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Lessons Learned: Creating the Chicago Climate Action Plan

Keywords / Description:

The Chicago Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive sustainability plan that can inspire public participation, allow city departments to see how their existing “green” activities fit into a broader agenda, and provide a roadmap for what businesses and individuals can do. The Plan focuses most on how action will sustain a high quality of life for the people of Chicago by improving public health and the resilience of natural areas; lowering energy costs and creating jobs in emerging high technology sectors; increasing the comfort and efficiency of buildings, as well as the reliability of energy services; and broadening transportation choices, including higher quality transit and better access to services in greener neighborhoods. It describes how the City will protect its people from climate changes that are no longer avoidable, such as hotter summers, more heat waves and more severe storms. Many of the actions solve multiple problems and build on the success of one another. Last, but not least, the Plan offers a way to quantify, track, and publicly share progress. This document builds off of the Climate Action Plan process and provides readers with key lessons learned during the process. This resource provides a summary of lessons learned from the Chicago Climate Action Planning process, observations from each phase of the process (research, planning, and implementation), and more. This resource can be used in tandem with the other resources that were developed through this process to provide practitioners and planners with an example of how the action planning process can be effectively completed. 

Toolkit:

Climate Change Toolkit

Keyword Area:

Adaptation, Climate, Environmental Health, Evaluation, Mitigation, Transportation Planning

Jurisdiction:

Institutional Author:

Julia Parzen

Submitted:

04/24/2012

Modified:

04/30/2012

The NACCHO Toolbox is a repository of available resources to help local public health practitioners. Tools are produced by local, state, and federal agencies, as well as academic institutions and other stakeholders. The contents of this Toolbox are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any official recommendations of NACCHO. NACCHO makes no express or implied warranty with respect to the contents and disclaims liability for any damages arising from or connected to the use of the material in this Toolbox.

Five most recent user comments

Nice insight on climate change planning keys
By Richard Hicks
Good observations on keys to creating effective climate action plans.  May be most useful for large urban communities.