Cities of Portland & South Portland Celebrate Five Years of Climate Action
More than 70% of the climate strategies included in the plan are now underway

PORTLAND & SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – The Cities of Portland and South Portland are celebrating an important anniversary this year. Five years ago, the two cities joined forces to create and adopt One Climate Future, a bold plan charting a course to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 and use 100% clean energy for municipal operations by 2040, while building resilience to the impacts of climate change. 

Over the past five years, One Climate Future has delivered meaningful and tangible progress by enabling Sustainability staff to hit the ground running and maintain momentum. More than 70% of the climate strategies included in the plan are now underway. Additionally, the plan has enabled the cities to leverage external funding, build municipal capacity, and provide leadership at the regional, state, and even national level: 

• Staff from both cities have worked creatively and efficiently to maximize the impact of their work. By leveraging funding from external sources, they have been awarded 32 grants since 2020 –  totaling $5,134,222 – to carry out One Climate Future strategies.
• Long-term capacities and partnerships have been built. By investing in people, the cities have created a solid foundation for carrying out the work of One Climate Future. Nine full-time Resilience Corps Fellows have been hosted over the last five years, training the next generation of climate resilience leaders.
• Setting an example and providing leadership. As one of the few multi-city climate action plans in the country, One Climate Future broke new ground and has served as a national model for regional cooperation and innovation.

With One Climate Future as a road map, staff have been able to make significant strides toward realizing the “Six Big Moves” – these are high impact, cross-departmental initiatives that touch on multiple aspects of the climate plan. Over the last five years, the Sustainability staff have partnered with various city departments, community organizations, citizens, and businesses to: 

• Power everything with clean renewable energy, including generating more than 63 million kWh of solar power, combined saving the cities over $5 million.
• Build community resilience and the collaborative capacity to create a better future through climate resilient land use planning and zoning, as well as educational campaigns to help inform the public about climate risks.
• Reduce waste and grow a circular economy by introducing 15 free composting drop-off sites that have diverted over 3.6 million pounds of food scraps from the waste stream.
• Build better buildings by adopting the state’s first Energy Stretch Code, improving the efficiency of new buildings by 30-35%.
• Nourish ecosystems which nourish us by adopting Landcare Management Ordinances and soil quality standards for new development. In addition, Portland planted 892 trees and South Portland supported the installation of 230 resilient yards.
• Connect people to places, to opportunity by adding density, incentivizing development around transit corridors, and promoting biking and walking. The Cities took a large step to coordinate and expand transit in 2024 by merging South Portland Bus Service with Greater Portland METRO.

The work continues. Join the One Climate Future team on Friday, January 16, 2026 from 9 AM – 10 AM to hear from Sustainability Directors, Troy Moon (Portland) and Julie Rosenbach (South Portland), as they discuss some of the major successes of the joint climate action plan and share a first look at what the future holds.

Learn more and read about the progress at: oneclimatefuture.org

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