Sustainability (Mayor's Office)

For Metro Nashville, sustainability means creating and maintaining conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, while fulfilling the social, economic and resource requirements of present and future generations. Operating sustainably means balancing social, environmental, and economic priorities, which are often referred to as the triple bottom line. It also means reducing the environmental footprint of the city's day-to-day functions, which is also referred to as climate change mitigation.

The guiding document for Metro's sustainability goals is its 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP), which was produced by a 50-member Sustainability Advisory Committee. A central recommendation of the CAP is that Metro carefully focus short- and long-term attention on the three key areas or "forks in the road" that will result in the greatest carbon reductions and enable the City to reach its sustainability targets:

Decarbonization of the electrical grid;
Electrification of motor vehicles; and
Electrification (greening) of buildings.

Driving change in these three areas typically results in 60% to 70% greenhouse gas reductions and makes most cities' mitigation goals attainable. The CAP contains specific targets tied to these goals, in four key areas:

Focal Area	Target
Energy	Reduce community-wide and Metro greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2050.
Green Buildings	Reduce community-wide and Metro greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2050.
Mobility	Reduce drive-alone rates from 79% to 40% by 2050; increase electric vehicle (EV) adoption rate to 40% by 2050.
Landfill Waste Reduction	Achieve zero waste (≥ 90% diversion) by 2050.

The CAP has served as the blueprint informing much of Metro's sustainability and climate mitigation work in recent years. Some of the key achievements made to date are highlighted below.

Download the full CAP here

Major Initiatives and Achievements to Date

Clean Energy

In 2019, Metro Council passed legislation establishing renewable energy standards for Metro Government, specifying phased percentages of carbon-free energy usage within Metro's energy supply portfolio, reaching 100% total carbon-free energy resources in 2041. This legislation has laid the groundwork for ensuing clean energy action across Metro operations.

In 2020, Metro announced plans to pursue a large joint utility-scale solar array project, in partnership with Vanderbilt University, Nashville Electric Service, and the Tennessee Valley Authority under the Green Invest Program. Due to supply chain constraints and increasing costs of solar construction and interconnection, in 2023 Metro updated its participation in the Green Invest Project from 100 MW to 40 MW. Once operational in 2026, this installation will account for about 13% of Metro's annual power supply.

Metro is also pursuing solar installations on its properties. Metro's total solar footprint across 30 installations currently totals 5.52 megawatts. The Metro Water Services (MWS) Department has eight total solar installations totaling 4.414 megawatts, with three of the largest solar installations at its Central, Whites Creek and Omohundro treatment plants adding resiliency to their operations. The General Services Department consistently includes solar arrays in its LEED certified buildings and now boasts 870,000 kWh of generation annually across 12 buildings.

Metro recently completed a solar cost-benefit analysis, which identified opportunities for deploying solar across its existing real estate portfolio. The two-year study revealed up to 235 properties that are suited for potential installations amounting to up to 100 megawatts of solar capacity. Energy savings from these installations could amount to $79 million dollars. Metro is actively pursuing these solar projects where feasible.

Learn more about renewable energy at Metro

Greening the Built Environment

In November 2020, the Metro Council unanimously adopted legislation upgrading Nashville's building code standards. The new standards dramatically improve energy efficiency, reduce environmental impact and the City's carbon footprint, provide cost savings for homeowners, and strengthen home construction requirements for tornado resistance.

New Metro Government buildings pursue green building certifications under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. LEED, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and an international symbol of efficiency and sustainability reflecting design, construction, and operations practices that improve environmental and human health.

Learn more about Metro's green building activities

In 2020, Metro established an "Energy Savings Program" housed within the Department of General Services to support energy efficiency efforts in Metro's general government facilities with the goal of achieving at least 20% reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions as well as substantial costs. General Services also manages an "Energy Savings Revolving Fund" deploying ongoing measurement and tracking of energy savings projects for most Metro department facilities and began working across multiple Metro real estate portfolios to engage in energy benchmarking. Collectively, this approach provides a broad range of energy solutions, including an energy management system, tracking of energy metrics, design and implementation of energy savings projects, energy conservation measures, energy audits, infrastructure retrofits, automated systems, utility expense management, and building retro-commissioning.

Furthering Sustainable Management of Solid Waste

Metro Government and the Davidson County Solid Waste Region Board have developed a long-term, actionable Solid Waste Management Plan with the ultimate goal of achieving zero waste to landfill. The Master Plan evaluates Metro's existing waste-management system and recommends ways to move away from reliance on landfilling to a portfolio of more sustainable methods such as reuse, recycling, anaerobic digestion, and composting. The plan rests on a strategy of developing an integrated system of capable of diverting 90 percent of the city's waste stream from landfills by increasing waste reduction, diversion, and re-use while providing long-term economic, environmental, and social benefits. Building upon every-other-week recycling, the City launched a curbside food scrap pickup pilot across 750 households in October 2023. Currently the program is diverting 5.94 pounds of food scraps per week from the landfill for each participating household.

Learn more about the Solid Waste Master Plan and Zero Waste Nashville

Alternative and Multimodal Transit

Choose How You Move – An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety in Nashville is Mayor O'Connell's initiative to create a modern transportation system. With 51% of the city's greenhouse gas emissions coming from the transportation sector, it presents significant opportunity to reduce environmental impacts. In November 2024, residents will have the opportunity to vote to establish a dedicated funding source for transportation projects in Nashville.

There are over 70 neighborhood, community, citywide, and regional plans created over the last 15 years that support expanded and enhanced transportation and mobility infrastructure. The topics of these plans are diverse, oftentimes outlining a strategy that links our neighborhoods as they grow and change to improved multimodal transportation by addressing sidewalks, bikeways, bus service, public safety, streetlights, technology, sustainability, public health, open space, recreation, aging populations, and much more. Learn more about these transit plans.

Metro Nashville is also pursuing use of electric vehicles and alternative fuel fleets where feasible in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions impacts associated with transportation activities – both within Metro government and across the community.

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Mayor's Office

Sustainability, Resilience, and the Environment (Mayor's Office)