By Adam Swift
Revere, Chelsea, and Winthrop are in the midst of creating a Zero Carbon Action Plan for the region through the North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).
The two organizations are planning an online virtual climate action prioritization forum on Tuesday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. Any residents who wish to take part can register at mapc.ma/northsuffolk.
The goal of the action plan is to reduce carbon emissions and reach net zero in the North Suffolk communities by 2050,and reduce carbon pollution and other greenhouse gasses that impact climate change as well as air quality, said Sasha Shyduroff-Gutman, MAPC’s senior clean energy and climate planner.
“We are in the midpoint of the planning process, so we kicked off our community engagement in the early fall and did a few virtual and in-person community events and worked to do an initial visioning session,and hear from community members about what their concerns and thoughts are related to climate and energy,†said Shyduroff-Gutman.
The forum planned for March 28 will be a presentation on the work that has been done thus far on the action plan and potential actions the three communities can take to reduce emissions, she said.
“There’s a lot of desire for more trees and greenspace and access to outdoor spaces and improvement to outdoor air quality,†said Shyduroff-Gutman about the responses to the process so far.
There has also been discussion about the need for incentives for solar power and reducing energy costs in their housing and in developments, she added.
The plan is to have a draft of the Zero Carbon Action Plan this spring and have it finalized by June.
At that point, it will be up to the North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability to implement the action items within the plan.
“There will probably be a range of near-term actions that they can prioritize in the next one to three years as well as action over the next five to seven years and longer-term actions,†said Shyduroff-Gutman.
There will also likely be recommendations about when to revisit the plan, aligning with carbon neutrality benchmarks in 2030 and 2050.
Shyduroff-Gutman said the plan is a bit unique for the MAPC, since it covers three communities, and will need sign off and efforts from the administration and staff in all three communities.
The recommendations from the plan will span six different sectors, including buildings and energy, mobility and transportation, solid waste, open space and environment, municipal buildings and fleets, and collaborative government.
Residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide input during the March 28 meeting, and Shyduroff-Gutman said there will also be a survey after the meeting so participants can expand on their input for the action plan.
