Climate Action Plan Metrics Show Greenhouse Gas Reductions
October 2024
This October Chester County's Climate Action Plan (CAP) celebrates its third anniversary since its adoption by the County Commissioners, and CCPC has been hard at work tracking the progress that's been made toward implementing the plan and reducing greenhouse gas emissions county-wide.
The CAP's overall goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from what they were in 2005 by 80% over the next 25 years. The Delaware Valley Planning Commission's latest greenhouse gas inventory shows that emissions are trending downward and declined by approximately 4.3% between 2015 and 2019, mostly due to cleaner burning power plants and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
To quantify the impact our collective county-wide actions are having on greenhouse gas emissions, CCPC developed a series of metrics measuring a variety of important actions from the amount of preserved woodlands to the total generating capacity of solar panels county-wide. View the metrics.
Aside from actions captured through the metrics, Chester County government, local municipalities, community organizations, businesses, and individuals have been hard at work undertaking sustainability initiatives. Here are some highlights:
Chester County Government
- Pursuing the installation of a rooftop solar array at one of the county's main office buildings;
- Planned installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations across a number of county properties in 2025;
- Joined three other suburban counties to form the Southeast PA Sustainable Energy Partnership to allow the procurement of renewable energy from local projects for county operations.
Within the greater community
- The Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority was accepted into the Federal Railroad Administration's Corridor ID Program, bringing it one big step closer to becoming a reality;
- SEPTA committed capital funding to track improvements needed to return service to Coatesville;
- $30-million of federal funding was allocated to extend the Chester Valley Trail to Downingtown and beyond;
- Four new miles opened along the Schuylkill River Trail;
- Multiple municipalities are updating their solar power regulations to reduce the barriers to going solar.
As you can see, there's been a lot happening when it comes to making Chester County a cleaner and greener place to be! Thankfully, the CAP has and will continue to guide these efforts now and into Chester County's future.