Mayor John Cooper’s early 2022 sustainability agenda begins with a bold pledge: cut Metro government’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.
Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Office is working on a solar feasibility assessment for 600-plus city-owned sites as the mayor also pledged his support for a much-needed tree-planting effort.
“America’s cities are on the front lines of combating climate change and increasing our resilience to natural disasters,” Mayor Cooper said. “Nashville has brought a sense of urgency and a practical, collaborative approach to getting this work done. We made strong gains in 2021, and I’m committed to doing more.”
A Plan to Get Down, By 80 Percent
The Mayor’s Office will work across Metro departments and agencies and with community partners on a draft implementation plan for targeting Metro’s and the City’s biggest sources of emissions and its best opportunities to reduce them by 80 percent.
Metro Council on February 1, approved RS2022-1358 adoption of a goal to reduce Metro’s emissions by 80 percent, relative to its 2014 levels, by 2050. Mayor Cooper advanced the legislation, which Metro Councilmembers Zach Young, Tonya Hancock, Russ Bradford, Burkley Allen, Freddie O’Connell and Ginny Welsch sponsored.
“Setting and working toward this target recommended by our committee can help improve the health of Nashvillians, create jobs in the clean energy sector, and advance environmental equity,” said Linda Breggin, co-chair of Mayor Cooper’s sustainability advisory committee and a senior attorney at the Environmental Law Institute.
“Furthermore, by committing to carbon reductions and increasing the city’s renewable energy capacity, Nashville will become even more attractive to the multitude of companies with their own greenhouse gas reduction commitments that are looking to expand, relocate, or site new facilities,” she added.
Powering More of Metro Government with Solar Energy
The mayor’s office is working with Metro departments and agencies, Metro Council and partners like Nashville Electric Service to determine how ready 600-plus city-owned sites are for solar installations or solar operating leases.
The city hopes to begin installations as early as next year; Metro Council in January 2022 approved funding (BL2019-1600) for this feasibility research as a latest step in efforts to power more of Metro government with renewable energy.
“Mayor Cooper is a mayor of action when it comes to sustainability and the environment,” Councilmember Hancock said. “Metro Nashville is on its way towards sourcing its operations with 100% renewable energy. He signed a green building code into law, has strengthened protections for our tree canopy, and is a proponent of responsible and equitable redevelopment. We need to prepare today for our future tomorrow, and Mayor Cooper is leading the way.”
Nashville Needs More Trees, Urgently
Metro government will plant half-a-million trees in Davidson County by 2050 through its private-public partnership Root Nashville - 9,500 trees this year and another 12,000 in 2023, to place Nashville closer to its half-a-million goal by 2050.
Trees are essential to public health: they allow cities to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the harmful effects of heat in the urban core and manage stormwater runoff. But Nashville lost a total of 918 acres’ worth of trees in the last 14 years – primarily on parcels undergoing development from 2008 until 2016 - according to 2018 GIS layers maintained by Metro.
Metro Council in December 2021 approved legislation – put forth by Mayor Cooper – to invest about one percent of revenues from the city’s construction activities into restoring, caring for and growing Nashville’s tree canopy.