The City of Bloomington is on track to meet its goal of a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but is behind on its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, per the city’s 2023 Greenhouse Gas Inventory published in late January.
The city released its first inventory, tracking community-wide emissions reductions in 2018. Tracking emissions in detail through multi-year reports allows the city to keep tabs on its progress toward sustainability goals. The city collaborated with ClimateNav, an organization that helps local governments use data to form and meet climate plans, to create the 2023 inventory.
“For the first time, we also conducted a municipal operations inventory so we can better understand emissions resulting from government activities,” Shawn Miya, the city’s assistant director of sustainability, said. “It is often said that we can’t manage what we don’t measure. These inventories keep us as the local government accountable for the emissions that we are responsible for reducing.”
Though annual emissions are falling, Bloomington’s major sources of emissions persist, according to the inventory. Emissions from electricity have decreased over the past 15 years due to the increased use of renewables in the city, but electricity still accounts for more than half of Bloomington’s greenhouse gas output.
Meanwhile, emissions from the city’s second-largest and third-largest greenhouse gas sources — transportation and stationary combustion from processes like gas heating — have failed to decrease.
Meaningful reduction of these emissions sources could require costly infrastructure upgrades or imposing lifestyle changes, making them a particularly stubborn roadblock toward the city’s emissions targets. Miya recommended increased carpooling and use of Bloomington Public Transit as realistic but effective first steps to reduce transportation emissions.
“The city will also be conducting an electric vehicle charging station study and installing fast charging stations within the next two years,” Miya said.
Bloomington maintains that its aim of net-zero emissions within the next 25 years is feasible. Its 2021 Climate Action Plan, which established its 2030 and 2050 goals, assumes that as the years progress and technology advances, emissions reductions will take place increasingly quickly.
“As a local city government, we are focusing on the emissions that we can control the most, which are from our municipal operations,” Miya said, describing steps forward like Bloomington’s dozens of municipal solar installations and a recent grant from the Indiana Office of Energy Development for energy-efficient upgrades to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
Bloomington’s overall emissions reductions reflect domestic trends: national emissions fell by 3% between 1990 and 2022. As is the case locally, electric power has been the largest sector of total emissions nationally since 1990, although as of 2017 transportation has been the country’s most significant contributor to emissions. Both the city and the country are seeing incremental progress on emissions reductions.
To accelerate this progress locally, the city is launching two sustainability initiatives this year.
The 2025 Solar, Energy Efficiency, & Lighting Program allows local small businesses, nonprofits and community organizations to apply for grants and technical assistance to improve their buildings’ energy efficiency or transition to solar energy. Successful energy efficiency grant applicants will receive $10,000 to compensate for upgrades like more efficient heating systems that would reduce energy demand, while successful solar grant applicants will receive $25,000 to install a panel system.
The Bloomington Green Home Improvement Program, slated to launch in early 2025 according to the City of Bloomington’s website, will provide rebates to local homeowners for upgrades that will boost the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of their houses, such as weatherization and electrification.
Miya advertised the Zero in Bloomington Spring into Sustainability challenge, an opportunity to win a cash prize for the five local organizations that log the most climate actions in March, and the city’s April 19 Earth Day celebration as other opportunities for residents to learn more about and become more involved with local sustainability efforts.
“The climate crisis affects all of us in some direct or indirect way,” Miya said. “We have a shared responsibility to address climate change and ensure that Bloomington is doing our part.”
More information on Bloomington’s progress and steps toward local sustainability is available at the city’s online Climate Action Dashboard.
