Richfield, MN

On 10/13/2020, the City Council voted to approve the Climate Action Plan written by staff with council, staff, and resident feedback. The CAP identifies 6 goals (Develop and Promote Energy Efficiency Efforts, Promote Renewable Energy Installation and Purchasing, Encourage Sustainable Design and Building Practices, Strengthen and Expand Natural Resource Management, Reduce Waste Generated, Improve Access to Local and Healthy Food) that encompass 80 actions. This plan guides the City’s internal and external sustainability efforts over the next 5 years, with progress annually reviewed by the Sustainability Commission.

CAP Action Prioritization
In 2022, the City contracted with pale BLUE dot LLC to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and use that data to help prioritize the existing CAP actions by emission reduction potential and other factors. The goal was to identify a few select actions to focus on accomplishing over the next 3 years (the length of the strategic plan) and amend them into the City's strategic plan. The 4 selected actions are below.