St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter wants the city to be “carbon neutral” within his lifetime. That means slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030, and offsetting them entirely by 2050.

“Our climate is changing. That’s a fact,” said Carter, noting that cities around the world are experiencing rising temperatures, increased precipitation and dangerous water levels.

Reducing or offsetting greenhouse gases could help, but how might Minnesota’s capital city get there?

Discouraging single-car occupancy is a big part of the Carter administration’s new “Climate Action and Resilience” draft plan, which calls for alternatives to the one-person, one-car lifestyle.

That means allowing higher-density housing to facilitate car-sharing and public transit use, limiting or elmininating a prescribed minimum number of parking stalls per building, and perhaps replacing parking minimums with parking maximums.

That’s no easy sell in many corners of the city. But it’s also just the tip of the iceberg in terms of recommendations in the 60-page draft plan.

TRANSPORTATION

Meeting carbon goals may also mean adding parking meters to commercial districts, filling in 330 miles of “missing” sidewalks throughout St. Paul to make the city more pedestrian-friendly, and more bike lanes. These are all proposals that have won their share of supporters and opponents over the years.

In late 2015, for instance, then-Mayor Chris Coleman abandoned efforts to install parking meters along Grand Avenue, given intense pushback from area residents and business owners.

A year from now, with funding from Xcel Energy and other partners, the city will begin installing 35 “mobility hubs,” or electric vehicle charging stations next to new HourCar car-sharing sites.

Transportation-related emissions are just one of several topics touched upon in the city’s wide-ranging “Climate Action and Resilience” draft plan, which covers everything from solar installations and wastewater management to the key role that Xcel Energy — the city’s major power utility — will play in helping the city reach its carbon goals by 2030 and 2050.

BUILDINGS PRODUCE 60 PERCENT OF EMISSIONS

Last year, Carter renewed the city’s commitment, made in 2015 by the Coleman administration, to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate Energy to inventory and reduce carbon emissions.

To meet that goal, the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge awarded St. Paul the equivalent of $2.5 million in technical assistance, training and staffing.

The city’s 60-page draft plan notes that 60 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions produced in St. Paul come from heating, cooling and powering buildings, including manufacturing operations. About two-thirds of those emissions stem from commercial buildings, and another third are residential. Transportation makes up 30 percent of all city-based emissions.

“As a city, we’ve never had greenhouse gas emissions goals before,” said Russ Stark, the mayor’s chief resilience officer. “We’ve never had a climate action plan before. … (It’s) a big, challenging goal, and to meet that goal, we’re going to have to do a lot.”

Some of that work, however, is well along.

Between 2009 and 2016, the city implemented 476 energy-efficiency projects, and rolled out a “Sustainable Building” policy that governs city-owned buildings and private real estate development receiving more than $200,000 in public financing.

Last year, Carter rolled out a “Biggest Loser”-style competition for owners of the city’s largest privately owned buildings, aimed at reducing their summer energy use.

Carter and Stark, a former city council president, have been visiting neighborhoods to present a broad overview of their goals, as well as what could happen if local, state and national governments fail to act.

In front of a slideshow depicting California wildfires and extreme flooding in Houston, the mayor recently addressed several dozen attendees at the East Side Freedom Library near Payne Avenue.

State climatologists say St. Paul’s average temperature has risen three degrees since 1970, and winter temperatures have climbed six degrees.

“Most of the change has been in winter,” said Stark, noting costly impacts on public infrastructure. “And we’re getting considerably wetter — more large storms.”

Carter said the federal government dropped the ball by pulling out of the United Nations’ international Paris Accords to lower greenhouse gas emissions, which was signed in 2016 by 175 governments, but cities are taking up the cause. The U.S. and China together represent more than 40 percent of global emissions.

Stark said St. Paul’s Climate Plan will be refined over the next few months and presented to the city council for approval around August.

‘TOO MUCH POWER TO BUILDERS’

In an interview, City Council President Amy Brendmoen said the mayor’s carbon-reduction goals are laudable. But the individual, wide-ranging strategies will have to be examined and voted upon “bit by bit and piece by piece.”

Some residents are likely to question whether the climate plan goes too far, or understates how devoted Minnesotans are to their cars, especially in the cold-weather months.

Kerrie-rue Michahelles, a resident of the Prospect Park neighborhood, said the growing scarcity of street parking hasn’t slowed the pace of residential development or parking demand along the Green Line near University Avenue and Berry Street, where she and her mother live. Related Articles Trump won’t commit to peaceful transfer of power if he loses

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There’s been a recent increase in “no parking” signs over the winter, and more apartments under construction.

“There is another very large new complex being built at the intersection of Berry and Franklin,” she said. “Where do we park? … My mother is disabled and cannot afford the $95 monthly indoor fees for her car. City planners are giving too much power to builders without considering street parking and the renters, condo-owners and homeowners in the community.”

Elsewhere, the flash point is sidewalks.

To encourage walking, the city’s proposed Pedestrian Plan commits to installing 330 miles of sidewalks where none currently exist.

Worried about the impact on neighborhood trees and the general homeyness of their neighborhood, residents in the Woodlawn-Jefferson Avenue area of Macalster-Groveland successfully petitioned last year to block the addition of sidewalks by their 94 properties.

The climate action plan describes a fuller tree canopy as one way to combat summer heat waves, one of the most immediate impacts of rising temperatures in urban areas.

As policies, adding trees and installing sidewalks “are competing with each other in a way,” Stark acknowledged.

Meanwhile, environmental advocates question whether the climate plan goes far enough.

Chelsea DeArmond is a founder of St. Paul 350, formerly known as St. Paul Climate Justice, a group of about a dozen activists committed to pressing for greener public policies.

Overall, DeArmond said, “the fact that the city is taking this initiative at all and setting the goal of carbon neutrality makes us a leader in the country.”

ROOFTOP SOLAR ON SCHOOLS?

Nevertheless, DeArmond said it troubles her how much of the city’s carbon-reduction strategy relies on Xcel Energy, the major gas and electric utility provider in St. Paul, which has also pledged to go carbon-free in the coming decades.

“Xcel has made this commitment to 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050, (but it) isn’t all ‘clean energy.’ As of now it also includes nuclear and fracked natural gas,” DeArmond said. “It’s hard to see how they’re going to meet their own goal.”

She’s hoping the city and St. Paul Public Schools will jump-start efforts to create rooftop solar arrays — energy that could, in her view, be sold to neighboring low-income households at or below the prices that Xcel Energy charges.

Libraries and rec centers are generally too small to provide a strong return on investment.

But St. Paul 350 has identified 10 school rooftops that would be large enough to support such an endeavor, such as Harding and Johnson high schools.

Stark said the school district is taking an inventory to see what condition those rooftops are in. St. Paul Regional Water Services has also issued a request for proposals to create a community solar garden in St. Paul and Maplewood.

“There aren’t very many opportunities for people in the city to subscribe to (clean energy),” DeArmond said. “There aren’t very many locations within the city that can support a community solar garden.”

There’s also the question of accountability. As of now, the mayor’s administration doesn’t expect to add the climate plan to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, its master planning document, and how the recommendations will be enforced or acted upon remains up in the air. Stark said he would like the city to revisit the plan every five years.

Stark’s next public presentation on the draft climate action plan will be from 6 to 8 p.m. May 13 at Neighborhood House, 179 Robie St. E. To read the plan or offer online feedback, visit tinyurl.com/stpaul-gov-climateaction.

Here are some key recommendations from St. Paul’s draft plan, which is still a work in progress:

RESIDENTIAL: Prevent carbon emissions through stricter building energy codes for new development; electrification of natural gas appliances. Related Articles Carter, Frey declare Sept. 21 RBG Day in the Twin Cities

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COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL: Green building standards for new buildings; improve energy efficiency in existing buildings; building energy retrofits.

TRANSPORTATION: Increase housing density and alter land uses to better support car-free travel; promote different modes of transportation, including public transit and car-sharing; alter the types of fuels used; promote electric vehicles.

WASTE AND WATER: Divert 40 percent of waste from landfills by 2020, and 80 percent by 2030; preserve safe, quality drinking water; promote a culture of water stewardship.