Photo: NGerda
Earlier this year, Houston launched a Climate Action Plan with the goal of reducing emissions and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The city began implementation of the plan last week during the Houston Climate Week conference. This event helped re-emphasize the importance of reducing the city’s emissions to achieve cleaner air in the next few decades.
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The need for a greener Houston
According to the city, Houston emitted 34.3 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2014 alone. It also confirms that transportation is responsible for 47 percent of the city’s overall carbon emissions.
Per Houston Public Media’s Cristobella Durrette, Mayor Sylvester Turner highlighted the recent increase in hurricanes as one key reason that change needs to happen as quickly as possible. “These storms are coming with greater intensity. […] We recognize that we just couldn’t continue to do things as we had done them in the past.”
Without a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, Houston could see heatwaves that last up to 111 days by the end of the century, according to a new climate report. https://t.co/44YkrcWl6J
— Houston Public Media (@HoustonPubMedia) September 16, 2020
It’s important to note that Houston’s Climate Action Plan doesn’t mean the city is going to be 100 percent car-free, explains Houston’s chief transportation planner David Fields. The end-goal is to reach a point where it’s environmentally safe to travel around the city in a variety of ways (e.g. car, bike, bus, etc.).
The city has some specific goals that will guide infrastructure changes in the days ahead. For starters, Houston residents can expect more bike lanes. The city’s municipal car fleet will switch to electric in the next 10 years. And METRO buses will eventually transition to electric or hydrogen-powered models.
Learn how other U.S. cities are changing transportation methods to bring about cleaner air. Then read about The Tyre Collective’s award-winning invention that captures tire dust and promises to reduce pollution.
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Whitney Russell is a current resident of Dayton, though her spirit can be found beach-bumming in Puerto Rico (the land of her half-Puerto Rican heritage). When not adventuring through the exciting world of car news, she can be found hiking with her husband and their two dogs, motorcycling, visiting her cute nephews and nieces, discovering new memes, reorganizing and/or decorating some corner of the world, researching random things, and escaping into a great movie, poem, or short story. See more articles by Whitney.
