Community Climate Action Plan

Community Climate Action Plan

Climate action requires the collective action of everyone globally, including individuals, governments, private businesses, and the non-profit community. The Town of Boone recognizes the important role of local government in community climate action and is in the process of preparing the Town of Boone's Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP), which will begin to address the challenges that climate change presents to our town and to the High Country region. The role of government, while important, is small in comparison to the actions that everyone must take. The Town of Boone's CCAP plans to provide an evaluation of the community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, strategies, and actions to reduce emissions; an understanding of the role of equity and the implications of climate change on vulnerable communities; and an overview of the impacts of climate change and how it affects Boone's overall community resilience.

Inventory of the Town of Boone's Municipal Greenhouse Gases

In August 2021, we learned that the Town of Boone's municipality in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019/2020 used 7 Gigawatt Hours (gWh) or 7,000,000 Kilowatt Hours (kWh) a year of electricity. Based on the current grid portfolio, that is 2,671 metric tons of CO2 emission a year. That is the equivalent of 3,205 acres of deforestation/year. That's almost the size of Boone!

On top of that, the Town of Boone municipality in FY 2019/2020 drove 715,000 miles, using 52,000 gallons of gasoline and 21,300 gallons of diesel. That results in 1,154 metric tons of CO2 emissions. This is the equivalent of 1,384 acres of deforestation/year. Boone’s GHG emissions from electricity is twice vehicle emissions 2,671 metric tons of CO2 from electricity 1,154 metric tons of CO2 from vehicles That is a total of 3,825 metric tons of CO2.

Next Steps

The Town of Boone is currently in the data-gathering portion of the Community Climate Action Plan process.  This includes the processing and evaluation of the following types of data:

1. GHG Emission Inventory town-wide
2. Creation of models to accurately represent the areas in which we need to tackle first in regards to emissions
3. Public meetings will be held in order to achieve maximum citizen engagement
4. A finished product that will guide the Town on actions we need to take will be hosted on the Town's website

The Community Climate Action plan will be referred to in the Town of Boone's updated Comprehensive Plan. To learn more about the Comprehensive Plan's planning process, please visit the Comprehensive Plan Progress and Updates webpage.