NASHVILLE – On Friday, March 24, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop, Nashville Town Manager Sandie Jones, and Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton gathered at the Nashville Town Hall to announce the launch and next steps of a bipartisan, cross-sector, multi-county effort to address climate change.
A new regional alliance, project46, named for the state highway linking Bartholomew, Brown, and Monroe counties, will identify and pursue solutions that effectively address our shared challenges and opportunities related to climate change.
“We are at a critical juncture with regard to climate change,” said Mayor John Hamilton. “Just this week, an international report warned of dire results for our planet if we do not make significant changes with regard to fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. We face serious local consequences, of course. But also, we face enormous opportunities to work together locally and improve our communities – doing our part for the planet while also creating good jobs, sustainability, equity, and higher quality of life. We can help each other achieve those goals, and a strong regional initiative is a great place to start.”
In the coming weeks, Jones, Lienhoop, and Hamilton will call on their communities’ respective legislative bodies to adopt a common resolution indicating support for the alliance, commit to an initial three-year phase, and allocate public funds for this effort.
The proposed resolution (included below) embraces four common goals:
- Track and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as communities and as a region;
- Coordinate local investments and leverage available state and federal funding opportunities, including, but not limited to, funding available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts;
- Set goals, advance initiatives, highlight successes and challenges, and promote best practices by engaging government, nonprofit, and private sector leadership;
- Produce an annual community report to demonstrate the activities and impact of these efforts and progress towards shared goals.
“The Town of Nashville is pleased to be part of this amazing partnership with Columbus and Bloomington,” said Town Manager Sandie Jones. “This is an opportunity where we can begin to work together as a region to mitigate climate change.”
Proposed funding includes annual contributions from each government entity based on population at $0.50 per capita, supplemented by matching private and philanthropic support. These funds would be used to support the work of the alliance, which itself can help leverage state and federal funding.
“The City of Columbus is excited to partner with our friends in Nashville and Bloomington on this important initiative,” said Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop. “We often ask ourselves what those in our community 20 years from now might wish we had done today. Concerns about the environment and climate change are top of mind now and will become more so as time goes on. We owe it to those who follow – our kids and grandkids – to do our part.”
Following the adoption of the common resolution, a task force will be established composed of representatives from each community to oversee the collaboration. Businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions will be welcomed and encouraged to join this alliance.
Project46 follows a joint gathering held last October that initiated a collaborative, cross-county approach to addressing climate change. Mayors Hamilton and Lienhoop hosted the first-ever Regional Climate Convening, bringing together approximately 100 critical players from Bartholomew, Brown, and Monroe Counties from the private, nonprofit, educational, and government sectors. Learn more about the October 2022 event at: https://bton.in/Xe4Lh.
The Town of Nashville hosted Friday’s event, and Town Council Member Anna Hofstetter welcomed guests to Town Hall and offered remarks supporting the importance of collaboration. The full video of the announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/l6x4tAcJ_gg
Read the referenced 2023 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate change report at: https://bton.in/DrFCC.
