Dallas, TX Endorsing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
Type: Policy
Status: Announced on 5/23/06
Source File: http://www.greendallas.net/pdfs/climate_protection_agreement.pdf
Description:
Mayor Laura Miller has joined over 200 other mayors from around the country in signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. By signing the agreement, Mayor Miller has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Dallas to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. These reductions will be made through actions like increasing energy efficiency, reducing vehicle miles traveled, maintaining healthy urban forests, and promoting use of clean, renewable energy resources.
The Agreement also calls for Congress to pass legislation that sets meaningful timelines and limits on emissions through a flexible, market-based system of tradable allowances among emitting industries.
Mayor Miller said “Although global warming is typically seen as a federal issue, there are many things that we can do and need to do at a local level to save our environment.”
“The City can lower emissions from its fleet of vehicles; our Council can adopt and enforce land-use policies that preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities; we can promote transportation options such as bicycle trails or public transit, and make those options easier and more convenient for our residents to use,” Miller continued.
“The City of Dallas has already taken many steps to make our environment a priority. For instance, last December, the Council created the Urban Forest Advisory Committee. Trees are a tremendous asset for a city for beauty, for the environment, and for economic development. With Dallas boasting the largest urban hardwood forest of any big city – 7,000 acres in the Great Trinity Forest – the creation of this committee is also timely,” Miller added.
The Climate Protection Agreement was launched on February 16, 2005, the day the Kyoto Protocol went into effect in 141 other countries.
Since that time, many cities throughout the nation, both large and small, are reducing global warming pollutants. Many are adopting programs that provide economic and quality of life benefits such as reduced energy bills, green space preservation, air quality improvements, reduced traffic congestion, improved transportation choices, and economic development and job creation through energy conservation and new energy technologies.
View the entire resolution on the US Conference of Mayors website.