What the Declaration Includes

Background and Present Consideration – The Resolution as presented declares that a climate and ecological emergency threatens our City, and advocates for actions to combat climate change.

Among other actions, the Resolution calls for accelerating adaptation and resilience strategies; moving forward with the development and implementation of a 10-year Climate Action and Adaptation Plan through an inclusive community engagement process; updating the City’s greenhouse gas inventory and related data; and pursuing strategies and actions to transition out of fossil fuel production, power generation, and use within City operations.

The Resolution directs all City departments to prioritize and align efforts with the Paris Agreement and the Green New Deal and identify climate adaptation and mitigation strategies that are people-centered and prioritize certain climate and sustainability solutions.

The Resolution also calls on the State of Arizona, the United States of America, Tribal nations and all governments and peoples worldwide to initiate a just and equitable transition and urgent climate mobilization effort to reverse global warming

In addition, the City of Tucson Mayor and Council directs that all City Departments work with the Pima Association of Governments, Climate Action Advisory Council and/or dedicated consultant to update the City of Tucson’s government operations greenhouse gas inventory by providing input data, including, but not limited to, stationary energy (fossil fuel combustion and grid-supplied electricity used in facilities, potable and reclaimed water, central Arizona project, fleet facilities, public lighting, district energy), on road and nonroad transportation, waste, employee commuting, and solar energy generation, within 3 months of the signing of this declaration.

Download the full declaration here.

It’s official. The City of Tucson is now on record and ready to actively move forward to create a more resilient and climate equitable community with the unanimous passage Sept. 9 of the Climate Emergency Declaration prepared for the city council by Mayor Regina Romero and Ward 3 Council Member Paul Durham.

“Let’s get to work,” said Mayor Romero after the 6-0 vote (Durham was unable to attend the meeting). “This is the first step. We did not want to put the declaration on the agenda without having meaning. We didn’t want just words on paper. We wanted to establish goals and to finally commit to those goals.”

The Climate Emergency Declaration calls for the development and implementation of a 10-year Climate Action and Adaption Plan (see sidebar). It also pledges to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The declaration, among other actions, directs city departments to update their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory within the next three months to include data on fossil fuel-generated electricity usage in city and fleet facilities, public lighting and water delivery systems as well as its use to fuel public and employee transportation — and to accelerate the use of solar generation and electric-powered vehicles.

Fossil fuel pollution through coal and petroleum is the primary cause of global warming, which is now on track to increase the average temperatures in our Southwest region by upwards of 9 degrees F, unless we immediately take actions to drastically reduce its usage in transportation and the electric grid. Petroleum is also used to create the most ubiquitous substance in the world: plastics.

Mayor Romero and Council Member Durham spent the past few months working on the declaration with city departments, the city manager and city attorney to “consider realistic goals,” said Mayor Romero at the council meeting, and “to take those goals seriously.”

The city’s actions also will focus on the social inequities of global warming, a topic addressed passionately by speakers at the council meeting, including Kyle Klein, a Udall Scholar at the University of Arizona and member of Arizona Youth Climate Coalition, and UArizona’s Diana Liverman, Regents Professor of Geography and Development and co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees C,” published in 2018.

Both urged the city to ensure that vulnerable communities — of color, age and income — are protected against the onslaught of heat in our region. “As climate change worsens, the impacts deepen” in these communities, said Klein.

Liverman also urged Tucson’s business community to engage in solutions, warning that climate change is a “serious risk” to their bottom line.

Mayor Romero, whose mayoral campaign included climate change as a priority, promised that the declaration is not a standalone action. “This is just the beginning. There is much more work ahead.”

During her campaign, Mayor Romero said that “some people laughed at me, saying the city has nothing to do with setting goals for climate change. I pushed through that negativity, and I believe that every year that passes, every summer that just gets hotter we will all continue to understand why climate change is such a detrimental issue for our city.”

Karen Peterson

Organizer, Climate Tucson