City Issues RFP to Update Climate Action Plans, Calls for Community-wide Involvement

City of Rochester-Downtown

The City of Rochester is seeking qualified consultants to update its Municipal and Communitywide Climate Action Plans (CAPs). The updated plans will set new greenhouse gas reduction goals and outline strategies to cut emissions, strengthen climate resilience, and improve quality of life for all residents, especially those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

“Addressing climate change requires all of us working together,” Mayor Malik D. Evans said. “By updating our Climate Action Plans, we are building a roadmap that strengthens resilience, improves quality of life, and creates opportunity for every Rochester resident. This work is about ensuring a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable city for generations to come.”

The updated CAPs will be built on the Municipal Climate Action Plan (2013), Communitywide Climate Action Plan (2017), and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories (2022). These plans guide the work of the Office of Energy and Sustainability and its collaboration with government agencies, nonprofits, businesses and residents. Over the past decade, these partnerships have produced significant achievements, including:

Cleaner Energy and Greener Buildings

• Construction of a 2-megawatt solar field on a former city landfill (www.cityofrochester.gov/solarfield), powering major municipal facilities.

• Installation of solar panels at the Public Market (www.cityofrochester.gov/publicmarket) and Arnett Branch Library.

• Integration of solar, geothermal and EV charging stations into the Maplewood Nature Center (www.cityofrochester.gov/maplewoodnaturecenter), set for groundbreaking this week.

• Ongoing replacement of all city streetlights with dark-sky compliant, energy-efficient LED lighting.

Sustainable Transportation

• Expansion of electric vehicle charging stations (www.cityofrochester.gov/evcharging) at public garages and city facilities, now offering 30 free charging ports.

• Addition of alternative-fuel and fuel-efficient vehicles to the city fleet and development of a fleet fuel efficiency policy.

• Creation of Bike Rochester (www.cityofrochester.gov/bikerochester), expanding bike lanes, cycle tracks and nearly 68 miles of multi-use trails.

• Advancement of the Complete Streets policy (www.cityofrochester.gov/completestreets) to design safer streets for all.

Waste Reduction and Urban Greening

• Launch of ROC City Compost (www.cityofrochester.gov/compost), a residential composting program that has diverted more than 520 tons of food waste from landfills to-date.

• Planting of thousands of trees under the updated Urban Forest Master Plan (www.cityofrochester.gov/urbanforestmasterplan).

Communitywide Climate Resilience

• Development of the Climate Change Resilience Plan (www.cityofrochester.gov/ccrp) and the Rochester Extreme Heat Plan (www.cityofrochester.gov/extremeheat).

• Partnerships with city housing programs to integrate sustainable features such as air-source heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, electric appliances, insulation, and air sealing into affordable housing (www.cityofrochester.gov/BTB).

Learn more, sign up for public engagement opportunities, or access the RFP by visiting www.cityofrochester.gov/CAPRFP.

This project is funded in part by the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program, Title 15 of the Environmental Protection Fund, through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.