How do we ensure communities can withstand the impacts of climate change? IMT examines this fundamental question and its answers in the context of Minneapolis, MN with a new white paper and accompanying fact sheet.
The paper, created in partnership with members of the Just Transition Fund Coalition, recommends sustainable approaches to generate funding for equitable climate action and just transition efforts in Minneapolis at the scale needed to address the problem. It will require significant collective investment in solutions like community-wide weatherization of our buildings, upgrading and electrifying heating/cooling systems, maximizing local clean energy like solar and storage, among many others.
We focus specifically on two mechanisms available to the City of Minneapolis—Pollution Control Annual Registration (PCAR) fees and utility Franchise Fees (FF)—which could collectively raise over $110 million in additional funding for climate action per year. Included here are recommendations for collection, disbursement, and oversight of funding for climate action in Minneapolis. The result will be lower energy bills, cleaner air, and climate resilient communities ready to welcome people fleeing unlivable climate conditions who have already begun arriving for several decades.
While framed around the specific issues and regulatory interventions in Minneapolis, jurisdictions across the country must create urgently needed funding solutions for the climate emergency, and can go further in implementing bold policies that are truly scaled to address the climate crisis’ effects.
