Clackamas County Climate Action Plan

Location Clackamas County, OR, United States
Client Clackamas County,OR
Client Type County Government
Population (2020) 415,084
Schedule September 2020 – February 2023

Clackamas County, located in north central Oregon state, covers 1,879 square miles of urban, suburban, rural, and wild land. It is one of three counties that make up the metropolitan area of Portland. 

Project Objective

The Clackamas County Climate Action Plan was built on three pillars:
• A data driven and integrated action plan;
• Meaningful and transparent community engagement; and
• A detailed implementation plan.

As a region of urban, suburban, rural, and wild areas, including all or portions of 16 cities, the CAP strikes a balance between uniting and coordinating action, and ensuring autonomy of lower-level governments. The CAP considers the sphere of influence of various overlapping jurisdictions and leverages partnerships with other organizations and levels of government. The CAP is built upon technical analysis of emission reduction potential, financial analysis, and community engagement.

Outcomes

The low-carbon scenario Clackamas decided to pursue will result in the following emissions reductions by 2050:

• Buildings emissions will be reduced from nearly 2 million MtCo2e in 2018 to 0.1 million MtCo2e;
• Transportation emissions will be reduced by 93% below the baseline;
• Emissions from waste will increase by 131%; and,
• Agriculture-related emissions will decrease by 9%. 

Clackamas noted that an important component of the project was the high-level economic modeling of low-carbon opportunities which fostered the understanding that although the approach would require investments in all sectors of the community, they would also yield returns in the form of $20.3 billion in savings in operations and maintenance, energy, and health care costs, while also generating revenue and job growth.

Services: Climate action planning

Tools: CityInSight Community

Link to final report.