Omaha’s Charge
The City of Omaha’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan will be a strategic roadmap that empowers our community to build climate resilience and strive for a more sustainable future.
The Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan will provide comprehensive guidance on innovative solutions that will:
Improve quality of life
Build prosperity
Enhance community resilience
Further climate justice
The plan will focus on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for and adapt to climate impacts, and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through sequestration.
The Climate Action and Resilience Plan will provide equitable actions for the City, and the communities within, to implement over the next 30 years.
“Cities that prioritize climate action and resiliency are making a commitment to a better quality of life for citizens and improving the outlook for business and industry.”
— Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert
Existing Efforts
Several efforts are already underway to make Omaha climate ready.
City Efforts
Other Efforts
Clean Solutions for Omaha (CSO) is working to meet objectives and requirements of the Clean Water Act. The goals of the program include regulatory compliance, economic affordability, and community acceptance. CSO has also committed to using green infrastructure, which will help reduce stormwater pollution and impacts on the wastewater system.
ORBT is Omaha’s Rapid Bus Transit system. A more utilized mass transit system like ORBT keeps vehicles off the road and reduces carbon emissions. Public transit also reduces fuel dependency and increases mobility.
The City of Omaha is currently working on a Traffic Signal Infrastructure Modernization and Adaptive Signal Control Technology project, which will upgrade traffic signal controller equipment, vehicle detection, traffic signal management software, traffic signal heads, a new communications system, and battery back-up system. This updated infrastructure and technology will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing idling vehicles.
OPPD’s Pathways to Decarbonization initiative will help OPPD reach its goal of net-zero carbon production by 2050. What is decarbonization? Simply, it's the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, commonly referred to as our carbon footprint. Learn more at the Pathways to Decarbonization website.
The Douglas County Health Department air quality specialists perform daily Air Quality Index (AQI) reporting to communicate air quality levels in relation to potential health effects on the population. Learn more at the Air Quality Monitoring website.
The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) is developing a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), followed by a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) using grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program. The PCAP will identify high-priority, readily-implemented actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, focusing on voluntary actions and financial incentives. The CCAP will explore short- and long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction measures across all sectors of the economy. Omaha’s Climate Action and Resilience team will collaborate with NDEE to identify opportunities for shared goals.
Omaha isn’t alone! Omaha’s peer cities have also been working towards climate readiness. Salt Lake City, Utah’s Climate Positive 2040 is a plan to achieve 100% renewable energy for community electricity supply by 2030 and an 80% reduction in community greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Louisville, Kentucky has taken several steps toward a climate-resilient future, including developing Sustain Louisville, a sustainability plan, a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan, an urban heat management study, and Prepare Louisville, a climate resilience plan. Colorado Springs, Colorado has developed SustainableCOS, which is an integration plan for sustainability.
Schedule
The Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan will take approximately a year and a half to develop and complete. A Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 1, 2024, as part of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program. The City is developing a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP), which will be submitted to the EPA 18 months after submission of the PCAP (approximately September 2025).
FAQs
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Climate change is an issue that has significant impacts on the health and safety of our global and local communities. Greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the burning of fossil fuels for things like transportation and energy. These emissions trap heat in the atmosphere and cause a blanket-like effect that increases global temperatures and causes more extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, and storms. There is unequivocal scientific evidence and consensus that this global warming is occurring and that human activities are the primary cause.
The City of Omaha is developing the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan to build community resilience to these impacts. The Plan will align several efforts supporting climate action, including mitigation and adaptation, across multiple sectors. The Plan will help the City successfully take steps to reduce emissions and be more resilient to climate impacts, with the goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. The plan will also empower residents to carry out community-level action supporting Omaha’s climate goals.
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The plan will provide comprehensive guidance on innovative solutions that will improve quality of life, build prosperity, and enhance community resilience and climate equity, with focus on greenhouse gas reduction, climate adaptation, and carbon sequestration strategies. The Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan will provide equitable climate and resilience actions for the City to implement over the next 30 years.
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The City is working with an executive committee comprised of the City of Omaha, Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, MUD, OPPD, UNMC, Douglas County and Omaha by Design to guide the process of developing the Climate Action and Resilience Plan. This committee is responsible for identifying issues and providing community, infrastructure and economic insights to a larger Planning Team to develop a Climate Action and Resilience Plan for Omaha. The City is also working with a Community Stakeholder Committee to gather input and feedback on plan development. Additionally, your input will help shape the plan.
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While climate change will impact the entire city, it will especially impact those who already face health issues, don’t have resources to adapt to climate change or live in areas vulnerable to extreme weather, such as flooding. To that end, our team will work with community members that represent these groups to identify appropriate climate actions.
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The Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan is being developed to provide equitable climate and resilience actions for the City to implement over the next 30 years to help the City reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for and adapt to climate impacts, and remove carbon from the atmosphere through sequestration. The City's goal is to be carbon-neutral and climate-ready by 2050.
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Once the final Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan is developed, the City and its climate action partners will begin work on implementing the actions identified in the plan.
Glossary
If you’ve ever wondered what the terms carbon sequestration or greenhouse gases actually mean, we’ve got you covered!
Greenhouse gases
Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide
Climate mitigation
Actions to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and stabilizing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
Climate adaptation
Changes made to adapt to the current and projected climate
Carbon sequestration
Strategies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in a solid or liquid form
Climate-ready
A city that is climate-ready is taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and be resilient to changes in its climate
Carbon neutrality
A balance between carbon emissions and carbon absorption, resulting in no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere
Climate resilient
A climate resilient community has lowered carbon emissions and has infrastructure and policies in place to handle changes to its climate
Climate justice
Solutions for climate change that represent, include, and protect communities that are more vulnerable to its effects
Kids’ Corner
Omaha youth build the next generation of climate action champions. Please use the resources below to have conversations with your future climate action champions.
Climate Resilience Guide
Climate change has arrived, and cities all over the world are working to protect their communities from harmful climate impacts like rising average temperatures, heat waves, flooding, and severe weather. While our leaders keep building, working and planning, our families can adapt! This guide, created by Jennifer Walker Bailey, will help you develop strategies to help you, your family, and your community thrive. Be a force in climate change. Learn how from our best teachers: trees, parks, and nature.
The Fantastic Four
Looking for a day activity for your family? Below are four of the most popular activities from the guide to choose from to get you going on climate resilience with your family!
Partners
The City of Omaha is collaborating with the community and several Omaha organizations to create an actionable, tailored Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan.
Get Involved
The development of the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan is a collaborative effort – when it comes to our climate, we’re all in this together. We’re listening, and we need your input to develop a plan that works for Omaha. The City, its departments, community organizations, and you are critical partners on the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan.
Upcoming and Previous Events
The City of Omaha hosted a series of public open houses for the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan the week of February 12.
Materials are available at the links below:
We need your input!
The Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan will address the broad climate action sectors below. We need your input on the draft goals and priority measures for each sector. Please click on the links below to review the goals, prioritize them, and provide detailed feedback.
Spread the Word
Want to help us spread the word on the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan? You can help us get the word out by:
Share this flyer
Post on social media:
I’m helping support the development of the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan, and you can too by visiting omacap.org and taking the survey. #OmahaClimateAction
Place this blurb on a newsletter, share with your organization, or send to your network of friends, family, and neighbors:
The City of Omaha is developing the Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan to be a strategic roadmap that empowers the community to build climate resilience and strive for a more sustainable future. The plan will focus on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for and adapt to climate impacts, and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through sequestration. The Climate Action and Resilience Plan will provide equitable actions for the City, and the communities within, to implement over the next 30 years. The Plan will help the City successfully take steps to reduce emissions and be more resilient to climate impacts, with the goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050.