The passing of the Climate Emergency Resolution further supported the "Just Transition Plan" (JTP). The Climate Emergency Resolution prompted the expansion of JTP's focus to include broader equitable climate action for frontline communities most impacted by climate change. The original aim of the JTP already centered recommendations to minimize the impact of the energy transition on underserved and underrepresented populations and to have inclusive engagement. Thanks to the Climate Emergency Resolution the concerns from diverse community members in the JTP committee were integrated into the final Climate Action Recommendations Report along with recommendations from the Climate Action Taskforce. After contributing to the Climate Action Recommendation Report and it's adoption by City Council in Q4 2020, the JTP Committee renamed themselves to the Equitable Climate Action Team (ECAT) and established new objectives on how to partner with the City in implementing equitable climate action.
Today, The Equitable Climate Action Team (ECAT) is a volunteer community group led by City staff who assist in implementing equitable climate action through community education, outreach and the evaluation of City programs to ensure equitable outcomes on climate action programs.
Members of the Equitable Climate Action Team (ECAT) learned about the intersection of equity and sustainability through presentations and field trips focused on community cohesion and regenerative Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) practices that foster community resilience. ECAT’s membership grew to have more representation from frontline communities living in Longmont; achieving it’s goal to elevate voices most impacted by climate change. Other goals achieved from ECAT's three main tasks (Learn, Engage, Educate):
Volunteer members of ECAT learned more on their important role in supporting local government and helped integrate clearer equity guidelines in their membership governing documents by the end of 2022. ECAT’s membership has grown to include representation from Frontline Communities living in Longmont. To elevate communities who are often most impacted by climate change, the ECAT aims to center these voices when working on their 3 main tasks:
ECAT’s recommendations from 2020 were developed into a Climate Equity Checklist for City staff to review and a Climate Action Equity Discussion Guide that started to be used in 2021 as an equity analysis tool applied when reviewing new City programs to center the needs of Longmont's vulnerable communities. To see both documents please go to the Equitable Recommendations Report action item.
On October 8, 2019, Longmont City Council passed the Climate Emergency Resolution. This provided the opportunity to expand the focus of the just transition effort to equitable climate action. The final equitable climate action recommendations were created by a Just Transition Plan (JTP) Committee, as detailed in the JTP Committee Equity Recommendations section of the Climate Action Recommendations Report.
The entire Climate Action Recommendation Report was presented to Council on June 30th and July 7th, including presentations from the JTP Committee. Council did not fully finalize and approve the strategy implementation until December 8, 2020 after advisory board input and proposed staff modiciations.
To learn about the current level of access to electrical energy services and programs, City staff reviewed national and local reports to identify potential lack of access to electric energy services and the interconnection between energy and community health and other basic needs. Next, to better understand low-to-medium income residents, in the summer of 2019 the City distributed a survey to 562 residents and held ten listening sessions. In October 2018, Four Environment & Us Workshops were held to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of integrating equity into environmental actions and policy.
ECAT volunteer members learned how community cohesion & connectedness strengthens our resilience during natural disasters and other emergencies. Group added 5 new members from Longmont's Frontline Communities that are committed to elevate voices that are most impacted by climate change. Other accomplished goals from ECAT's three main tasks (Learn, Engage, Educate) are: