The City of Salem recently completed a Climate Actions Audit, which documents the City of Salem's work over the past decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through City projects, practices, programs, and plans.

The report includes an in-depth review of Climate Action Plans adopted by 12 other cities, identifies elements to include for a Salem-specific climate action plan, and recommends steps for the City to undertake in developing climate action plan.

A comparison of City of Salem actions and policies to other cities with climate action plans shows that Salem has completed 26 percent of actions and policies.

Salem is progressing in non-motorized transportation, green spaces and improved park connectivity, clean power and energy use reduction at city buildings, water infrastructure, and increased mixed-use zoning opportunities. Salem's actions and policies are lagging in building quality, parking restrictions, mass transit, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and encouraging local renewable energy production.

Work on developing a Climate Action Plan for the City of Salem will begin immediately. The Climate Action Plan will use Salem's 2019 Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory to set targets for emissions reduction and be well coordinated with Our Salem Comprehensive Plan to ensure Climate Action Plan actions and policies are incorporated into the forthcoming comprehensive plan.

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