Climate Action Plan

The City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) was updated in 2018. Per our commitment to the Global Covenant of Mayors, the Climate Action Plan describes how the City will  reduce emissions across the entire city to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Cambridge GHG emissions

CAP is based on the 2012 community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. The community-wide GHG inventory reflects the most current methods, protocols and data sources available for measuring emissions in our community at the time the inventory was completed in 2016.  Using the GHG inventory and future projections for GHG emissions, CAP identifies specific strategies and actions that are necessary for the city to achieve deep carbon reductions in the buildings, transportation, and waste sectors.

Click each sector to learn more about the strategies and actions the City is pursuing to reduce GHG emissions.


Buildings
  • Reduce energy use
  • Electrify
  • Low Carbon Energy Supply
 

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Transportation
  • Switch car trips to transit, walking, biking, carpool
  • Reduce vehicle miles
  • Electrify

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Waste
  • Increase waste diverted to recycling and compost
  • Reduce waste
  • Improve materials management

The strategies and actions the City is pursuing are necessary and put the City on the right path, but they do not fully achieve the City’s goal to be carbon neutral.  The Climate Action Plan will continuously evolve to reflect the best available knowledge about emissions sources and strategies to eliminate them.  Ongoing monitoring and engagement in policy discussions will allow the City to adapt its Climate Action Plan over time to pursue new solutions and technologies that further reduce emissions as they become available.

The City has developed a web-based Sustainability Dashboard to allow the public to visualize key indicators that demonstrate progress toward climate goals.

Stay tuned for the release of the updated Climate Action Plan!

The updated Climate Action Plan builds upon Cambridge’s long history of working to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To see the City’s previous plans and goals related to emissions, click here