Gonzales City Council adopts Climate Action and Resilence Plan

The Gonzales City Council formally adopted the Gonzales Climate Action and Resilience Plan at the Feb. 13 meeting.

Gonzales is only the second municipality in Louisiana to adopt a Climate Action and Resilience Plan, according to a news release.

The city’s plan was developed in coordination with the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, with a goal of maintaining resident’s quality of life. Gonzales will continue to thrive economically and support the state’s effort to reduce carbon emissions.

“This would not have been possible without the tremendous support of CPEX, community stakeholders, and volunteers. Their efforts provided Gonzales with a plan that includes strategies with prioritized specific actions, helping us reduce our carbon footprint,” Gonzales Mayor Barney Arceneaux said.

Gonzales’ CARP identifies its climate hazards and vulnerabilities to climate change impacts, explains the public engagement process of building the plan, analyzes the city’s carbon footprint, shows a timeline of what has been done and what the city is currently working on, provides carbon emission reduction strategies, and identifies specific actions.

"The hardest thing to do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to change habits. Building on Gonzales’ proactive approach to climate change, the city now has a climate adaptation and resilience plan, which can be used to begin changing habits, starting at the city level.” said Jeannette Dubinin, CPEX’s Director of Resilience and Adaptation. Dubinin went on to explain how CPEX “developed an actionable and tailored plan the city can use to access available federal funding for transportation, energy efficiency, and waste reduction."

A copy of the Gonzales CARP can be found by visiting: gonzalesla.com.