City Completes First Phase of Million Dollar Climate Action Planning Grant

Today, the City of Albuquerque made public the first deliverable for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant’s Planning Program after receiving $1 million of funding in January. This first deliverable was submitted on behalf of the Albuquerque Metro Statistical Area and is called the Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP). The PCAP is meant to identify an initial set of projects to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that meet the two overarching goals of the program: to reduce climate pollution and to benefit frontline communities.

“Climate change impacts us all, but we know that our frontline communities take on the largest burden of climate injustices,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “We’re taking critical strides to make the entire Albuquerque metro area a more equitable and climate-resilient place for all of our families.”

The release of the PCAP report marks the beginning of a four-year multi-jurisdictional planning effort. The second phase of the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant will include strategizing regional, collaborative efforts and developing the metro area’s first greenhouse gas inventory to help governments, industry, and individuals alike make data-informed decisions to reduce pollution and uplift our community.

“We demonstrated that the City of Albuquerque has an effective method for developing meaningful community-driven climate action plans with the successful development and application of our 2021 Climate Action Plan,” said Alice Main, City of Albuquerque’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Grant Manager. “Now with this federal funding, we can apply these best practices to the entire metro area for an even greater impact.”

The planning grant will begin a robust public engagement effort starting this summer. Read the entire PCAP to see the initial set of implementation-ready projects and learn more about the planning grant’s efforts at: cabq.gov/CPRG.