As a third-grader on the soccer fields of Visalia, California, Kate Wright was steeped in the game’s halftime rituals: orange slices, Capri-Suns, and inhalers.
Inhalers? Yes. Pressed against young players’ faces, they were as much a part of the game as the ball itself.
Wright played soccer into college, but it wasn’t until later years that she realized inhalers weren’t the norm everywhere. They were essential, though, in her hometown of Visalia, California, nestled in the smog-choked Joaquin Valley. The region’s notoriously poor air quality, among the worst in the nation, is fed by topography, highway traffic, and agricultural burning.
Kate Wright, Executive Director of Climate Mayors, during the Catalyzing Local Climate Action Workshop. (Photo Credit Masha Hamilton)
That early experience shaped two guiding beliefs that still drive Wright today as Executive Director of Climate Mayors, a bipartisan network of nearly 350 mayors from 46 states representing a combined nearly 60 million Americans.
First, fighting environmental degradation is essential. Second, the most effective solutions are locally led and supported by partnerships.
Now Wright is helping accelerate local climate action through a series of multiday workshops aimed at helping communities team up with the federal government and leverage grants and tax credits to equitably reduce carbon emissions.
As of early December 2024, companies across the U.S. had announced over $380 billion in new investments to leverage IRA benefits and build a clean energy economy. These investments span industries such as electric vehicles, batteries and energy storage, clean energy manufacturing, renewable power generation, and carbon management, according to data from Rhodium Group and MIT’s Clean Investment Monitor.
Boise is celebrated for its vibrant outdoor lifestyle, boasting over 425 hiking and biking trails and more than 90 parks. But climate change is increasingly shaping daily life for its residents. The city is experiencing rising temperatures, reduced precipitation affecting the Boise River, and deteriorating air quality driven by more frequent and severe wildfires.
Through its Climate Action Roadmap, Boise has committed to carbon neutrality in city operations by 2035 and citywide by 2050.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean addressing the climate workshop. (Photo Credit Masha Hamilton)
“We want to protect the health of our kids today and our kids of tomorrow,” said Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who is the Vice Chair of Climate Mayors and gave opening remarks. “We want to make sure the city is a climate winner, which means that we will have jobs in the future, and through innovation, we will meet the moment and create even more opportunity for our residents. This workshop is a great catalyst.”
“This is a critical time for local leadership,” added Rachel Isacoff, Director, U.S. Economic Opportunity at The Rockefeller Foundation. “Mayors have long driven climate action and play a vital role in sustaining trust in government’s momentum.”
Creating Jobs, Saving Money
The United States is one of the world’s largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for roughly 15 percent of global emissions.
Though vulnerable countries often disproportionately experience the effects of climate change due to limited resources for adaptation and mitigation, extreme weather events nevertheless cost the U.S. $150 billion a year due to direct impacts such as infrastructure damage, worker injuries, and agricultural losses, according to the latest congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment.
Those costs are projected to continue to rise. The U.S. experiences a billion-dollar extreme weather event every three weeks on average, compared with once every four months 40 years ago, the assessment shows.
“Engaging in climate action requires systems thinking,” Isacoff said. “Work accomplished now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build community infrastructure will save money going forward, and create the jobs of tomorrow.”
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Learn moreIn Boise, specialists from various sectors — including government, schools, hospitals, and affordable housing — all gathered to discuss how to engage in the energy transition. The team of organizations encouraged participants to think big about ways to incorporate renewable energy, improve insulation, and support nature-based solutions to reduce carbon.
Attendees included Alison Ward, the inaugural sustainability supervisor for the Boise School District, which consists of 52 schools and some 22,000 students. Last year, she oversaw work to assess the schools’ carbon footprints. The district anticipates achieving a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the next ten years.
Alison Ward, sustainability supervisor for the Boise School District, is working to help 52 Boise schools reduce their carbon footprints. (Photo Credit Masha Hamilton)
The district also created “Green Teams” in every school, with 592 student ambassadors supporting the teams. They have overseen projects such as installing LED lights and a recycling center.
The students actively urge the administration and the school board to make progress on climate action and environmental justice, Ward noted. “We want to make sure our students see we care about it also. And we want to help them become future-ready and solution-minded.”
Ward attended the workshop to learn more about funding to support the district’s energy transition. “Climate work that achieves energy efficiency could save money in the long run. It’s often fiscally wise,” she said.
Housing and Health Care Too
Noel Gill, president of the Boise nonprofit affordable housing developer Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp., came to the workshop to look for partnerships and resources. “Every community we bring to life at this point is at least solar-ready,” he said. “We are looking at electric vehicle charging stations, energy efficiency products.”
Gill’s company developed a housing complex for chronically homeless veterans, which opened in 2020. Gill would like to see that complex use solar to save utility costs. These efforts, he said, “take teamwork, collaboration, and partnership. Our relationship with the federal government is critical. It’s important that together we continue to figure out how to bring affordable housing to the communities we serve.”
“Today’s workshop has just been an amazing opportunity,” said Ginger McCabe, vice president of operations for St. Luke’s, a not-for-profit health system that includes six hospitals and more than 200 clinics.
She said it was motivating to join a diverse group of businesses and find “we all have the same goal of sustainability and supporting climate efforts and resiliency.”
St. Luke’s is working to make sustainability as part of their larger approach to patient care. “Support from federal partnerships is really important for us,” McCabe said. “As a non-profit, it’s critical that we use our dollars wisely and maximize them for the benefit of our community.”
The three groups that developed and led these workshops formed a formal partnership two years ago, believing they could do more together to help cities than any one of them could accomplish alone.
Kate Johnson of C40 (left) and Julia Peek of USDN. (Photo Credit Masha Hamilton)
“Each of our organizations has different strengths and different relationships we’re able to leverage, which helps make these workshops a success,” said Kate Johnson, head of U.S. Federal Affairs for C40 Cities. “One of the biggest pieces of positive feedback we’ve gotten so far is that we’ve created an opportunity to build local collaborations.”
The relationships between the cities and the three partners don’t end with a couple of days of rich conversations and planning.
“We bring follow-up technical assistance and resources to help take whatever comes out of these conversations and make them real in the coming months,” said Julia Peek, USDN’s Vice President of National Strategies and Partnerships. “We want to make sure that the ideas they develop today won’t just stay on the drawing board.”
