Joining over one thousand leaders across the United States, Park City Municipal affirmed its commitment to global climate action on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.
Park City Municipal commemorated the fifth anniversary of the landmark Paris climate agreement on Saturday,
The city joined over one thousand leaders from local governments, businesses, universities, and other institutions across the country as part of the “America Is All In” climate statement.
The statement is a pledge for climate action and was delivered to the incoming Biden-Harris administration, as well as to United Nations officials and global heads of state at the Climate Ambition Summit on December 12th in the United Kingdom.
President Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement earlier this year, but President-Elect Biden has pledged to rejoin the multi-national effort to fight climate change once he takes office next month.
Speaking of the statement, Park City Mayor Andy Beerman said:
“Now is the time to sustainably and equitably re-imagine our approach to climate action. Government and business working together can secure our energy future, protect the natural environment, and increase collective health. Park City’s climate programs are showing what’s possible and inspiring other communities across the country. We will continue to seek out partners and innovative projects to accelerate our actions. We are 'All In' to find solutions to the climate crisis.”
Park City has lofty sustainability goals that include zero waste city wide and the entire community being run on renewable energy by 2030.
Beerman said in an October interview with KPCW he sees Park City as setting an example for what is possible for smaller communities to accomplish when it comes to climate change.
“I think we can serve as an example,” Beerman said. “When we decided to put our climate goals into place, we realized that we’re a drop in the global bucket. What we do up here, we could be 100% net zero and it would make no difference on a planetary level so we decided to be a proof in concept, we decided to show leadership and show what’s possible and hopefully inspire other communities.”
The “America Is All In” statement has been signed by cities across the United States including St. Louis, Missouri, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC, Fortune 100 businesses including Intel, Hewlett Packard, and McDonalds, and Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
KPCW news reports on climate change issues are brought to you by the Park City Climate Fund at the Park City Community Foundation, an initiative that engages Park City in implementing local, high-impact climate solutions that have potential to be effective in similar communities.
