This Friday, Dr. Anu Ramaswami will speak at the Lincoln Institute's Consortium for Scenario Planning Conference at a session on equity, with Mauricio Leon, senior researcher at the Metropolitan Council.
Measuring Equity Outcomes in Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Exploratory Scenario Planning for the Twin Cities
Friday, January 15, 12:00-12:45 pm EST
Local governments within Minnesota’s largest metropolitan region are eager to take ambitious action to address the causes of climate change in a way that also tackles persistent inequities. Greenhousegas (GHG) mitigation scenario planning is an effective approach to designing a broader climate mitigation strategy, but communities with small sustainability operations often lack the necessary resources required for data-driven scenario planning. In collaboration with the Sustainable Healthy Cities Network, and ICLEI –Local Governments for Sustainability, the Metropolitan Council is currently codeveloping a web-based GHG mitigation exploratory scenario planning tool, engaging with local government representatives, urban and regional planners, and sustainability researchers along the way. The council intends to make this tool available to communities to reduce the technical burden of developing scenario planning. This session will cover how academic, nonprofit, and government partners can work together to make climate mitigation planning easier at the community scale. Attendees will also learn how to incorporate equity as an output in greenhouse gas mitigation scenario planning and how to engage local governments in the process.