City officials are moving forward with plans to partner with other communities on efforts to respond to climate change.

Columbus City Council voted Tuesday to participate in the Project 46 Regional Climate Coalition — also known as the Project 46 Southern Indiana Regional Climate Alliance — a new collaboration that was unveiled earlier this year and derives its name from the state highway that links Bartholomew, Monroe and Brown counties.

“The purpose of this alliance is to identify and pursue solutions that effectively address our shared challenges and opportunities related to climate change,” said Columbus Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon, who recently won the GOP nomination for mayor. “The city of Columbus, the city of Bloomington and Nashville, and, I believe, the county of Monroe, were asked to ask their respective legislative audience to adopt a resolution indicating support for the alliance, commitment to the initial three-year phase and potentially allocate public funds for the effort.”

Additionally, the approved resolution states that Columbus city leadership will pursue the following goals:

¦ Tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions
¦ Coordinating local investments and leveraging state and federal funding opportunities
¦ Engaging government, nonprofit and private sector leaders to “advance initiatives, highlight successes and challenges, and promote best practice examples within and across sectors proactively to respond to climate impacts
¦ Providing an annual community report showing activities, impact and progress “Following the adoption of this common resolution, the goal, then to create a task force composed of representatives from each community to oversee the collaboration,” Ferdon added.

The task force is expected to include individuals from city and county governments, businesses, nonprofits and education institutions.

The resolution states that city leaders will seek to fund the Project 46 coalition through “shared public, private and philanthropic annual support adequate to its mission.”

Leaders from Columbus, Bloomington and Nashville said in March that they hoped each community in the alliance would dedicate 50 cents per resident per year to fund a three-year initiative, which for Columbus would be roughly $25,000 annually. They also hoped that other public, private, civic, business and nonprofit groups would contribute to the effort.

“This is really the first step,” Ferdon told city council on Tuesday. “We’re not going to ask you for any funding at this point in time.”

“We’re trying to look for some support for this initiative,” said Mayor Jim Lienhoop. “It’s a little difficult, at this point, to say what will come out of this, what particular projects and what amount of cost, but we’ve certainly left the door open for that.”

Councilwoman Elaine Hilber commended the effort, noting that local students have asked the city adopt a climate resolution.

One such student was Gabriella Schuetz from Columbus East, who presented the request to city council members in April of 2022 as part of her senior project. Hilber said that there have also been requests from students at St. Bartholomew Catholic School.

“I agree with you,” Ferdon. “We’ve had a number of groups in here. What makes this different is we’re doing a partnership, which is the exciting piece.”

“I agree,” said Hilber. “I think it’s going to have more of an impact, that we’re collaborating with other communities, but I also think that has a lot of support from the young people in the community. It’s something they’ve been asking for.”
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