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St. Paul Seeks to Set Example with Climate Goal
St. Paul, Minnesota, is on track to meet decarbonization goals, but its municipal buildings represent only small fraction of the city’s building stock. January 10, 2024
St. Paul, Minnesota, like many big cities in the United States, has a climate action plan. And like many cities, they’re working toward achieving those goals. But a recent article from the Energy News Network showed how far communities must go to achieve complete carbon neutrality goals.
The 2019 climate and action resilience plan called for St. Paul to achieve carbon neutrality for its 150 city-owned buildings by 2030. St. Paul is on track to accomplish that goal, but the 2.3 million square feet of space would account for just 2 percent of the emissions in the city. The plan calls for decarbonizing all buildings by 2050.
If municipalities hope to see its businesses and residents do the same though, it’s important for cities like St. Paul to practice what they preach. As the plan says, according to the article, “inspire through municipal leadership.”
Among the city’s current projects efficiency and electrification of systems in mind, according to the city’s chief resilience officer Russ Stark are a ground-source heated and cooled community building, purchasing an electric fire truck and new lighting and HVAC systems in selected buildings.
Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facility market.
