North Central Texas Council of Governments – Meghan Reisenauer – 2023
Goals
The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is a 16-county voluntary association of local governments centered around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. NCTCOG hosted Climate Corps fellow Meghan Reisenauer as a continuation of emissions reduction strategy development aimed at mitigating climate risk in the region.
As part of this goal, NCTCOG requested a strategy toolkit to be compiled for the water, waste, and wastewater sectors in the region, with a basis in environmental justice.
Solutions
Meghan addressed this challenge by:
- Reviewing climate action plans across the country to determine innovative strategies adopted by local governments related to these sectors
- Compiling information regarding scientific and equitable basis for a wide variety of promising greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies in the water, waste, and wastewater sectors
- Evaluating environmental justice considerations for overburdened communities in the region, including climate vulnerability and health effects disparity, using various environmental justice tools from the EPA, the CDC, and EDF
- Comparing each strategy using a feasibility framework and overall score of feasibility, including factors such as equity, emissions reduction, timeline, and finances.
Potential Impact
A total of 21 strategy categories were highlighted as the most feasible for the region, representing a reduction of thousands of metric tons of greenhouse gases. These strategies include equitable reparative policies, climate vulnerability mitigation, waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and more.
Strategies are implementable at various scales and timelines; some are geared toward local municipalities, while others take a market-based approach aimed for the private sector. This report will be included in a compiled cross-sector reduction strategies toolkit, providing an invaluable climate risk mitigation resource for local and county governments.
