B. Benefits of Climate Action
Benefits of Climate Action
Fortunately, we have the tools to reduce these emissions and make both county operations and the community at large more resilient in the face of greater uncertainty and extreme impacts in the future.
Many of these emissions-reduction solutions offer the immediate benefits of improved air quality and lower energy use in the short-term, combined with reduced operations and maintenance expenses over the long-term. However, these savings often require up-front investment that exceeds traditional, business-as-usual equipment replacement. The County is pursuing technical assistance and financial strategies to reduce our energy use and emissions across all operations, facilities and fleets in ways that benefit our community in multiple ways:
- Air quality. Reducing carbon-equivalent gases also reduced the dangerous emissions that contribute to air pollution.
- Reduced heat. Expanded community forests and better-insulated buildings can reduce the heat people experience during our hottest days. Reducing carbon-equivalent emissions also reduces our region’s contribution to global warming.
- Public health. Reducing toxic emissions improves air quality and lowers the rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease and other pollution-related ailments for people in our community.
- Taxpayer savings. Lowering the County’s energy bills and reducing operations and maintenance costs saves taxpayer dollars.
- Jobs and Economic Development. Pursuing energy efficiency upgrades supports the creation of new jobs and a stronger local economy powered by cleaner, more sustainable and more affordable energy.
- Equity. Reducing County emissions brings the above benefits to communities that have been historically overburdened by environmental impacts and underserved by investment.
- Improved Community Resilience. Many of the actions presented in this CAP will increase the ability of people, businesses, infrastructure, County services and our local environment to prevent, withstand and recover from stressful events.
For a more detailed discussion of these benefits, see the Benefits of Climate Action section of the Climate Action Plan Introduction.
Achieving the County’s Net Zero 2050 goal will also help achieve other County strategic objectives:
- Fiscal Sustainability
- Serving Vulnerable Populations
This plan includes the following:
- Calculation (inventory) of the County’s GHG emissions in 2021 (our baseline year)
- Emissions reduction strategies and actions in the following categories:
- Alignment around Net Zero 2050 goal
- Land-Use
- Fleets
- Facilities and Operations
- Waste
- Renewable Energy production
All of these efforts support Washoe County’s mission to work together regionally to provide and sustain a safe, secure and healthy community.
Explore Washoe County’s mission, vision, guiding principles and strategic objectives here.
Service and Reliability
Although the County has a goal to reduce GHGs to net zero by 2050, we also have an obligation to provide reliable, and sometimes life-saving services to the community. With every decision to decarbonize our facilities and operations, we must also consider the ability to provide essential services. Sometimes this may require us to choose reliable service delivery over energy efficiency. With every decision, we consider the maximum benefit to the people of Washoe County.