Despite political opposition and rampant science denial, Fort Collins, Colorado has decided to become a carbon neutral city by 2050. The city has approved new targets that will cut emissions significantly by 2030, in order to be fully carbon neutral by 2050.
City officials say that Mayor Weitkunat played a key role in moving this issue through the city council. The Mayor has previously served on the President’s Climate Preparedness and Resilience Task Force, which provides recommendations on how the federal government can support local communities when it comes to dealing with climate change.
More than half of the city’s emissions are said to come from power production.
Notably, however, Fort Collins along with the four surrounding towns own their power production which will allow proactive change without having to convince a private company. There is no word yet on whether the three other owning cities will take part in becoming carbon neutral.
Fort Collins is the second US city to make news this month by taking an aggressive stance on climate change. Earlier this month, Georgetown, Texas announced its plans to rely solely on wind and solar energy. Under the terms of that plan, Georgetown will get all of its solar energy from SunEdison for the next 25 years. That will account for half of the city’s energy needs and the remaining gap will be made up by locally produced wind energy.
The project will boost Texas’ overall solar production capacity by one third.
