{"id":11090,"date":"2026-04-22T20:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/we-set-out-to-assess-local-governments-climate-progress-heres-what-we-learned-indy-week\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:48:10","slug":"we-set-out-to-assess-local-governments-climate-progress-heres-what-we-learned-indy-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/we-set-out-to-assess-local-governments-climate-progress-heres-what-we-learned-indy-week\/","title":{"rendered":"We Set Out to Assess Local Governments\u2019 Climate Progress. Here\u2019s What We Learned. – INDY Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The year 2050, probably because it\u2019s a nice round number, is a landmark year for many local governments that have adopted climate action or sustainability plans in an effort to make their communities greener and fend off the most devastating effects of climate change. If governments follow through on those plans, the Triangle could, in just 24 years, be a beacon of climate progress\u2014with dramatically reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reliable public transit connecting the region, flood- and storm-resistant infrastructure, and a lush tree canopy grown over current urban heat islands.
With this relative utopia in mind, we set out to try to get a sense of whether local governments were on track toward their goals.  
We asked 11 local governments around the Triangle\u2014Durham County, Orange County, Wake County, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Morrisville, and Holly Springs\u2014for their most recent climate or sustainability plan and their latest progress report for that plan. The responses varied widely, with most cities able to produce their plans and slightly fewer providing some form of a status update.
The city of Durham told us our request was \u201cvery broad and would take a great deal of time to locate,\u201d though Durham County was able to provide sustainability plans and more recent status updates. Holly Springs sent us its 2023 Sustainability Action Plan, but no corresponding progress report. Cary approved a detailed Sustainability and Climate Action Strategy in 2025 and tracks its progress on a public-facing dashboard<\/a>. Raleigh<\/a>, Wake County<\/a>, Morrisville<\/a>, Orange County<\/a>, Chapel Hill<\/a>, and Apex<\/a> also have climate action dashboards.
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Most Triangle municipalities have some kind of plan to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, transition to clean energy, and become more resilient to climate change. Some of those plans only pertain to the local government, but Raleigh, Cary, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Orange County have community-wide goals. In Durham, there\u2019s a community-wide goal, as well as a shared<\/a> goal for the city, county, and public school system.
Those goals vary depending on the community and its approach. Experts we interviewed told us there aren\u2019t universal standards for what a local government in North Carolina should include in a sustainability plan. Without those standards, sustainability efforts can largely depend on the values and means of a local government.
While some local governments like Durham (the first<\/a> in the state to adopt a greenhouse gas reduction plan) have been planning around sustainability goals for 20 years, for many places they\u2019re kind of a nascent effort, said Christopher Lawson, program manager for community and economic development at Central Pines Regional Council, a resource and support hub for local governments.\u00a0
\u201cSustainability, environmentalism, the thought around that is changing. The way we view our government\u2019s role … in these things is changing to be\u2014more recognition that there is<\/em> a role for local governments,\u201d Lawson said. 
Across plans, though, most local governments have a specific goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with many also staking out plans to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Some localities have made impressive strides: As of 2025, Carrboro\u2019s emissions are down 20% compared to the 2010 baseline. Orange County reports a decline of more than 40% compared with 2005 levels. Chapel Hill has dropped its emissions by 32% compared to 2005. Raleigh reduced its emissions by 11% from 2014 to 2022. Wake County is 20% of the way to meeting its goal of 100% clean energy. Durham County, meanwhile, has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 18% since 2009.
Plans for future emission reductions tend to target vehicle trips and energy use in buildings, which make up the bulk of local governments\u2019 emissions. Among the interesting ways they are chipping away at those impacts: Raleigh powers<\/a> its bus fleet with renewable natural gas created from residents\u2019 wastewater. Morrisville has rooftop solar arrays on five of its buildings.\u00a0
Tobin Freid, sustainability manager for Durham County, told the INDY<\/em> that before the county started implementing its climate goals, it found ways to reduce energy consumption at a number of county-owned buildings.
\u201cIf you put solar panels on a building where you haven\u2019t done the energy efficiency yet, you\u2019re sort of still wasting energy. You\u2019re just wasting solar energy,\u201d Freid said.
But much of what local governments are trying to accomplish via their sustainability plans\u2014reducing community-wide emission reductions, increasing public transit ridership, improving water quality\u2014is actually out of their control, dependent upon the actions of state government, private industries, or residents.
Triangle towns with ambitious climate goals are heavily reliant on the Republican-controlled state legislature and private companies to invest in sustainability initiatives.
\u201cWe will not meet our goals without Duke Energy coming along,\u201d Freid said. \u201cWe set our goals, both the greenhouse gas goal but more specifically, the renewable energy goal, under the assumption that Duke Energy is going to be following along.\u201d
Carrboro\u2019s Chief Sustainability Officer Amy Armbruster said Carrboro was \u201cdisappointed\u201d by the legislature\u2019s decision<\/a> last year to eliminate a requirement that utility companies reduce carbon pollution by 2030, especially as it \u201cmade our own goals a lot harder to achieve.\u201d
As we reported<\/a> last year, Carrboro recently tried to sue Duke Energy, arguing that the company misled the public by downplaying the impact of burning fossil fuels. In February, a judge dismissed<\/a> the case.\u00a0
Some plans (like Cary\u2019s<\/a>) are town-wide, which means the government can\u2019t achieve them unilaterally; people and businesses need to get on board. Cary is encouraging residents to consider adding solar panels to their homes or purchasing an electric vehicle\u2014or, if those options are out of reach, to plant a tree, experiment with composting, or try riding the (fare-free) GoCary bus.
Cary\u2019s goal, said energy manager Sara Caliendo, is near-zero, not zero, because \u201cit\u2019s better to be realistic than to set unrealistic goals and fail.\u201d The town operates three wastewater reclamation facilities, for instance, which consume a lot of power and realistically won\u2019t be running on fully renewable energy anytime soon.
Armbruster told the INDY<\/em> that Carrboro has focused specifically on reaching out to low-income communities and communities of color, which \u201care both most vulnerable to climate impacts\u2014things like high heat or flooding\u2014but also may have the least resources,\u201d about updating their homes to be more climate resilient and energy efficient. Armbruster pointed out that updates can help people save money on energy and repair costs.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Danielle Spurlock, whose work focuses on environmental planning and policy implementation, thinks that policymakers could focus more on accounting for and changing human behavior. 
\u201cI would love to see us be able to build more of our policies taking into account all that we know about human behavior and how we can shift that behavior,\u201d Spurlock said. \u201cBecause sometimes we hope that, well, if we build it, they\u2019ll come. But we haven\u2019t really built it well enough that it can alter behavior.\u201d
Spurlock said in order for local sustainability plans to be successful, they also need to address affordable housing\u2014which some Triangle plans do to varying extents. But without housing set aside for people who earn well below the area median income, \u201ca huge chunk of people who are vital to what makes our cities great places to live\u201d get pushed out to more affordable areas where they have no choice but to rely on a car, increasing emissions.
\u201cPeople talk about sustainability, and they\u2019ll talk about the environment, they\u2019ll talk about economics, but if you don\u2019t talk about equity, you\u2019re actually not talking about sustainability,\u201d Spurlock said. \u201cIt\u2019s the question that many community residents bring up: \u2018Affordable for whom?\u2019 And so I think that is where I really want us to sit down in the Triangle and think hard about who bears the burden. Who gets the benefits for each of these sustainability initiatives that we\u2019re pushing forward?\u201d
While sustainability plans typically focus on one jurisdiction, the issues they contend with\u2014like water pollution and regional transit\u2014cross boundaries. We did find examples of cross-jurisdiction collaboration in the reports we reviewed. For example, the city of Durham, Durham County, and Durham Public Schools are collaborating on a solar farm to help power facilities with renewable energy and, in turn, reduce emissions. 
\u201cThat is only possible because we work together,\u201d Freid said. \u201cNone of us independently would have had enough demand that would make financial sense for a developer to build a solar farm on our behalf, but collectively, we could.\u201d
Developing sustainability goals, implementing plans, and monitoring progress are huge tasks that demand more resources and more collaboration across the entire Triangle, Spurlock said. Local governments need to work together on shared goals, strategies to help communities with fewer means to accomplish them, and steps to take when goals aren\u2019t met. Central Pines Regional Council has helped spearhead efforts to bring local governments together for regional sustainability planning. 
\u201cWe have a very fragmented system, even as we require a really integrated coalition to meet these goals,\u201d Spurlock said.
There\u2019s an adage that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second-best time is today. That held true in our research\u2014while Triangle city and county governments are now undertaking a lot of initiatives to be greener, it\u2019s not always easy to see the progress. In some cases, that\u2019s because it\u2019s buried in dense reports or departmental presentations. But it could also be decades before the results of these efforts are apparent. Transit projects take years to plan, let alone build. Public works facilities can\u2019t be transitioned to renewable energy sources overnight. Trees planted today won\u2019t provide shade until … perhaps 2050.
Comment on this story at [email protected]<\/a>.<\/em>
Sarah Willets is editor-in-chief of the INDY<\/em>. She first joined the staff in 2017, covering Durham for more than two years. She returned to lead the newsroom in January 2025.
Justin Laidlaw is a reporter for the INDY<\/em>, covering Durham. A Bull City native, he joined the staff in 2023 and previously wrote By The Horns<\/em>, a blog about city council.
Chase Pellegrini de Paur is a reporter for INDY<\/em>, covering politics, education, and the delightful characters who make the Triangle special. He joined the staff in 2023 and previously wrote for The Ninth Street Journal<\/em>.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a reporter for the INDY<\/em> and a Report for America corps member, covering Wake County. She joined the staff in 2024.
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