Columbus awarded $2.5 million to clean up our atmosphere

With the help of $2.5 million, Columbus will soon be cleaning up the air.

Our city has been named the winner of Mike Bloomberg’s American Cities Climate Challenge that will help reduce carbon emissions.

The Climate Challenge is a two-year acceleration program that will provide cities powerful new resources, robust technical assistance, and a support package valued at $2.5 million to help meet or beat their near-term carbon reduction goals.

Bloomberg’s carbon emission reduction efforts will be cohesive with products under Smart Columbus, the grant Columbus won to improve transportation.

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According to Bloomberg and Columbus Business First, Columbus plans to:

• deploy a workforce development program for energy efficiency auditors and increase the number of homes audited with a focus on the City neighborhoods with the highest rates of energy poverty
• accelerate existing and add new financing programs for energy efficiency and renewables for commercial buildings
• assist the roll-out of the Smart Columbus multimodal trip-planning app to help residents find options for routes that can incorporate COTA, ride-share, scooter or other means.
• market COTA’s rapid bus transit line Cmax along Cleveland Avenue to increase ridership.

Other winning cities this year include Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and St. Louis.

We’re proud to announce that @ColumbusGov has been selected as a winner of the American Cities Climate Challenge. Through this @BloombergDotOrg program, we’re working to ensure a cleaner and greener city. #Cities4Climate https://t.co/HlmCRKfUFO pic.twitter.com/JRHOHyyoSM

— City of Columbus (@ColumbusGov) October 29, 2018

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