In the first Climate Action Plan workshop, climate action consultants will present to the Ames City council an engagement plan to allow for feedback to create the most effective plan possible.

The meeting will take place 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. The workshop will address the project goals and process, the scenario modeling method and the best practice for climate action planning. The key messages of the project are to create a climate-friendly future through community partnership and policy changes to motivate and require greenhouse reductive practices.

The engagement plan includes three nonnegotiable facts for the project which include:

• Climate change is real and primarily driven by human activity

• The City of Ames will set a Green House Gas (GHG) emission reduction target and develop a Climate Action Plan

• This project is not an opportunity to debate ongoing flood mitigation work, or other ongoing city projects. 

The Ames Climate Action Plan is part of the City of Ames effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There are four objectives to the plan. The first being to inform and educate the community on the targeted actions to properly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

This is done through a community-based input committee, and creating communication material to inform stakeholders about the different ways to provide input. From this objective stakeholders will understand the science-based target of reducing greenhouse emissions. These methods of education will also explain the benefits of the Climate Action Plan and the increasing costs of inaction.

The second objective looks to create inclusive conversation among stakeholders to understand any concerns or goals of the community. This will be done through interviews and an interactive website to provide background about the Climate Action Plan.

The City staff will also gather feedback to inform and select reduction targets as well as an implementation strategy. The final objective includes engaging stakeholders on their input related to the Climate Action Plan. 

Information regarding the progress Climate Action Plan will be provided by the City of Ames on a regular basis on the interactive website. The engagement plan will conclude with a final presentation for the City Council.