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“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”
Summary for Policymakers of IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C approved by governments, October 8 2018
June 14th 2019: Climate Activists organize a demonstration in front of Miami City Hall, demanding the City declare a Climate Emergency. Mayor Suarez comes out to meet us. See video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXP91a7tHu0
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8:00 Mayor Suarez explains that the City has a Resilience Bond, going to electric cars, resilient305 strategy, etc.
9:30 Mayor Suarez suggest we set up a meeting with him to give him our "5-10 best strategies that you can get the city can implement,... rather than screaming about your mayor not caring, because trust me, I have kids, and I live not far from here, and I wake up every day not just making sure that the city does not go under water, but making sure that you are safe".
July 9th 2019: After a lot of phone calls and emails, we end up meeting with the chief of staff, who shows us all the environmental accomplishments of the City of Miami and the plans for the future. We point out that none of those plans have any carbon budgets, and there is no sign that the emissions in the City of Miami are decreasing, much less decreasing at the rate of 18% per year needed to stay below 1.5 degrees C.
There was no talk about the "5-10 best strategies that the city can implement".
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Let's say that the meeting did not go well.
A graph showing how the carbon emissions need to decrease (so called "mitigation curves") in order to limit global warming to 1.5C.
One of the many articles decorating the walls of the Mayor's Office.
March 6, 2020: City takes measures for another emergency: the Coronavirus.
April 6, 2020: Flights get cancelled in reponse to the Coronavirus emergency.
April 7, 2020: The Mayor sends Bil Gates a sort of Thank you letter in which he thanks Bill Gates for reminding him to "think creatively and acting boldly, first on climate change and now on global pandemics... Thus far we have made the tough decisions to protect our residents but now we also need your help to make the smart decisions to ensure our city's collective survival."
July 6 City of Miami Climate Resilience Committee.
among other topics they discus the 2018 GHG Inventory and the reductions in emissions from the previous inventory from 2006 by 25%.
The full report can be found here
Here is the point in the meeting when the findings are explained.
https://youtu.be/fdM5HcA2ATw?t=7029
It appears that the largest decreases come from the switch in the fuel mix of FPL from coal to natural gas.
One of us after the meeting with the chief of staff.
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July 12th 2019: Sammy at the Zero Hour Protest outside City Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ6XF9VpXwg
November 21 2019: Commission Meeting, Miami City Hall. Mayor Suarez endorses the declaration of a Climate Emergency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTbPIRs_rKk
The full remarks can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M8Q3ZGz4k4
Coming out of the Commission Meeting, Mayor Suarez tells us again to call the office and set up a meeting to consult on how to best move forward.
This is a short video summarizing the events leading up to this historic moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmuEgnKeDdE
CBS report here:
January 9th 2020: Miami Joins Global “C40 Cities” Network. From the press release:
Miami declared a climate emergency in November 2019, and the City has been working aggressively to combat the threat of climate change for several years. Going forward, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has called for the creation and implementation of a comprehensive climate action plan, which will be revealed in the near future. Reducing carbon emissions from transportation, improving building energy efficiency, increasing green energy supplies and changing consumption patterns are also priorities.
https://www.c40.org/press_releases/miami-phoenix-join-c40-cities
January 24th 2020: City Leaders Unveil “Miami Forever Climate Ready” Strategy:
"This strategy proposes unique plans of action to combat flooding and other environmental challenges over the next 40 years and sets the foundation for carbon reduction in the City of Miami."
The official document can be found here:
https://www.miamigov.com/files/sharedassets/public/miami-forever-climate-ready-2020-strategy.pdf
The words "Climate Emergency" do not appear in the document.
Action (page 13): Establish GHG emission reduction goals and develop multiyear action plan for both City operations and community-wide. This will include new policies related to energy efficiency and renewable in buildings, easing transition to electric vehicles, and promoting other low or no emission mobility solutions. Alligned with the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact December 2017
REGIONAL CLIMATE ACTION PLAN 2.0 regional standards RCAP EF-2 and EF-12.
(see them here https://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RCAP-2.0_Abridged-Version.pdf
January 28th 2020: Mayor Suarez delivers the State of the City Address
https://www.miamigov.com/Notices/News-Media/State-of-the-City-Address-2020
In it, it releases the Miami Forever Climate Ready Strategy, which provides a road map for the City to reduce flooding and storm impacts over the next 40 years.
The full address can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=vkjYjvw5d4g&feature=emb_logo
February 28th, 2020. As of this writing:
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the official position regarding mitigation (reducing carbon emissions) is still to be announced.
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to our knowledge, the city of Miami has made no effort to inform the population of Miami of 470,000 inhabitants of the climate emergency that it has officially recognized, and as a result, a good portion of the population is unaware that we are in a climate emergency
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As we occasionally pass by City Hall and the Building Department, we also became aware that, aside from the city workers with whom we interact directly, barely anybody knows about the climate emergency. It appears that the city has not even informed its own employees about the climate emergency
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We are still trying to set up the meeting with the Mayor.
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August 2, 2020: It appears that City of Miami has eliminated the Department of Resilience and Sustainability. We start a petition.
August 3, 2020: The Mayor appears at a Climate Resilience Meeting and explains the recent changes. https://youtu.be/pXg6UQHtnmA?t=2239
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Mentions Fridays For Future Miami and other community organizations, planning to organize meetings with all community organizations.
"I want this to be a continued conversation.. I am here to listen... This year will be a year of action... we hope to finalize our carbon neutrality plan, as we're required by C40..."
August 5, 2020: It turns out there was a meeting with the mayor, for whatever reason the only student organization (FFF Miami) was not invited.
We reach out to the mayor to see if we can get a make-up meeting.
August 11, 2020: Another meeting between community groups and city officials, this time we knew about it.
Topics: Mitigation, community engagement, equity, holding the mayor accountable to the goals of carbon neutrality by 2050 committed along the guidelines of the C40 city compact.
The document can be found here.
https://www.c40.org/researches/defining-carbon-neutrality-for-cities-managing-residual-emissions
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The City of Miami Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2018
https://www.miamigov.com/files/sharedassets/public/ghg-inventory-2018-full-report.pdf
August 13, 2020: Mass die-off in Biscayne Bay. The community starts planning an action. We work with Miami Waterkeepers https://www.miamiwaterkeeper.org/ to keep us up to date on the developments. It does not look pretty. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDz1qVQA3SA/
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Here is an article from Miami HERALD from September 2019. "It’s time to declare a state of emergency for Biscayne Bay, advocates say"
“We are going to keep working hard to make sure that our bay survives and thrives,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told an audience of scientists, activists and policy makers who gathered Friday at Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus to address the bay’s dire predicament.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article235178352.html
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August 14, 2020:
Action in front of Miami City Hall.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CD37VIBnhOC/
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September 14, 2020:
Climate Resilience Committee Meeting
At the time 1:40:00 the Committee starts discussing the Mitigation Plan
https://youtu.be/yGZEmxeF9TA?list=PLwavqWDvUCZA5ha7WLk4RNlgxpFfjP65i&t=5983
Main takaways:
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the company in charge of mitigation is going to be AECOM
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the city will use technical assistance from AECOM and C40 to complete the project
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AECOM will present in depth at the October CRC meeting
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Goals GHG reduction goals and green infrastructure
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In order to allow for significant community engagement implementation starts in April 2021
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The Goal is for the city to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 but so that the steepest reductions are done by 2035.
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The City will be leading on COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT and invites feedback to resilience@miamigov.com
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The project includes Business-As-Usual Forecast, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Prioritization Matrix, etc.
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October 5, 2020:
Climate Resilience Committee Meeting
https://youtu.be/aTQ1-U9FeuY?t=7209
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The city announces an internal Resilience Action Group and an open Resilience Action Forum which is open to the public
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The Forum will meet on October 27 at 3pm, a sunshine meeting with the Mayor, virtual meeting. The Mayor will talk about his priorities. Give an overview of the GHG mitigation plan.
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Half of the meeting will be reserved to exchange with the public, open for everyone who want to get involved with the city on this action.
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October 27, 2020: Mayor's Resilience Action Forum
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Presentation on the Mitigation Plans of Carbon Neutrality by 2050 working with AECOM https://youtu.be/q8aesEV85O4?t=1171
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Main takeaways:
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Goal: Neutral by 2050
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steep reductions by 2035
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C40 goal: 2MT/person by 2030
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6 step process: 1. Base year inventory. 2. emissions forecast, 3. target setting, 4. action development, 5. implementation, 6. monitor, evaluate, revise
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Step 1: 2018 GHG Inventory: complete
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Step 2: Emissions growth forecast
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Targets by December 2020
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January-March 2021: Community Engagement
Question from the public: how the city plans to engage the community
https://youtu.be/q8aesEV85O4?t=1796
A: online questionnaires, outreach, virtual meetings, if possible in person meetings.
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Question about outreach: How can we learn from the Coronavirus emergency and use some of that knowledge to spread the word about the Climate Emergency https://youtu.be/q8aesEV85O4?t=2099
A (MS): What we are doing right now, what the Community Activists are doing, use the Communications Team, press conference, we are open to ideas.
A #2: We have learned so much over the last couple of months and we can take those lessons and apply them to climate resilience as well.
November 24, 2020: Mayor's Resilience Action Forum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhUCCLg35qk
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We ask the city officials to add a link to the Climate Emergency on the homepage of the City's website.
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After the meeting, we receive the notice that the city officials decided to add the link at the bottom of the Climate Change page.
https://www.miamigov.com/Government/ClimateChange
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December 23, 2020: Mayor's Resilience Action Forum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdfydttGSr4
Main takeaways:
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Send us your ideas to resilience@miamigov.com
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...
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January ,2021: Forum canceled by the city.
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Februery 23, 2021: Mayor's Resilience Action Forum
https://youtu.be/Eo0iQPUK2mU?list=PLwavqWDvUCZA5ha7WLk4RNlgxpFfjP65i&t=737
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Main takeaways:
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City introduces CAP (Climate Action Plan)
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Committment to carbon neutrality: Net zero by2050
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Interim goal by 60% reduction from 2018 by 2035
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City works with AECOM
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Josh Leythan from AECOM​
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From the 2018 GHG Inventory. Major contributors: On-Road Emissions 43%, Commercial Energy 35%, Residential Energy 20%, minor contributions: wastewater treatment, fugitive emissions, railway transport
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Of the energy in buildings, 52% came from electricity
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Business-As-Usual forecasts a 40% growth in emissions from 2018 to 2050
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A decrease in emissions over BAU comes from: renewable Electricity geeration (data from FP&L , yellow triangle),
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and a 2% decrease in Single-Occupancy-Vehicles between now and 2050 (tine purple sliver below yellow triangle)
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all the white space between the purple sliver and the dashed line is needed reductions from other sources.
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C40 cities recommends reductions of 95% below 2018 levels by 2035 (dashed line in second picture). The city considers it "not realistic, not feasible"
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Miami chooses to strive for only 60% below 2018 by 2035. (min 23:40)
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The 60% reduction target is considered "ambitious but achievable"
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