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Executive Summary <br />St. Louis Park is a leader in local clean energy initiatives, having passed the most ambitious municipal climate <br />goals in Minnesota. With its sights set on carbon neutrality by 2040, a bold yet achievable goal, the city must <br />continue to challenge status quo energy usage and associated greenhouse -gas emissions. The Climate Action <br />Plan (CAP) that follows begins with three kick-start projects to help spur clean energy changes in the community <br />and build momentum for the implementation of this plan. This is followed by seven climate goals, supporting <br />strategies, and specific initiatives and actions to help guide St. Louis Park toward intermediary progress by 2030. <br />The purpose of setting goals to 2030 rather than 2040 is to get the city on a trajectory toward its carbon neutral <br />goal and allow an interim point to examine progress and reassess its course of action. The CAP then outlines <br />more aggressive, advanced strategies that are necessary for the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2040. The <br />CAP concludes with guidance on how the city itself can strive to improve its climate impact to lead the <br />community toward its collective goals. <br />Recognizing the difficulty of transitioning into this plan, three kick-start projects are designed to catalyze <br />engagement with the community and build momentum for change. The first project is a youth -led initiative, <br />building on the city's history of engaging its young residents. The second project aims to centralize information <br />about the plan and other climate action resources into one, easy -to -find hub for households and businesses to <br />reference. The third project is to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by installing chargers in public <br />parking lots. <br />The next section states seven climate goals, with each accompanied by a series of strategies and specific <br />initiatives and actions. The following goals address the greatest areas for climate impact: <br />1. Reduce energy consumption in large commercial buildings 30% by 2030 <br />2. Reduce energy consumption in small to mid -size commercial buildings 30% by 2030 <br />3. Design and build all new construction to be net -zero energy (NZE) by 2030 <br />4. Reduce energy consumption in residential buildings 35% by 2030 <br />5. Achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2030 <br />6. Reduce vehicle emissions by 25% by 2030 <br />7. Reduce solid waste 50% by 2030 from Business as Usual <br />Specific reduction targets are assigned to each strategy that were calculated using the wedge diagram tool <br />(Appendix F). The strategies are supported by initiatives and actions intended to help the city achieve these <br />targets. The impact of each of the listed initiatives is aggregated to demonstrate the total emissions reductions. <br />At the end of each section is a list of resources that are available to support the city in implementing these <br />actions. The seven mid-term goals will jointly accomplish a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 and a 62% <br />reduction by 2040. The remaining emissions will come from fossil fuel use in buildings and travel, including <br />vehicle and air travel. The remaining sources of emissions will require the city to identify additional advanced <br />strategies (e.g., fuel switching, thermal solutions, and carbon offsets) to achieve carbon neutrality. <br />