On the day the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, the City of Portland and Multnomah County committed to a goal of meeting 100 percent of community energy needs with renewable power by 2050.

That's everybody in the county. All of their electricity from renewables by 2035. And all their energy, including transportation, industry and natural gas use, with renewables by 2050.

It was a historic occasion, and save the absence of City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, both the Portland City Council and Multnomah County Commissioners voted unanimously for the audacious, some would say impossible, goals.

Mayor Ted Wheeler called it "one of the longest resolutions ever adopted in the history of the city, but I think it is worthy of that title." Indeed, the city version included a veritable Christmas tree of commitments for more energy efficiency, demand control, community-based renewable energy, job training, transit expansion, electric buses, minority- and women-owned business participation, and climate justice measures such as rate protections, low transit fares and job training for low-income residents that could be disproportionately affected by climate change and the transition to clean power.

Thursday's hearing at Portland City Hall was largely a congratulatory session, with plenty of tweaks to the language, but little dissension or discussion of the technical challenges ahead. Wheeler and others noted, however, that the heavy lifting would come in implementing the plan.

"That being said, I'm so glad we were able to get this done," he said. "In the middle of one of the hardest weeks in the city's history, we were able to do something great... As my colleagues have noted, it's happening on the same day that the United States is effectively turning its back on the rest of the world...This will serve as a beacon of hope."

The resolutions were a major victory for environmental groups and climate change activists, who have been pressing the city and county to build on its existing climate action plan.

"This is a major step forward," David Van't Hof, Acting Oregon Director, Climate Solutions, said in a news release. "Bold climate action is needed to prevent dramatic climate disruption, and we're proud to see Portland and Multnomah County leading the charge. The Northwest can transition to 100 percent clean energy faster than anywhere else in the country."

The resolutions have been in the works for months, and the timing of the votes and Trump's announcement on the Paris accords was coincidental. But it was deeply symbolic and became a mantra at Thursday's meetings, with both the city and county adopting amendments reaffirming their commitment to the international agreement.

The Paris agreement is an international framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was signed by 195 nations, and is set to begin taking effect in 2020. Trump said Thursday that he wanted to negotiate a better deal for the United States. The leaders of France, Germany and Italy responded with a joint statement calling the accords "irreversible."

Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury described the county's resolution as "a pledge to our children." She said the science is certain, that the Trump administration is calling plays from an outdated book, and that it's up to the city and county to lead.

Angus Duncan, the chair of Oregon's Global Warming Commission, was on hand for both votes and made his feelings clear.

"It's no surprise that the tweeter-in-chief has taken us out of the Paris accord," Duncan said. "It's up to us to make sure that that plain doesn't matter... We will have to stand in for present federal leadership, and render the national government irrelevant on this issue."

Portland, Multnomah County and Oregon are obviously small players in the fight against climate change, but they are joining scores of cities and companies that are making a commitment to 100 percent renewable power.

The state of Oregon has its own greenhouse gas reduction goals, specifically to reduce emissions by 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and by at least 75 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

The Oregon Global Warming Commission told the legislature this year that the state is not on track to meet those goals, particularly in the transportation sector.

The state also has a renewable portfolio standard that commits its largest electric utilities to meeting 50 percent of their customers' demand with renewable energy by 2040, with gradually increasing targets in the interim.

Wheeler on Thursday praised Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp and Northwest Natural for their willingness to work with the city toward the 100 percent renewables goal.

His praise comes at a time when Portland General Electric, in particular, has been under withering criticism from environmentalists, ratepayer groups and even regulators on its latest resource plan, which explored options to replace the output of the coal plant in Boardman it plans to shut in 2020.

The utility's initial plan to fill that gap leaned heavily on new natural gas plants – potentially two new gas plants at the Boardman site. The utility has since backed away from those plans and is now negotiating to acquire existing resources, perhaps hydroelectricity, to meet those needs. But it has cautioned regulators that it needs to have "dispatchable" power, and can't rely on wind and solar alone.

Deane Funk, a local government affairs manager for PGE, told city commissioners Thursday that the company was committed to doing its part to meet the new goals, but didn't know exactly how to accomplish them yet. He said the utility would move forward in a way that ensured affordability and reliability.

"Let's be clear: no one knows how to get to 100 percent renewable energy right now," he said. "As we go forward, we're going to have to be nimble, and make sure that our policies are flexible, so that we can continue to adapt as technology advances."

County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson called Thursday's votes "the beginning of the conversation of how we reach these goals ... It's important to have this bar out there. The big work of getting to that place is still ahead of us."

- Ted Sickinger

503-221-8505; @tedsickinger