‘Project 46’ seeks to combat climate change
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Leaders from Bloomington, Columbus and Nashville are teaming up to launch an effort designed to address climate change. Known as Project 46, the regional alliance aims to “identify and pursue solutions that effectively address our shared challenges and opportunities related to climate change.”
Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop and Nashville Town Manager Sandie Jones announced the launch last week at the Nashville Town Hall.
The leaders plan to call on their respective legislative bodies to adopt a common resolution that expresses support for Project 46, commits to an initial three-year phase, and allocates public funding.
The proposed resolution includes four common goals the alliance looks to achieve:
- Track and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as communities and as a region;
- Coordinate local investments and leverage available state and federal funding opportunities, including, but not limited to, funding available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts;
- Set goals, advance initiatives, highlight successes and challenges, and promote best practices by engaging government, nonprofit, and private sector leadership;
- Produce an annual community report to demonstrate the activities and impact of these efforts and progress towards shared goals.
Mayor Hamilton said the world is at a critical juncture when it comes to climate change.
“We face serious local consequences, of course. But also, we face enormous opportunities to work together locally and improve our communities – doing our part for the planet while also creating good jobs, sustainability, equity, and higher quality of life,” Hamilton said in written remarks. “We can help each other achieve those goals, and a strong regional initiative is a great place to start.”
The proposed funding mechanism includes annual contributions from each community’s government based on population at $0.50 per capita. The funding will be supplemented by matching private and philanthropic support.
The leaders said the funding will support the work of the alliance, including leveraging state and federal funding.
Once the common resolution is adopted by the three communities, a task force is expected to be formed that will be comprised of representatives from each community to oversee the effort.
You can view the full press conference announcing the launch of Project 46 below: