This is why Bellingham missed its community climate reduction target
Bellingham has missed its 20-year target for carbon dioxide reductions, according to the city. While emissions per person decreased, the population increased, leaving total community emissions nearly unchanged.
Emissions are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide or the equivalent in other greenhouse gasses. Community emissions are based on carbon from residential, commercial and industrial uses of electricity, natural gas, liquid fuels (gas, diesel) and landfill waste.
The Bellingham Climate Protection Action Plan had a goal of reducing community emissions by 28% between 2000 and 2020. The city missed its goal by approximately 23%, Seth Vidaña, Bellingham climate and energy manager, told the City Council Monday, Nov. 7.
The city saw roughly a 30% increase in population between 2000 and 2021.
“Our current and our future carbon pollution targets are becoming more challenging to reach over time due to this plateauing of emissions,” Vidaña said during the council meeting. “We will need a change in policies and a change in spending at the local, state and federal level to meet our future targets,”
The next carbon pollution target is set for 2030, with a goal to reduce 2021 community emissions by 37%. Emissions would have to be reduced by 84% from 2021 to meet the 2050 target.
The climate action plan is updated every few years, the most recent was in 2018, and the next is planned for sometime in 2023. Vidaña said he expects this update will include science-based targets that “represent the level of reductions we would need to make to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.”
The science-based targets are tougher than the current Climate Action Plan targets. The science-based target for 2030 represents a 57% drop from 2021.
Despite making some effective changes, and lowering the per-person emission rate in the city, Bellingham will still have to make massive changes to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change, Vidaña said.
While Bellingham is one of the most climate-friendly cities in the country, the city missed its reduction target. While this may seem like a bad sign for the global fight against climate change, Fleetwood, Vidaña and members of the City Council said it is still important for the city to make climate-friendly changes. If Bellingham can hit its 2030 goals, the city will not just be doing its part, but can be an example for more cities to follow.
“There is value in this because if we’re successful then others can see the road map that we achieved and they can follow it and they can be successful too,” Fleetwood said of the city’s climate actions.
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