The Cuyahoga County Climate Change Action Plan is an effort to set targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, implement and track actions to meet targets, and adapt to climate change across the county.

Cover of the Climate Change Action PlanCuyahoga County Climate Change Action Plan
Published May 15, 2019

The planning process is being jointly administered by the Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability, Board of Health, Department of Emergency Management, and County Planning; however, the plan will engage many regional partners and the public.

Update/Upcoming Meetings

The Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability, in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Emergency Management Department, and County Planning, is excited to share that it has completed a county-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventory and is ready to begin engaging community stakeholders in its Climate Action Planning Process.

Our regional stakeholder kick-off meeting was held on June 13, 2018. Slides from that meeting can be viewed below:


This presentation was made at the kick-off meeting on June 13, 2018. It is also available for downloading.

Project Background

Logo of Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy

In July 2017, Cuyahoga County joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, an international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low-emission, resilient society. By joining, the county committed to complete and publicly report on the following within three years:

  1. County-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory consistent with the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), within one year or less:
  2. Climate hazards faced by our county:
  3. Targets to reduce GHG emissions, within two years or less:
    • Please keep an eye on this page for our progress towards setting target reduction goals.
  4. Climate vulnerabilities faced by our county within two years or less:
  5. Plans to address climate change mitigation and adaptation within three years or less:
    • We are currently working with our regional stakeholders to develop targets, goals, and strategies around 5 focus areas: energy, transportation, land use, water, and health. A draft plan is expected by Fall 2018.

Contact Us

If you have any questions on this ongoing planning process, please contact Mike Foley at mfoley@cuyahogacounty.us. 

Key Terms

Climate Change: Climate change refers to a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere. These phenomena include the increased temperature trends described by global warming, but also encompass changes such as sea level rise; shifts in flower/plant blooming; and, extreme weather events.

Global Warming: Global warming refers to the upward temperature trend across the entire Earth since the early 20th century, and most notably since the late 1970s, due to the increase in fossil fuel emissions since the industrial revolution. Worldwide since 1880, the average surface temperature has gone up by about 0.8 °C (1.4 °F), relative to the mid-20th-century baseline (of 1951-1980).

Greenhouse Gas: Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation (heat) in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide

Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/resources/global-warming/

Logos for Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability, Planning Commission, Emergency Management, and Board of Health