during summer 2019! This community-wide potluck moves to a different location each year to bring growers, producers, cooks and eaters together over a healthy meal to celebrate local food.

ioby: ioby (in our back yard) gives leaders the ability to organize all kinds of capital—cash, social networks, in-kind donations, volunteers, advocacy— to build real, lasting change from the ground up. Learn about what the leaders in your community are doing to make your neighborhood a more vital place to live and learn what you can do to help.

Common Ground:  Common Ground creates a network of community conversations where residents can meet, share a meal, connect and discuss the 2019 theme:

My environment was…My environment is…My environment will be…

Check out the Sustainable Cleveland events calendar for an updated list of Year of People events.

If you are interested in volunteering at these or other Sustainable Cleveland events, please contact Cathi Lehn at [email protected].

Cooperative Cleveland (CO-OP CLE): A Community of Interest Network (COIN). It a space where Makers (or Ecopreneurs as a friend refers to herself) practice what they’ve learned formally in classes offered by one of the many small business development organizations in Northeast Ohio or informally out of necessity.

Every year leading up to 2019, Cleveland will focus on one of the key areas fundamental to a sustainable city. The Sustainable Cleveland Celebration Years are designed to be accessible to all members of the community — households, neighborhoods, businesses, and institutions can all participate, either in collaboration or independently. In 2018, we are celebrating the Year of Vital Neighborhoods! In 2018, we are celebrating the Year of Vital Neighborhoods! Click here to see photos of the kickoff event. 

Why Vital Neighborhoods?

Neighborhoods are the building blocks of a great urban area. They are the real places of daily life where people come together, to network, to build relationships, and where a sense of identity and history is created. There are many actions Clevelanders can take to help support their neighborhoods, including volunteering, learning about how you can take climate action, and getting to know your neighbors!

Learn More

Resilient Cleveland: The Cleveland Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative includes a detailed assessment of the current and anticipated effects of climate change in the Midwest and identifies projects, programs, policies, engagement strategies, and future research to lessen overall energy demand, anticipate and prepare for climate changes and shocks, and foster social cohesion.

Cleveland Tree Plan: Launched in 2015 and adopted by the Cleveland Planning Commission in 2016, the Cleveland Tree Plan is a community-wide collaboration to rebuild the urban forest so that Northeast Ohio residents can experience the benefits of reforesting our city, generating greater resiliency, health, prosperity and overall quality of life.

Climate Action: The City of Cleveland has partnered with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and ioby (in our back yards) to update the Cleveland Climate Action Plan, with a focus on equity and engagement. Residents may use our Neighborhood Climate Action Toolkit to engage their community in sustainability. Watch for the public comment period for the Plan in the very near future.