⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS

Sustainability & Climate Plan

2025

⬚ figure CITY OF ST. LOUIS

Sustainability & Climate Plan

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Letter from the Mayor

Mayor Cara Spencer

The need for sustainability in St. Louis is undeniable. Over just a few years, our community has experienced severe flooding and a devastating tornado that changed futures, destroyed dreams and claimed lives.

Because of climate change, we are witnessing an uptick in severe weather events like the EF3 tornado that tore through our city on May 16, 2025. While the City and St. Louisans cannot change that on our own, we can do our part. And we can better prepare ourselves for the next disaster and the ongoing harms caused by more extreme weather.

St. Louis created its first Sustainability Plan in 2013 and has made great strides. The analysis of the first plan found that buildings are the leading contributor to emissions in our city. This spurred the Board of Aldermen to pass the Building Energy Performance Standard in 2020, making St. Louis a leader in the nation for regulating the carbon impact of buildings. I am excited to see this plan build on that, seeking to collaborate with the private sector to further reduce energy use in large commercial buildings by 20%.

Transportation also remains one of the key sources of emissions. The interventions recommended by this plan can both cut emissions and build a city where it’s safer, easier, and more enjoyable to get around. This year alone, construction on several protected bike lanes is underway, including the Brickline Greenway and the Tower Grove Connector. I am committed to continuing these efforts and making St. Louis a modern city where the current barriers to getting around without a car are removed.

While we are building momentum around key issues, we know that much work remains to be done. The effects of climate change have never been more apparent in our community than they are now. In the tornado-impacted area, residents who are already dealing with so much are now also facing years of higher temperatures because much of the tree canopy was destroyed, leaving asphalt and buildings to absorb the heat and cause temperatures to become even more dangerous. This plan’s goal of growing our tree canopy is more relevant than ever.

The Sustainability & Climate Plan lays out ways for us to address the issues I have listed and more, and I look forward to seeing it implemented across our departments. I want to thank the City of St. Louis Sustainability Director Elysia Russell, the Planning & Urban Design Agency, the Planning Commission, and all the staff and community members who helped create this important document. This plan is actionable, and I am excited to see it come to life.

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all who participated in the creation of the Sustainability & Climate Plan (SCP), including community members, the Community Advisory Group, the City Core Team, numerous City Departments, and the leadership from the Office of Sustainability.

COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP

Aaron Dohogne Anne McCullough Auriann Sehi Courtney DesMarais Dominick Del Azodi Elaine Laura Fatou Kane

James Simpson Jhao-Hong Chen Josh Brown Justin Idleburg La Kesha Dean Mahala Pruett-Pittman Malik Lendell

Michael Wohlstadter Monnette Blue Peter Hageman Tim Dugan Tyrone Johnson

CITY CORE TEAM

Alan Jankowski, Commissioner of Forestry Angela Pearson, City of St. Louis Don Roe, Executive Director, Planning & Urban Design Agency Elysia Russell, Sustainability Director, Office of Sustainability, Planning & Urban Design Agency Jennifer Brinkman, Director, City of St. Louis Innovation Team Jonathan Strong, Chief Growth & Inclusion Officer, Office of the Mayor Katarina Michalova, Program Manager, Office of Building Performance Katrina Wiegand, Supervisor, Department of Health Miriam Keller, City Planning Executive, Planning & Urban Design Agency Rick Ernst, Commissioner of Facilities Management Scott Ogilvie, Program Manager, Complete Streets, Planning & Urban Design Agency Stephen Davis, VP of Strategic Partnerships, St. Louis Development Corporation Tiger Abdur-Rahman, Civic Designer, City of St. Louis Innovation Team

CONSULTANT TEAM

Blackrock Consulting BluePoint Planning Cannon Design Greenwood Consulting Group Verdical Group

PLANNING COMMISSION

Aaron Williams Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer Cristina Garmendia Jake Banton Paul Hubbman Rasmus Jorgensen Richard T. Bradley Stan Fowler Sterling Miller Tracy Boaz

(blank page)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Executive Summary A Climate-Resilient, Sustainable St. Louis City | 11

Chapter 1 Becoming a Vibrant, Climate-Friendly City The Need to Prepare and Act Now | 16 Financial Impacts of Climate Change and Risk of Business as Usual | 21 Climate Impacts | 26 Benefits of Climate Action | 29 Addressing Gaps and Needs | 33 2023 Greenhouse Gas Inventory Highlights | 35

Chapter 2 Community-Driven Plan Community-Driven Plan | 47 Environmental Justice Focus | 47 City & Community Engagement Summary | 50 Planning Process | 50 City & Community Engagement Summary | 51

Chapter 3 Roadmap to Climate Action Evaluation Criteria | 59 Pillar 1 Promote a Safe, Healthy, and Climate-Resilient City | 61 Pillar 2 Expand City and Community Capacity for Climate Resilience | 87 Pillar 3 Advance Energy Efficiency while Reducing Energy Burden | 101

Chapter 4 Implementation Equitable Implementation | 119 Funding & Staffing | 123 Sustained Engagement | 127 Partnerships | 129 Tracking & Reporting | 130

Glossary of Terms

Appendices Appendix A Community Engagement Summary | 139 Appendix B SWOT Analysis | 149

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

The City of St. Louis is dedicated to creating a more sustainable and equitable future for its residents and businesses, enabling a vibrant and climate-friendly city.

The City of St. Louis’ Sustainability & Climate Plan (SCP) is creating a path for climate action and carbon neutrality goals that is feasible and implementable. As a 5-year strategic roadmap, the SCP’s goals, strategies, and key actions prioritize how our city can build the systems and capacity to address climate change, reduce our City and community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and prepare for increasingly severe climate impacts while taking action to build a healthy, resilient, and safe city. The SCP is community-driven and implementation-focused, ensuring that the City focuses its resources to make the most impact, while considering the very real and persistent barriers to climate action that we have faced in the past.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOCUSED

The City of St. Louis is dedicated to prioritizing environmental justice throughout not only this planning effort, but across City operations. While looking forward, the City must acknowledge the past harms and the inequities that have and continue to impact our communities. Particularly around climate action, there is a need to address past harms, take actions to address current inequities, and ensure that future action does not perpetuate these harms. The SCP planning process, SCP itself, and its implementation prioritize equity considerations and environmental justice as detailed in Chapter 2.

While all St. Louis City community members are impacted by climate change, Environmental Justice (EJ) communities are disproportionately affected because of historic, pervasive socioeconomic conditions, and systemic racism. Community-lived experiences thus significantly shape the SCP, making resilience-building for communities most vulnerable to climate threats and hazards the priority.

The Ferguson Commission laid out the definition for racial equity as “A future where race no longer predicts life outcomes, focusing on creating a St. Louis region where everyone has fair opportunities to thrive, regardless of race.”¹ With this definition in the context of planning for sustainability and the impacts from climate change, there is an opportunity to use this planning process to drive us closer to the city we strive to be.

BUILDING ON STRENGTHS AND ADDRESSING WEAKNESSES

Before looking forward, the planning team first had to consider the current landscape of the City. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) document was created that set the context for this planning effort, highlighting the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats as they related to climate action. As summarized in Chapter 2, the City has many positive assets that will help the SCP succeed, while there are barriers that need to be overcome. By building upon the City’s strengths, while addressing existing barriers, the SCP sets out a realistic, achievable, and necessary path forward.

COMMUNITY-DRIVEN

Below are the primary overarching themes and focus areas based on the SCP engagement as a whole and integrated into the goals and strategies discussed in Chapter 3:

• Connectivity: Increasing safe passage throughout the city, focused on safety for public transportation users and creating safe alternate options such as calm streets, protected bike lanes, and bike infrastructure.

• Safety & Cleanliness: Creating a better sense of community that is safe and comfortable to move through and free of illegal dumping.

• Maintenance & Quality: Ensuring that the City has the capacity and resources to implement and maintain climate-friendly solutions.

• Equitable & Reparative: Seeing the opportunities and needs of disinvested areas and people reflected in future plans; repairing past harms, including redlining, racial injustice, and other inequities; and the prioritization of areas most in need.

• Energy & Buildings: Reducing residents’ and businesses’ reliance on fossil fuels, providing incentives and resources to make improvements to homes, and ultimately moving away from coal-powered energy.

• Resiliency: Improving the community’s resilience to climate change effects particularly extreme urban heat, flooding, and other extreme weather, creating a more proactive, adaptive, and prepared community.

• Implementation: Recognizing barriers to implementation, through small wins and larger projects, existing community partnerships, and better climate communications.

IMPLEMENTATION-FOCUSED

Effective, results-oriented implementation of the SCP is critical to its success and fundamental to our approach to the SCP development process. Previous sustainability planning efforts by the City have created cutting-edge, ambitious plans that, if implemented, would have drastically reduced the City’s and community’s emissions. However, a majority of the strategies in these previous plans were not completed due to a range of issues including a lack of resources, unclear priorities, no jurisdiction over the problem, siloed departments, and funding challenges.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

A Climate-Resilient, Sustainable St. Louis City

Chapter 3 outlines the Goals, Expected Outcomes, Strategies, and Actions that form the SCP. Below is an overview of some of the key actions laid out in Chapter 3.

⬚ figure

A.2

Continue to expand and connect a comprehensive bikeway network that integrates safe and appropriate bike facilities to link all areas of the city and increases the number of people who can comfortably use bikes for travel.

B.2

Develop a parks, recreation, and forestry master plan that addresses inequity of park quality with a focus on supporting community well-being and resilience, including the use of nature-based solutions that mitigate carbon and support the effective management of stormwater.

⬚ figure

E.1

Create a climate-smart development action plan, policies, and process in consultation with developers and businesses to explore and establish feasible incentives and regulations for promoting sustainable development.

⬚ figure

G.1

Establish a sustained funding source for the City’s maintenance and operations staff to effectively manage and maintain green infrastructure and urban tree canopy, including stormwater system, parks, and green streets.

J.1

Leverage existing partners and the Building Energy Exchange - St. Louis to provide resources and maintain a database of various rebates, programs, etc. for residential (owners and renters), commercial, and industrial buildings.

⬚ figure

L.1

Work with Ameren and key partners to identify pilot solar/microgrid developments that support the electric grid, reach climate goals, and reduce energy costs in neighborhoods with high energy burden.

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN | 2025

⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure

CHAPTER 1

Becoming a Vibrant, Climate-Friendly City

The Need to Prepare and Act Now

Financial Impacts of Climate Change and Risk of Business as Usual

Climate Impacts

Benefits of Climate Action

Addressing Gaps and Needs

2023 Greenhouse Gas Inventory Highlights

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Becoming a Vibrant, Climate-Friendly City

The City of St. Louis is dedicated to creating a more sustainable and equitable future for its residents and businesses, enabling a vibrant and climate-friendly city.

The City of St. Louis’ Sustainability & Climate Plan (SCP) is creating a path for climate action and carbon neutrality goals that is feasible and implementable. As a 5-year strategic roadmap, the SCP’s goals, strategies, and key actions prioritize how our city can build the systems and capacity to address climate change, reduce our City and community emissions, and prepare for increasingly severe climate impacts while taking action to build a healthy, resilient, and safe city. The SCP is community-driven and implementation-focused, ensuring that the City focuses its resources to make the most impact, while considering the very real and persistent barriers to climate action that we have faced in the past.

Building a climate-resilient and low carbon community is about more than just climate action. Many of the strategies and actions listed within the SCP have benefits beyond reducing emissions - making our streets safer to cross and bike on, upgrading our homes to be more resilient to extreme weather events, reimagining our vacant lots as green spaces that help reduce flooding, and more.

⬚ figure

Previously, the City adopted a 2013 Sustainability Plan that established a framework designed to foster an economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable city. In 2017, the City developed its Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, building on the 2013 plan, to establish policy and planning objectives and to detail the strategies required to achieve its newly identified target: Citywide greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. The SCP builds on the vision and great achievements of these past plans, paving the way for the SCP strategies and actions to be bold yet realistic.

15

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Part of the Larger Vision for St. Louis

The SCP will be adopted as part of the City of St. Louis Comprehensive Plan. A comprehensive plan is a planning document that lays out the long-term vision for a community. Within the St. Louis Comprehensive Plan are documents such as the Strategic Land Use Plan, the Transportation & Mobility Plan, and the Zoning Upgrade. As part of the Comprehensive Plan, the SCP will guide the City’s sustainability and climate activities for the next five years.

The Need to Prepare and Act Now

As global temperatures rise, climate impacts, such as severe flooding, extreme heat, and winter storms, as well as community challenges, such as a growing energy burden and health issues, increasingly threaten St. Louis City, our residents, and businesses.

The SCP addresses both climate mitigation and climate adaptation. As shown in the graphic below, climate mitigation reduces emissions that cause climate change, while climate adaptation helps protect and strengthen communities against climate change impacts. Some strategies can both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Both are equally important when developing climate plans and ensuring communities are resilient and carbon-neutral.

We need to take action now and prepare for a resilient future. The SCP is the opportunity for us all to take charge and play a role in making St. Louis City a healthy, safe city now and for generations to come.

⬚ figure

Figure 1: Climate Mitigation + Adaptation equals Resilient Communities

Climate Hazards in St. Louis City

Since 1990, the global average annual temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in new hazards and exacerbating existing ones. The City's Climate Vulnerability Assessment in 2018 detailed the top five climate hazards facing our city. The Vulnerability Assessment measured exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, including racial and economic equity considerations. Adaptive capacity is the ability of a person or community to adjust to changes, for example preparing for a flood and recovering from the damages. The top five climate hazards facing our city are extreme heat, extreme cold, drought, tornadoes and strong winds, and flooding and rainstorms.

EXTREME HEAT

2024 nearly broke the all-time heat record for St. Louis City, making it the 2nd hottest year on record. Extreme heat and heat waves, defined as three or more consecutive days with hot air masses, are the deadliest natural disasters in the United States and have been increasing across the globe over the last four decades. Forecasting models predict that heat waves will become more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting. In 2022, Missouri averaged 15 days a year with high temperatures reaching extreme and dangerous levels. The number of 100 degree days in the city has already doubled in the last 30 years.¹ Projections show that by 2050, the state will see more than 60 extreme heat days a year.²

Adults 65 years and older, low-income individuals, and children are some of the most vulnerable to heat-related negative outcomes. The effects of heat waves are exacerbated in urban areas. In recent years, St. Louis City experienced extreme heat conditions alongside heat-related illnesses or death, especially north of Highway 40 (Interstate 64), where the majority of the Black population resides. Higher urban temperatures are associated with higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and areas of less tree cover, which can worsen asthma and other respiratory diseases. Additionally, during times of extreme heat or cold, energy use can rise, increasing the energy burden (the proportion of monthly income spent on home energy costs) even further.

EXTREME COLD

Scientists predict that - though global temperatures are warming - changes in the jet stream will lead to shorter, but more intense cold waves (rapid drops in temperature within a 24-hour period), snowfall, and ice storms. Extremely cold weather and sudden cold waves often have disastrous effects on public health and can lead to injury, hypothermia, respiratory illness, and cardiac events. Approximately 63% of temperature related deaths are due to cold exposure. Populations that are especially vulnerable to cold weather are adults over 65, low-income individuals, younger populations, and African Americans. Cold waves can also have impacts on infrastructure and the economy. For example, during the December 2022 arctic front, St. Louis City experienced extreme cold temperatures causing power outages due to extreme wind taking down power lines, burst pipes throughout the city due to the low temperatures, and limited transportation around the holidays as roads were unpassable in many areas.

DROUGHT

Drought is characterized by dry conditions with low rainfall. As of November 2017, it is estimated that 27.6 million people, or 11% of the United States’ population, are affected by drought. This number is only expected to increase as rising global temperatures worsen the severity and frequency of droughts worldwide. Communities that rely heavily on agriculture for income will be most directly impacted by worsening drought, but the effects of rising food prices will be felt by everyone. Drought in St. Louis City increases the risk for fires and harms ecosystems and urban agriculture. Our soil composition, when extremely dry, becomes unable to absorb water quickly when rain does come causing storm water runoff issues. Moreover, drought can significantly impact the local economy, as water levels impact the ability for barges to move through the Mississippi River.

TORNADOES AND STRONG WIND

Tornadoes form under just the right weather conditions. Hot and cold air fuel these violent vortexes of rotating wind, which are usually coupled with severe storms. In May of 2025 when the SCP was being created, St. Louis City faced the most deadly tornado since 1959. There were multiple casualties and it’s estimated that this mile-wide, EF-3 tornado caused 1.6 billion in damages to our community, with the most impacted areas in North City, the West Side, and other neighborhoods around Forest Park. Reports indicate increasing tornado activity in recent years, with the total number of tornadoes in 2024 becoming the second-most on record in the Midwest.

Climate change is predicted to continue to impact the frequency and intensity of tornadoes. While the direct health impacts of tornadoes are generally related to falling trees, flying debris, and collapsed buildings, tornadoes can also damage public infrastructure, blocking access to emergency aid and severing power lines. Manufactured homes, which do not contain basements to shelter from tornadoes, and brick homes that may not be structurally sound enough to endure the high winds, are of particular concern in St. Louis City.

FLOODING AND EXTREME RAINFALL

As air temperatures rise, more water evaporates from oceans, lakes, and rivers. This water condenses in the air and forms rainstorms that result in inland flooding events. The risk of flooding is expected to rise significantly as global temperatures climb: if the global average temperature rises by 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit as anticipated, then the world could face a 500% increase in the risk of flooding.¹ During the flood of 2022, rainfall rates exceeded four inches per hour, surpassing the City's normal rainfall amount for July and August combined in just 6 hours. In total, the city had 9.07 inches of rainfall over two days and the St. Louis-Lambert International Airport also observed a new all-time record for daily precipitation, with 8.64 inches. Flooding can cut off access to utilities, emergency services, and transportation, and impact the overall economic well-being of an area. This one flood event cost the City $87 million in public funds. The majority of properties impacted were concentrated in areas characterized by significant racial and socioeconomic disparity, including Ellendale and north of Delmar.² The majority of the neighborhoods impacted were in North City: Baden, Greater Ville, Kingsway West, North Pointe, Penrose, Walnut Park East and Wells Goodfellow, and in addition to Ellendale in South City.

Financial Impacts of Climate Change and Risk of Business as Usual

The cost of inaction on climate change is substantial. Extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change have a significant economic impact, costing nearly $100 billion in 2020 in the United States.¹ This is evident in Missouri, where from 1980 to the end of 2024, there were 120 confirmed weather disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each. These events included 16 droughts, nine floods, two freeze events, 82 severe storms, two tropical cyclones, and nine winter storms. In 2024 alone, damage from extreme weather in Missouri exceeded $37 billion. This is becoming an increasingly common occurrence - between 1980 and 2024, the average number of these annual disaster events was 2.7 per year, but the average number of disaster events annually has increased threefold, with an average of 8.2 disaster events annually from 2020 to 2024.²

These events illustrate how extreme weather is becoming the new normal. These disasters and our new extreme weather patterns are overwhelming infrastructure originally built for a more moderate climate. Unfortunately, these issues often have a much greater impact on the Environmental Justice communities with limited access to resources for responding to these challenges. For example, low-income residents may not be able purchase supplies to prepare their homes or businesses for a flood resulting in more damage or may not be able to pay insurance deductibles once damage is done.

⬚ figure

Figure 2. NOAA Analysis of Missouri’s Billion-Dollar Disasters (Source: NOAA)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Besides protecting St. Louis City residents from harm and negative impacts, there is a cost incentive to prepare for future extreme weather or disasters, rather than waiting for another disaster to unfold. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, each $1 investment in disaster preparation saves $13 in economic costs, damages, and cleanup. It is essential for St. Louis City’s economic and community well-being to invest and to prepare the communities for increasingly devastating climate events, building resilience for people and the city overall.

Although the damages and costs from climate change continue to rise, the good news is that the cost of addressing this crisis and reducing emissions has fallen over the past decade or so. For example, solar generation capacity, essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, is growing at an average of 42% each year – in large part due to the reduction in costs.¹ In 2023, the average cost of electricity from new renewable projects across most technologies fell, with the cost of solar photovoltaics falling by 12% and offshore wind falling by 7%.² These costs are projected to continue to fall, presenting an opportunity to act now.³

22

⬚ figure

Resilience: Building a Safer, Stronger, and More Adaptive St. Louis City

The SCP focuses not only on reducing the City’s greenhouse gas emissions, but also becoming more resilient to climate hazards, like tornadoes, floods and other extreme weather events.

Resilience is the capacity of cities to function so that all people are able to withstand the shocks and stresses they encounter. Proper planning must address resilience with a broad lens that prepares for social, economic, and environmental shocks and stresses.

Stresses are long-term pressures, like the high cost of housing, climate change, insufficient transportation networks and historic disinvestment or inequitable investment. Shocks are sudden events like heat waves, severe storms, infrastructure failure, or more. To build resilience, our community has to plan for the long-term stressors and shorter-term shocks.

Resilient Actions Highlights

Following are actions within this plan that can help our community be better prepared for extreme weather, while also providing other benefits to our community.

• F.4 Enhance and expand community communication channels and alert systems, including Notify STL, to reduce harms from flash flooding, extreme heat days, and other climate hazards. By increasing knowledge of not only climate-friendly practices, but also of emergency protocols and communication channels, St. Louis City will be better prepared in the event of a severe weather event, like the May tornado.
• I.2 Update data collection systems to more effectively understand, track, and monitor climate-related activities, particularly related to energy use, air quality, and health metrics. Data collection is critical to understanding the true cost of climate events and the effects on the community. Understanding who is most at risk and most effected by extreme weather events can help the City work to protect our most vulnerable community members.

⬚ figure

• J.4 Evaluate and support resources for building owners with older homes and those in historic districts to upgrade their buildings with climate-friendly technologies. Addressing the barriers and cost to make home upgrades can ensure that our community is better prepared for extreme weather. Home hardening, the process of making a building more resilient, can help alleviate the risks and damage during extreme weather events.
• M.5 Enhance City-owned facilities in Environmental Justice neighborhoods to become solar/battery-powered community resilience hubs, providing respite and resources during extreme weather events, power outages, and similar events, while reducing operating costs. Resilience hubs throughout the community can provide respite during extreme weather events and during the aftermath, in addition to providing a community resource during day-to-day life.

Vision

St. Louis City will be a resilient city—prepared for, able to withstand, and capable of recovering from shocks and stresses such as extreme weather events, economic disruptions, and public health crises. Building resilience requires prioritizing equity, community and long-term sustainability. The SCP lays the foundation for this.

⬚ figure

CLIMATE CHANGING: THE FIRST DEADLY TORNADO IN ST. LOUIS CITY SINCE 1959.

During the development of the SCP, St. Louis City experienced one of the most destructive tornadoes in our history. The May 16, 2025 tornado resulted in the loss of 5 lives and over $1.6 billion in damages in the St. Louis region. The tornado was designated an EF3, on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which ranges from smaller EF0 tornadoes to the highest ranking, EF5. As winds reached 152 miles per hour, the tornado moved through the region, destroying or damaging over 5,000 buildings during its 23-mile tornado track.¹

This difficult event highlights the different ways in which community members are impacted by extreme climate events. Nearly twice as many renters were affected by tornado damage than homeowners. While the elderly population saw property damage and difficulties accessing basic necessities, the youth experienced physical injuries, displacement and disruption to their lives, and mental health professionals stressed the emotional trauma requiring support. The path of the tornado went through heavily populated areas in North St. Louis City, devastating historically black neighborhoods.

Climate Impacts

City of St. Louis - Planning and Urban Design Agency

⬚ figure

City Blocks Impacted by May 2025 Tornado, North St. Louis City

Prior to the May 16th tornado, the most impacted areas were still repairing from other climate related impacts such as the 2022 Flood and poor tree canopy.

Resiliency in Action:

What St. Louis City Residents Can Do Before, During, and After Extreme Weather

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense. Here’s how you can stay safe, informed, and resilient, while tapping into support from the City of St. Louis. While not an exhaustive list, items below are a good start.

BEFORE

Before the Storm: Prepare and Stay Informed

Sign up for STL Alerts: Get real-time emergency notifications from the City at NotifySTL.

Create an Emergency Kit: Include water, non-perishable food, flashlight, batteries, medications, important documents, and a phone charger.

Know Your Safe Zones: Identify the safest place in your home (e.g., basement or interior room without windows).

Make a Family Plan: Establish a communication plan and meeting point in case of separation.

Check on Neighbors: Especially seniors, people with disabilities, and those without transportation.

Secure Outdoor Items: Bring in or tie down anything that could become a hazard in high winds.

DURING

During the Storm: Stay Safe

Shelter in Place: Go to your designated safe zone and stay away from windows.

Listen to Local Media: Use a battery-powered radio or phone to follow updates from the National Weather Service and City officials.

Avoid Travel: Stay off roads unless absolutely necessary.

Use Flashlights, Not Candles: Prevent fire hazards during power outages.

Stay Connected: Use text or social media to check in with loved ones if phone lines are busy.

Listen to Authorities: If told to evacuate, evacuate safely and immediately.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN

⬚ figure

AFTER

After the Storm: Recover and Rebuild

Report Damage: Use the Citizen’s Service Bureau, the City’s 311 system, to report downed trees, power lines, or structural damage.

Access City Resources: Visit designated Resilience Hubs for cooling/heating, charging stations, food, and water.

Document Losses: Take photos for insurance and disaster assistance claims.

Avoid Hazards: Stay clear of floodwaters, damaged buildings, and downed power lines.

Support Community Recovery: Volunteer with local aid organizations or check in on neighbors who may need help.

2025

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS OF ST. LOUIS

2025 Tornadoes and damaging winds struck the region on May 16.

2024 Severe storms brought tornadoes, large hail, and straight-line winds on May 26.

2023 A supercell caused an EF1 tornado in Salem, IL, with damaging winds in the St. Louis area on March 31.

2022 Extreme storm brought unprecedented rain on July 26, creating widespread flash flooding.

2021 Supercell storms produced hail and straight-line winds up to 90 mph on July 09.

2019 An EF-3 tornado prompted the first-ever Tornado Emergency issued by the St. Louis NWS.

2018 River flooding due to snowmelt in northern Midwest.

2015 Flash flooding events overwhelmed infrastructure and displaced residents.

2011 On April 22 EF4 tornado struck St. Louis Lambert International Airport during the Good Friday tornado outbreak.

1993 The Great Flood. The Mississippi River reached record levels, inundating large parts of the region and causing widespread damage.

1980 Heat Wave - an 18 day stretch of 100+ degree days in July. More than 150 people died in STL, 400 across the state.

1959 An EF4 tornado with winds between 207 and 260 mph, tore through downtown St. Louis and beyond, causing extensive damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

1896 The St. Louis-East St. Louis tornado remains one of the deadliest in U.S. history, killing at least 255 people and injuring over 1,000.

28

⬚ figure

Benefits of Climate Action

Climate action involves implementing initiatives and strategies to reduce GHG emissions and tackling the impacts of a warmer global climate.

The goal of these efforts is positive impacts or co-benefits to the community. Some of the key co-benefits of climate action include improved health and well-being, reduced energy burden, improved indoor and outdoor air quality, reduced urban heat, flood resilience, community resilience, and protection of assets and investments. Investing now in our health as a built urban environment will save us all money, and make for a happier and healthier community.

IMPROVED HEALTH AND WELLBEING

A major source of air, water, and soil pollution is fossil fuel energy production. This directly harms community health.¹ In St. Louis City, the pollution from nearby coal plants, which emit high levels of sulfur dioxide and threatens public health, is of particular concern. Using Medicare records, researchers estimated that from 1999 to 2020, about 4,000 deaths in the area were linked to fine particulate matter from nearby coal plants. According to the City of St. Louis’ Equity Indicators Baseline Report, published in 2018, Black children are more than ten times as likely as white children to visit the emergency rooms for asthma-related complications, which can be caused and exacerbated by poor air quality.

Beyond reductions in GHG emissions, energy efficiency and clean renewable energy have substantial benefits for public health, including reductions in respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, and premature deaths.²

Efforts to reduce driving and encourage active transportation, such as walking, biking, and the use of public transportation result in significant positive health outcomes. Shifting from car travel to active transportation results in major reductions in chronic disease occurrences, including diabetes and heart disease. Additionally, making streets safer for active transportation through connected and comfortable sidewalks, separated bike lanes, tree shade, and bike parking improves neighborhood livability and boosts community health. Improving the service,

safety, affordability, and accessibility of public transportation also supports better access to jobs, resources, and opportunities, especially for low-income people, youth, seniors, and people with disabilities. Better access to parks and green space is also associated with greater physical activity, relaxation, social interaction, and improved quality of life, particularly in low-income communities and communities of color.³ Better quality of life means a healthier life, less money spent on doctor visits and medications or treatments.

REDUCED ENERGY BURDEN

Energy burden is the proportion of a household’s monthly income that is spent on home energy costs. Energy burden is prevalent in St. Louis City, especially in low-income neighborhoods, with 22% of census tracts (over 19,000 households) experiencing high energy burden.⁴ Energy efficient buildings with efficient appliances, lighting, heating, and air-conditioning reduce energy costs and save money, especially for those on fixed or low-incomes.⁵ Moreover, transitioning to renewable energy systems can help customers save many and reduce energy bills because there are no fuel costs to pass on to customers, which can have a bigger impact on those on fixed or low-incomes. Across the country, solar and wind energy are becoming the cheapest forms of electricity generation. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy finds that solar panels will save the median U.S. homeowner almost $50,000 over 25 years.⁶

REDUCED URBAN HEAT

As temperatures rise, those living in urban environments with more hardscapes, like concrete or asphalt, and less tree canopy, will continue to face the “Urban Heat Island” effect – the increase in temperature compared to areas with more green space or permeable surfaces that allow water to seep into the ground.¹ This Urban Heat Island effect negatively impacts human physical and mental health, while increasing the need to use more costly energy to cool our homes, and impacting biodiversity.² Specifically, efforts to increase trees, parks, gardens, agriculture, forests, and other green and natural spaces in urban areas not only help reduce GHG emissions, but also create healthier, cooler, and more comfortable urban environments. For example, cool roofs such as green or white roofs, have the potential to reduce overall temperatures, helping to lower energy costs and improve resilience to extreme heat. The U.S. EPA reports that green roofs provide a reduction in roof temperatures of up to 56 degrees, resulting in lower cooling and heating energy costs.³ These greening practices reduce urban heat islands and decrease the risk of heat illness by lowering surface and air temperatures.⁴ Besides reducing extreme heat, green roofs also provide more insulation in colder temperatures and slow the rate of stormwater runoff from homes, showing the multiple benefits of a single improvement.

FLOOD RESILIENCE

Climate action can support capabilities to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from flood events, from stormwater system overflow, river flooding, and extreme precipitation events. Building this resilience is extremely important, especially when considering St. Louis City’s position at the confluence of both the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, which are experiencing unprecedented periods of flooding.⁵ Green infrastructure, which uses or replicates natural systems, including trees, to achieve a desired outcome, can minimize flood risk by slowing and reducing stormwater runoff and protecting floodplains.⁶ Instead of water flowing across concrete and into sewers, which can lead to overflow during periods of intense rain, the rain can soak into the ground, recharge groundwater, and reduce flooding. Investing in this green infrastructure has the potential to reduce approximately $2.9 billion in flood damages by 2100 within the US.⁷

PROTECTION OF ASSETS AND INVESTMENTS

A major benefit of climate action is the protection of important assets and investments. Our infrastructure has enormous value as a capital asset, while also being crucial for societal wellbeing and economic productivity.

Climate hazards such as increased inland flooding threaten infrastructure across the nation and risk significant increases in maintenance costs. Reducing our city’s GHG emissions and slowing the effects of climate change can help alleviate the cost of adapting and maintaining infrastructure, such as drainage systems.¹

Extreme heat can place a heavy burden on our energy systems, overloading the system when air conditioners are running, and exacerbating already high energy costs. Extreme weather can speed up the degradation of our sidewalks and streets, put young trees at risk, and make maintaining existing infrastructure more costly and difficult. Climate smart development can help mitigate these impacts and protect infrastructure.

By investing now in our community, we can avoid damages to our critical infrastructure and ensure that our community is protected from future climate hazards.

⬚ figure

Addressing Gaps and Needs

The planning process uncovered a range of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are addressed as part of the SCP. The following is a brief summary of those considerations that inspired and directed the SCP's goals and strategies. The full Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats document is located in Appendix D.

Timeline of Sustainability Activities in St. Louis City

2005 | Former Mayor Slay signs the US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing the City of St Louis to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target suggested in the Kyoto Protocol.

2010 | GHG Emissions Inventory conducted.

2011 | 2005 GHG Baseline Calculated

2012 | City achieves GHG emissions reduction goal of 7% emissions reduction from the 1990 baseline.

2013 | The City releases its first ever Sustainability Plan, establishing a framework of sustainable objectives designed to foster an economically, socially, and ecologically vibrant city.

The City of St. Louis Office of Sustainability is created.

GHG Emissions Inventory conducted.

2014 | The City of St. Louis joins the 100 Resilient Cities network to build a better and more resilient St. Louis.

2015 | Former Mayor Slay signs the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, and pledges to develop a climate action plan to address GHG reductions as well as a climate adaptation plan.

GHG Emissions Inventory conducted.

2017 | The City completes their Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, detailing the strategies required to achieve their emissions reductions target.

The City adopts Resolution 124, establishing a goal for the City of St. Louis to move to 100% clean energy in the electricity sector by 2035.

The City joins the Biophilic Cities Network.

2018 | The Climate Vulnerability Assessment identifies the biggest threats posed to the city by climate change and the populations most vulnerable to them.

The City of St. Louis is selected as one of only 25 cities nationwide to participate in the American Cities Climate Challenge program, focusing on building energy performance, renewable energy, and vehicle electrification.

The City achieves Compliant status with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

30+ acres of native prairie is established as part of the St. Louis Riverfront Butterfly Byway, forming a pathway and habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.

GHG Emissions Inventory conducted.

2019 | STL City Pathways to 100% Clean Energy is published, providing suggested ways to meet the 100% clean energy goal.

2020 | The Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS) is signed into law, making St. Louis the 4th jurisdiction in the country and the 1st in the Midwest to adopt this ambitious law to mandate significant reductions in building energy use.

2021 | The Office of Building Performance was established.

2023 | GHG Emissions Inventory conducted.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

2023 Greenhouse Gas Inventory Highlights

By regularly tracking GHG emissions, the St. Louis City can assess the effectiveness of its actions and policies towards reducing emissions and make plans for future improvements. The 2023 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory is the latest effort to monitor and analyze emissions in accordance with the Covenant of Mayor’s reporting requirements.

The St. Louis City aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. This means eliminating most emissions and addressing any that remain through sequestration methods such as tree canopies and/or through carbon offsets.

Greenhouse gas emissions are the release of gases into the atmosphere that trap heat and contribute to the greenhouse effect. These gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, occur naturally but are also produced by human activities such as burning fossil fuels and agriculture. GHG emissions increase the frequency and severity of climate activity. In St. Louis City, this translates to higher risk of flooding, as well as longer, hotter heat waves.¹

These effects have been seen in 4 of the 6 hottest years on record occurring in the last decade, and in the severe flooding the city experienced in 2022.² The city is also at risk of cold waves, drought, and tornadoes, like the one we experienced in May 2025.

These events can cause major property damage, poor health outcomes, and even loss of life. Additionally, fossil fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions also emit air pollutants that can cause asthma and other respiratory conditions.

Since 2005, the City of St. Louis has been committed to measuring and reducing the City’s GHG emissions. Over time, this commitment has evolved to a citywide target of carbon neutrality by 2050 in alignment with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and the Paris Agreement.³

This ambitious goal recognizes the critical moment and opportunity to mitigate further climate change and safeguard the future for St. Louis City and beyond.

The 2023 emissions are equivalent to nearly 1.5 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.¹

Below are highlights from the 2023 Greenhouse Emissions Inventory Report: In 2023, overall emissions totaled 6,403,616 MT CO₂e — a decrease of 5.86% from 2018, and a 24.4% reduction from the 2005 baseline.

KEY DRIVERS FOR THESE REDUCTIONS INCLUDE:

• A 23% improvement to the regional electrical grid overall due to decommissioning of coal plants and increased renewable energy sources.²
• A mild winter in 2023 resulting in decreased demand for natural gas for heating.³
• Continued population decrease resulting in a reduction in overall emissions (though per capita emissions slightly increased). See page 35 for detail.
• Efficiency measures, particularly in government buildings and streetlights, as well as the Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS) introduced in 2020.⁴

GHG emissions are categorized into Community and Government, with Community comprising the vast majority of emissions.

⬚ figure

Community Emissions Government Emissions

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

COMMUNITY EMISSIONS

Emissions (building, transportation, and waste emissions from businesses and residents) decreased 5.3% from 2018 and 23.9% from the 2005 baseline.

St. Louis City Community Emissions by Inventory Year

⬚ figure

St. Louis City 2023 Community Emissions by Sector

Sector Emissions MT CO₂e Commercial Buildings 2,392,120 Residential Buildings 1,531,495 Transportation 1,318,191 Industrial Buildings 804,412 Solid Waste 76,850 Airport 45,645 Wastewater Treatment 35,478 Process & Fugitive 32,308

⬚ figure

• Commercial emissions remain the top contributor at 38% of Community emissions.
• Transportation is the highest non-building sector, comprising 21% of emissions.

37

GOVERNMENT EMISSIONS

Emissions (building, transportation, and waste emissions from government operations) decreased 23.2% from 2018 and 39% from the 2005 baseline.

City of St. Louis Government Emissions by Inventory Year

⬚ figure

City of St. Louis 2023 Government Emissions by Sector

Sector Emissions MT CO₂e

⬚ figure

• Municipal Buildings and Facilities remain the top contributor at 30% of Government emissions.
• LED replacements for streetlights and traffic signals have been highly effective and contributed to the highest sector reduction from the baseline.

38

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

PER CAPITA EMISSIONS

A useful way to put emissions into context is to look at per capita emissions, or emissions per person in St. Louis City. This helps to understand how emissions fluctuate relative to population changes and helps to compare emissions for cities of various sizes.

Per capita emissions have varied over time; in 2023, they decreased 13% since 2005 but increased slightly from 2018. This indicates that reduced emissions are not uniformly tied to a decline in population.

St. Louis City’s per capita emissions are higher than the U.S. 2023 average, which is 17.6 MT CO₂e per person according to the World Resources Institute.¹

It is worth noting that energy usage comprises a significant amount of the City’s emissions. In Community, electricity accounts for 59% of emissions and natural gas accounts for 16%. In Government, electricity makes up 65% of emissions, while natural gas makes up 12%.

Per Capita Emissions

COMMUNITY GOALS AND FORECASTING

Based on the inventories conducted between 2005-2023, the city is averaging 1.51% of emissions reductions per year based on a compound projection. At the current “business as usual” (BAU) rate, St. Louis City will reach only 50% of emissions reductions by 2050, well short of the carbon neutral goal. The City also hopes to retain a consistent population in the future; while emissions reductions are not exclusively tied to the trend of decreasing population, it will become even more important to lean on emissions reduction strategies as the population stabilizes.

The City has established a carbon neutral target for 2050, with interim targets of 35% reduction of Community Emissions by 2030 and 65% reduction by 2040.

The BAU and target projections are shown in the graph below.

It is important to note that this pathway calls for 80% reductions by 2050; achieving carbon neutral will require aggressive strategies beyond those outlined in the 2025 SCP. This includes electrification of buildings, an increase in electric vehicle transportation, investment in carbon sequestration efforts; and a substantial increase in renewable energy. On a city scale, offsets should only be considered as a last resort.

St. Louis City 2023 Community Emissions with Business as Usual & Target Scenarios

⬚ figure

GOVERNMENT GOALS AND FORECASTING

Based on the inventories conducted between 2005-2023, the City is averaging 2.71% of emissions reductions per year based on a compound projection. At the current “business as usual” (BAU) rate, the City will reach 71% of emissions reductions by 2050, short of the carbon neutral goal.

The BAU and target projections are shown in the graph below.

The City has with interim targets of 50% reduction of Government emissions by 2030 and 70% reduction by 2040 leading up to the carbon neutral goal by 2050. The graph below shows the pathway required to achieve these targets. It is important to note that this pathway calls for 80% reductions by 2050, leaving an additional 20% gap to address through future strategies, partnerships, or offsets to achieve carbon neutrality.

As with the Community emissions, Government emissions reductions will be fairly dependent on Ameren’s grid decarbonization. However, the City also has more direct opportunities to implement efficiency measures to decrease energy usage at its facilities, undertake onsite solar initiatives, electrify its fleet, reduce waste and incentivize low-emissions transportation for its employees.

City of St. Louis 2023 Government Emissions with Business as Usual & Target Scenarios

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN

2025

Staying Up-to-Date on Progress

The City has introduced a GHG Emissions Dashboard on its website to show past, current (2023), and future GHG emissions inventories. The goal of this dashboard is to compile and combine all current and previous emissions inventories in a way that promotes understanding of the sources and opportunities for reductions for the City of St. Louis going forward. This can be used to continue to track the City’s progress towards its 2030, 2040 and 2050 targets. Additionally, the City intends to use ICLEI’s newly released ClearPath 2.0 tool to track and analyze the effectiveness the City’s goals and strategies.

The dashboard will highlight all sectors of the citywide GHG emissions footprint including:

• Government emissions

• Community emissions

• Emission broken down by “scopes” to better aggregate emissions into industry standard categories, including:

• Scope 1: direct emissions from combustion sources within the City boundary. These sources include stationary and mobile combustion, process and fugitive emissions.

• Scope 2: indirect emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, heating or cooling within the City boundary but originating outside the City boundary. Examples include fossil fuel fired power plants outside the City boundary that supply energy to buildings within the City.

• Scope 3: other indirect emissions from activities occurring within or outside the City boundary not covered in scope 1 or scope 2. For example, these emissions include wastewater treatment and solid waste.

More Information

For a more detailed understanding of the 2023 Greenhouse Gas Inventory, view the full report.

⬚ figure

42

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

CHAPTER 2

Community-Driven Plan

Environmental Justice Focus

Planning Process

City & Community Engagement Summary

⬚ figure

“As we were developing our Sustainability and Climate Plan, it was crucial to highlight the deep interconnectedness of equity and sustainability, particularly in our most vulnerable communities.

Our focus includes Black and Brown residents, the elderly, youth, and areas within North St. Louis City and parts of Southeast St. Louis City that have historically experienced disinvestment in health equity, access to a sustainable way of life, and physical and safety facade. Our Sustainability and Climate Plan incorporates a strong equity lens to address the needs of our most vulnerable populations. By doing so, we not only work towards a sustainable future but also foster resilience, empower communities, and rectify past injustices. Together, we can create a holistic approach that champions both sustainability and social equity, ultimately leading to a healthier and more inclusive environment for all residents of our city.”

— Jonathan Strong, City of St. Louis Chief Inclusive Growth Officer

Community-Driven Plan

The SCP process included extensive research, community outreach and engagement, and internal City coordination and collaboration over 12 months. Informed by an Outreach and Engagement Plan, the City aimed to gather community input through a multitude of methods and integrate that feedback throughout the SCP. This chapter provides an overview of the planning process, community engagement, and plan context.

Environmental Justice Focus

The City of St. Louis is dedicated to prioritizing environmental justice throughout not only this planning effort, but across City operations. While looking forward, the City must acknowledge the past harms and the inequities that have and continue to impact our communities. Particularly around climate action, there is a need to confront the past harms, take action to address those harms, and to ensure that future action does not perpetuate these harms.

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Environmental racism is defined as the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color. Environmental justice, on the other hand, as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency, offers a broader definition: The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. The SCP embraces both as important to address with a focus on environmental justice and the following three elements:

• An understanding of the social, cultural, economic, and political context in which the work is occurring/will occur;
• Centering of Environmental Justice communities in self-determining the direction of projects to prioritize to move toward environmental justice; and
• Moving toward outcomes that are equitable in the distribution of environmental burdens and access to environmental benefits.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES

Environmental Justice communities (EJ communities) are those that experience continuing injustice—including people of color, immigrants, people with lower incomes, people experiencing homelessness or houselessness, people with disabilities, seniors, and Indigenous people—and face a legacy of systemic, largely racialized inequity that influences their living and working places, the quality of their air and water, and their economic opportunities. Environmental justice requires government leaders to acknowledge that these communities are experts in creating solutions to protect and preserve our air, water, land, and communities, despite their historical exclusion from decision-making and from public resources and services.

In St. Louis City, our Black and Brown communities are often hit worst by climate impacts. In the heatwave of 1980, temperatures soared over 100 degrees for 18 days, causing 153 deaths with 70% of them elderly, physically disabled, or low-income. In recent years, St. Louis City continues to experience extreme heat conditions alongside heat-related illnesses or death with a concentration of residents north of Highway 64/40. The City’s Equity Indicators Baseline Report cites countless areas where our Black and Brown communities are facing real and serious inequities, in everything from the rate of children going to the emergency room for asthma-related complications to access to healthy food and more.

While this SCP lays out a vision for a more sustainable and resilient community as a whole, it also draws attention to particular areas or communities that will need to be prioritized. Chapter 4, which describes the implementation of the SCP, pays particular attention to these considerations, ensuring that resources and investments are spread equitably across our community.

As stated in the Forward through Ferguson report, “To drive change, we will all need to continue striving. Our civic, business and not-for-profit community have incredible capacity. Our grassroots organizations and advocates have tremendous energy. Taken together, there is capacity for remarkable transformation. We are an incredibly generous and giving region that has seen great progress in many areas. With appropriate alignment, this capacity points to the opportunity for a brighter future. But, the reality...shows where we still have a great deal of work to do.”

What St. Louis City Wants

Below are the primary overarching themes and focus areas based on the SCP engagement as a whole and integrated into the goals and strategies discussed in Chapter 3:

CONNECTIVITY

Increasing safe passage throughout the city, focused on safety for public transportation users and creating safe alternate options such as calm streets, protected bike lanes, and bike infrastructure.

MAINTENANCE & QUALITY

Ensuring that the City has the capacity and resources to implement and maintain climate-friendly solutions.

ENERGY & BUILDINGS

Reducing residents’ and businesses’ reliance on fossil fuels, providing incentives and resources to make improvements to homes, and ultimately moving away from coal-powered energy.

IMPLEMENTATION

Recognizing barriers to implementation, through small wins and larger projects, existing community partnerships, and better climate communications.

SAFETY & CLEANLINESS

Creating a better sense of community that is safe and comfortable to move through and free of illegal dumping.

EQUITABLE & REPARATIVE

Seeing the opportunities and needs of disinvested areas and people reflected in future plans; repairing past harms, including redlining, racial injustice, and other inequities; and the prioritization of areas most in need.

RESILIENCY

Improving the community’s resilience to climate change effects, particularly extreme urban heat, flooding, and extreme weather, creating a more proactive, adaptive, and prepared community.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

City & Community Engagement Summary

The following is a brief summary of the activities and key community engagement themes that informed the development of the SCP. A more detailed Community Engagement Summary is attached as Appendix A.

4 Community Advisory Group Meetings

321 Online Survey Responses

40+ Listening Participants

1 Project Website

8+ City Core Team Meetings

4 Business Listening Sessions Held

Planning Process

SCP development occurred over 12 months from Fall 2024 to late Summer 2025. The project was split into 3 phases – Existing Conditions, Strategy Development, and Plan Development & Implementation. At each stage, technical analysis was informed by and shared with the Community Advisory Group and with the public through a variety of activities and engagements. The intent from the beginning was to ensure that the SCP reflects community values and that the final product reflects the unique characters and needs of St. Louis City.

Plan Process

City & Community Engagement Summary

The following is a brief summary of the activities and key community engagement themes that informed the development of the SCP. A more detailed Community Engagement Summary is attached as Appendix A.

Community Advisory Group

The City of St. Louis established a Community Advisory Group to embed community perspectives, ideas, and insights into the Sustainability & Climate Plan. With over 100 applicants, it was not difficult to select a diverse and dedicated group of 21. The eagerness for St. Louis City to show up in this process confirmed why we need this plan. The Community Advisory Group met four times over the year and shared lived experiences, ideas, and questions. This process assisted us in building a plan that is grounded in the needs and values of our community and serves people of all ages, cultures, and walks of life.

Community Listening Sessions

Rooted in the historical context and environmental justice definition, the Sustainability & Climate Plan engagement efforts prioritized listening to the communities who are greatly affected by climate change. A series of community listening sessions held in early 2025 helped to engage with a range of diverse community members, focusing on those who typically have not been involved in City planning processes. Listening sessions were hosted with seniors, youth, persons with disabilities, residents within geographic city locations hit hard by climate disaster, farmers/growers, renters, and workers. To gain feedback, groups were given prompts to promote dialogue about issues facing communities, proposed solutions, and barriers and considerations for implementation.

Development of the SCP also engaged large and small St. Louis City businesses and diverse entrepreneurs, chambers of commerce, universities, cultural institutions, community improvement districts and community development corporations to support a wide range of voices contributing to the development of goals and strategies.

Additionally, the process built on the City’s extensive engagement from multiple planning efforts, avoiding public burnout by coordinating efforts and sharing data from the Transportation & Mobility Plan (TMP), neighborhood planning efforts, Strategic Land Use Plan (SLUP), and East-West Gateway’s Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP). The findings from these surveys, workshops, listening sessions, and more were combined with the outreach done by the SCP.

Many participants had personal experiences or have friends and relatives who have been affected by climate change, transportation challenges, or historic racial zoning practices. These stories give context to quantitative technical data, offer insight into potential solutions, and are shared throughout the SCP.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Project Website Homepage

Community Online Activities

To engage the wider community, the planning process included a community survey and an SCP review. The community survey was open from February 11 to March 14, 2025, and received 321 responses. This survey asked residents how they think about and react to various climate impacts, what solutions they would most like to see in the SCP, and what barriers they see to climate action in their own lives.

Additionally, the project website provided an overview of the project, a description of the planning process, ways to get involved, and a page for the Community Advisory Group to reference meeting materials and communicate with each other via a forum.

City Core Team

Serving as an internal complement to the Community Advisory Group, the Core Team consisted of 12 City staff members who represent relevant departments in the City. This team met monthly to receive updates on the SCP’s progress and to weigh in at each step of the planning process. As a result of this effort, the Core Team gained understanding and buy-in for the SCP. Additionally, this allowed the project team to consult with City staff and adjust project deliverables and SCP content along the way to ensure that the final plan and its strategies would be implemented.

Staff and Department Meetings

In addition to the Core Team, the project team met with all numerous City Departments during the Existing Conditions phase and Strategy Development phase. This allowed the project team to understand the limitations, concerns, and ideas from department staff at the onset of the project, which informed and helped to refine strategy development. Once the Core Team and Community Advisory Group refined the list of strategies and actions, department staff who would be most responsible for implementing the SCP reviewed and refined them further. By engaging the department staff at these critical points in the SCP development, staff were able to air any concerns or issues with the plan and validate the strategies.

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CHAPTER 3

Roadmap to Climate Action

Evaluation Criteria

Pillar 1: Promote a Safe, Healthy, and Climate-Resilient City

Pillar 2: Expand City and Community Capacity for Climate Resilience

Pillar 3: Advance Energy Efficiency while Reducing Energy Burden

SCP Roadmap

The SCP is organized around three major pillars, with 13 goals and strategies implemented by 63 priority actions refined by the engagement process, and evaluation criteria defined below. This set of activities focuses on work for the next five years to lay the foundation and build the capacity to ramp up and accelerate climate action in St. Louis City to meet its 2050 Carbon Neutrality Goal.

SCP Targets

Recognizing the need for the City to build effective infrastructure, funding, capacity, and policies to successfully address aggressive climate goals, the initial target for 2025 to 2030 is conservative and largely designed to enable the City to be successful in future years.

By 2030, the City must have in place the organizational tools, the policies, and enabling physical infrastructure such as renewable energy capacity and a strong transportation network to move to the next phase in decarbonization. As such a large percentage of the city’s emissions are a result of the fossil fuel mix provided by the investor-owned utilities Ameren and Spire; the targets generally align with the decommissioning of coal plants and the company’s pivot to cleaner fuels.

From 2030 to 2040, the City should move to increasing the requirements for all-electric buildings; supporting installation of more solar, battery, and renewables; building out an efficient waste and composting system; developing a circular economy; and drastically reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in cars. To meet the 2050 target, the City and its residents and businesses will have to transition to nearly all non-fossil fuels, electric vehicles, reduced VMT, and fully sustainable waste and food management.

SCP Target Timeline

2025 - 2030

• Build a foundation for successful climate action and adaption

2030 - 2040

• Become decarbonization-ready and increase community resilience
• Policies, codes, continuing strategic electrification, infrastructure improvements, etc.

2040 - 2050

• Decarbonize St. Louis City and reach carbon neutrality
• Be prepared to withstand and recover from extreme weather events

Reaching Our 2030 Target

PILLAR 1 Promote a Safe, Healthy, and Climate-Resilient City

Goal A: Establish a safe and equitable multimodal network by repairing 25 miles of sidewalks per year and offering 25 miles of new protected bikeways in the next five years.

Goal B: Integrate green infrastructure and nature-based solutions into 50% of new stormwater infrastructure, street design, and other public facilities.

Goal C: Establish and maintain a 5% tree canopy increase to expand community resilience and improve air quality.

Goal D: Increase landfill diversion by 5% while investing in more reliable and consistent refuse service.

Goal E: Develop and expand climatesmart land use and development policies that promote resilience, community livability, and community development.

PILLAR 2 Expand City and Community Capacity for Climate Resilience

Goal F: Increase resilience through community knowledge and awareness of and active participation in climate-friendly practices.

Goal G: Build City capacity to implement the SCP.

Goal H: Create opportunities to extend City resources.

Goal I: Update and refine City systems and protocols to enable implementation of the SCP.

PILLAR 3 Advance Energy Efficiency while Reducing Energy Burden

Goal J: Increase energy efficiency in 5% of all buildings through upgrades, weatherization, and other improvements.

Goal K: Engage with commercial and industrial sectors to promote energy savings and efficiency, reducing energy use in large commercial buildings by 20%.

Goal L: Implement strategic electrification projects and prepare for electrification.

Goal M: Establish the City as a leader in energy efficiency and water conservation in the community.

These sections are divided between three pillars, each focusing on a different element of climate and sustainability.

Each Pillar consists of goals, expected outcomes, strategies, and actions that will guide the City in the next five years to achieve a more resilient and sustainable St. Louis City. These elements are defined as follows:

GOAL

The Goal describes the high-level target that the strategies and actions will achieve.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The Expected Outcomes are the specific metrics that can be tracked.

STRATEGY

The Strategy details the approach to achieving the goal.

ACTIONS

The Actions are the specific tasks that will be done to achieve the goal. Actions are measurable with clear timelines and responsibilities.

CRITERIA

The Criteria are representations of how each action scored within the five criteria areas – Environmental Justice, Human Impact, Total Cost, Environmental, and Implementation.

⬚ figure

Evaluation Criteria

A key aspect of the SCP development is ensuring that the actions put forward are equitable, economically feasible, environmentally beneficial, and implementable. To evaluate Strategies and Actions, the project team developed a criterion with input from the Community Advisory Group and the City’s Core Team.

When the Actions were scored, they received either a plus, neutral, or negative rating. A plus rating means the Action meets the Criteria, a neutral rating was given if the Action was neutral or not applicable, or negative rating if it does not meet the Criteria. If an Action received a negative rating, it was altered or offset to be included in the SCP.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

• Financial Burden: Reduces or avoids financial burdens (including financial and health costs) directly or indirectly to Environmental Justice communities. If burdens are created, opportunities are available to mitigate the impact.

• Removes Barriers: Removes barriers that prevent Environmental Justice communities from fully benefiting from a program, policy, or project.

• Repairs Past Harms: Repairs past environmental harms and protects against disproportionate future environmental harms.

HUMAN IMPACT

• Health and Well-Being: Creates co-benefits that improve human health and well-being, community resilience, quality of life, and supports a prosperous and just economy.

• Community Alignment: Represents the feedback received from community members about their priorities.

TOTAL COST

• Available Funding/Resources: Leverages available funding sources (current or future), makes the City more competitive for grants or has regional partnerships to implement actions.

• Long-Term Implications: Considers the long-term implications, such as operations and maintenance budgets.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

ENVIRONMENTAL

• GHG Reduction: Substantially supports or results in greenhouse gas reductions.
• Resilience: Increases climate resilience for future climate hazards such as flooding or extreme heat.
• Ecosystem Health: Works to reconnect, restore or reduce stress or harm caused to native ecosystems.
• Systems Change: Supports the transformation of systems and/or structures of governance at scale to enable long-term, sustainable progress on climate adaptation and resilience.

IMPLEMENTATION

• Champion: Champion identified – a person, agency, department, or specific partner organization that will lead the implementation and bring the strategy to fruition.
• Jurisdiction: Within the jurisdiction or under the influence of the City, or the City has a key partnership to achieve the strategy.
• Policy/Plan Alignment: Aligns with and advances other community goals and values or other long-term planning priorities, including the City’s Strategic Land Use Plan, Transportation & Mobility Plan, among others.

Priority Action Example

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

Pillar 1

Promote a Safe, Healthy, and Climate-Resilient City

The focus of Pillar 1 is creating a community that is safe, healthy, and resilient – not only regarding public safety and crime but focusing on building a vibrant, thriving city that enriches the lives of all St. Louisans and all who pass through. This Pillar focuses on expanding and improving the City’s physical systems, infrastructure, and services to enable a more climate-friendly city.

⬚ figure

The Vision

One aspect of a thriving St. Louis City is a safe and comfortable transportation network where residents can travel throughout the city easily without a car. Where residents can enjoy shaded pathways and trails between the multitude of City parks and other greenspaces to enjoy nature right here. Enjoying the beauty in our city means reducing illegal dumping and providing more opportunities to reduce landfill waste. With an eye towards the future, the City should build and grow with climate-friendly practices in mind to become more resilient to flooding and extreme weather.

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal A

Establish a safe and equitable multimodal network by repairing 25 miles of sidewalks per year and offering 25 miles of new protected bikeways in the next five years.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Residents living in areas of concentrated poverty are able to safely and comfortably navigate their neighborhoods and access other parts of the city without owning a car.
• Citywide use of cars declines as people choose biking and walking more frequently, which improves air quality and reduces asthma rates.

A - Strategy: Ensure the Transportation & Mobility Plan is implemented with a focus on environmental impacts.

The City of St. Louis is nearing completion of a citywide Transportation & Mobility Plan (TMP), the first plan of this type that the City has completed in more than five decades. When finished, the TMP will be adopted as a component of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The purpose of the plan is to establish values and goals to guide transportation investment and policy in St. Louis. The plan’s three themes are Safety, Connectivity, and Maintenance & Quality of the built environment. These themes were developed through extensive public, stakeholder, and city staff engagement. The development of the TMP was also informed by the ideas contained in the comprehensive update to the Strategic Land Use Plan (SLUP). St. Louis residents want to prioritize improved walkability and accessibility, safer connections across the city, and more predictable and programmatic maintenance, especially of major streets. Safer streets and more consistently accessible sidewalks and trails will give more people more freedom to choose how they move through St. Louis City.

Priority Actions

✤ Strong Alignment ✹ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

RETHINKING OUR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

“Currently, the city’s infrastructure prioritizes the car as the #1 mode of transit, when it is the most expensive and least efficient mode, both for individuals (purchasing, maintenance, insurance) and society (road maintenance, wasted space, health costs from pollution and collisions and lack of exercise). Car dependency is effectively a tax that hurts the poor more than the rich and sends most of the revenue into private pockets. Any policy that deprioritizes the car and makes non-car travel easier and safer will pay off big in the long run. Healthier air, healthier people, healthier economy!”

• Online Community Survey Respondent

⬚ figure

Cultural Boulevard Project Brickline Greenway

CASE STUDY

15 Minute City The “15 Minute City” is a planning framework that everyone living in a city should have access to essential urban services within a 15 minute walk or bike ride.¹ The framework aims to enhance quality of life for residents by encouraging private investment along historic commercial corridors with high-frequency transit service, transportation choice and freedom, and healthy living and sustainability.

The “15 Minute City” concept connects with projects underway in The Ville - a historic African-American neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, with a rich history of education, business, entertainment, and culture. The Cultural Blvd project is working to enhance pedestrian experience while also preserving the neighborhood’s cultural roots and supporting prosperity in the Black community.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal B

Integrate green infrastructure and nature-based solutions into 50% of new stormwater infrastructure, street design, and other public facilities.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Resilience to flooding and extreme heat, particularly in neighborhoods most vulnerable to climate impacts.
• Increased regenerative landscaping and maintenance practices to sequester carbon in trees and soils.
• Safe access to parks and green spaces for all residents, reducing impacts from extreme heat and supporting public health.

B - Strategy: Support the implementation and maintenance of green infrastructure and nature-based approaches across the city to protect and support public spaces, including streets, trails, bus stops, parks, sports facilities, sidewalks, and plazas.

Access to nature, expanding our tree canopy, and reducing impacts from extreme heat and flooding are critical community needs. This set of actions focuses on using nature, parks, trees, and green infrastructure to reduce flooding from stormwater, reduce urban heat island impacts, and make access to these green spaces available for all residents, while ensuring sustained maintenance. These solutions include things like use of native plants for stormwater capture and permeable pavements, which allows water to enter the soil as it falls, rather than pooling on hardscapes like concrete or asphalt. These solutions will also bring more nature into the city – cleaning our air, filtering water, and reducing the temperature by providing shade. This goal aligns with the (SLUP) Climate Readiness Priority Areas, which are the highest priority locations for investment in civil infrastructure and green infrastructure in St. Louis City (see image on page 70, as well as G3.1A: Identify several types of geographies where flood risk should influence future land use decisions for development).

Priority Actions

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

A CALL FOR BETTER STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

“The recent floods and heavy rainfall destroyed my studio equipment and I had to spend thousands to replace equipment, carpet and furniture because the insurance companies refuse to insure us or opportunistically drop us during a disaster. In moments like these, you either sink or swim. And I learned to swim....As a community, we banded together by helping each other move furniture and our assets out of the basements.”

• Tyrone Johnson, Kingsway East and the Greater Ville (“Kingsville”)

Climate Readiness Priority Areas

The SLUP identifies a zone of Climate Readiness Priority Areas, where interventions within the urban fabric can have an immediate, positive impact on climate vulnerabilities such as flash flooding and urban heat spikes. This zone was established by looking at all the known areas of vulnerability (including the FEMA flood zone, sites that have previously experienced flooding, and areas identified by MSD as problem spots), as well as areas that we can reasonably predict may have elevated vulnerability in the near future (such as the topographic flowlines that collect urban runoff and the immediate areas around these hydrological corridors, as well as areas that are under consideration to be added to the FEMA flood zone). The designation of a parcel within the Climate Readiness Priority Area does not alter its Land Use, but it does call out that Neighborhood Planning and other allied planning processes should prioritize actions and investments that mitigate vulnerabilities.

⬚ figure

Climate Readiness Priority Areas are also ideal places to pilot building-based flood protection strategies such as elevated first floors and placing parking and other non-occupied uses on the lower levels of structures.

The SLUP recommends that the highest priority for investment in civil infrastructure and green infrastructure is the Climate Readiness Priority Zone.

⬚ figure

Source: The City of St. Louis, Metropolitan Sewer District, Green City Coalition, National Flood Hazard Layer, FEMA

CASE STUDY

Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure often refers to solutions that use natural features to manage urban stormwater pollution by protecting water quality and aquatic habitat. Green infrastructure often provides co-benefits, such as mitigating natural hazards, compared to traditional gray infrastructure. Gray infrastructure refers to public works structures that are engineered to provide a specific level of service under specific scenarios, such as storm drains that aim to control water runoff during rainstorms or flooding events.¹ Integrating green infrastructure into the design of city streets can help store and filter stormwater, while also contributing to a safer and more attractive environment for walking and biking.²

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

DC Stormwater Retention Credit

Governments across the United States are coming up with creative ways to promote resilient, climate-smart development. One notable example is the Washington D.C. Stormwater Retention Credit market, an innovative program that allows developers to meet parts of their stormwater retention requirements by purchasing credits generated from green infrastructure projects, like rain gardens and green roofs, built elsewhere in the district. Since its establishment in 2013, the Stormwater Retention Credit market has increased the amount of stormwater-capturing green space in historically under-resourced areas and helped improve local water quality. More than 1.7 million credits have been sold, representing over 40 million gallons of runoff captured and cleaned annually with green infrastructure. This model has inspired other places, such as Grand Rapids, MI and Cook County, IL, to develop their own stormwater market solutions.³

CASE STUDY

MSD Project Clear Rainscaping Grants The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) is committed to spending $120 million in rainscaping investments through their Project Clear Small Grant Program and Large Grant Program. Rainscaping reclaims stormwater naturally using simple techniques, such as plantings, water features, and permeable pavement, to manage and filter rainwater where it falls. By lowering the amount of stormwater runoff entering the sewer system, rainscaping helps alleviate the basement backups and sewer overflows that sometimes occur during periods of heavy rain. Rainscaping projects also help address water quality in the Mississippi River when overflows occur.¹

The Lafayette Square Plaza’s rain garden project, completed in 2015, used MSD’s Large Grant Program funding to develop a stormwater runoff solution. The project involved various green infrastructure solutions, which purify stormwater before slowly releasing it to the sewer system. These elements reduce sewer system overflow and prevent water pollution. The community was heavily involved in the design process, ensuring that the rain garden meets Lafayette Square’s residents needs. This project serves as a public-private partnership model for enhancing resilience in St. Louis City.²

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal C

Establish and maintain a 5% tree canopy increase to expand community resilience and improve air quality.¹

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Mitigated health risks from extreme heat, with a focus on neighborhoods with a low tree canopy and high energy burden.
• Sequestered carbon, improved biodiversity, and decreased stormwater runoff.

ST. LOUIS CITY NEEDS RESILIENCE

“Extreme weather is costing us money, safety, and happiness. Heat and cold threaten all, especially our most vulnerable residents and nature. Heavy rains alternating with droughts damage property and plant life and are overloading our infrastructure.”

• Community Advisory Group member

C - Strategy: Strengthen the city-maintained urban forest to protect mature and critical trees, establish clear permitting and maintenance requirements, and grow the overall tree canopy in light of climate pressures and development impacts, prioritizing neighborhoods that have experienced historical disinvestment.

St. Louis City’s tree canopy, consisting of trees in the public right-of-way, is a critical component of the City’s climate response, including alleviating extreme heat, improving air quality, capturing stormwater, and sequestering carbon. Investments in tree canopy provide shade equity, especially important given the increasing number of very hot days in St. Louis City. Beyond these benefits, the urban forest is a vital part of the City’s character. The benefits of a healthy urban forest are many, including reducing cooling costs in the summer, reducing noise pollution, and even improving residents’ mental health.

Priority Actions

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

BENEFITS OF FRESH, HEALTHY FOOD

“We don’t realize the food this body needs. Each cell in our body performs its own task. And the food we eat can dictate energy levels and diseases we have. From where I live, it’s 1 mile to Schnucks, 1.8 miles to get to Aldi, and 5.7 miles to get to the Dierbergs I like in Maplewood. Now I have a vehicle but many residents in our neighborhood do not. When I go to the Schnucks close to me I can’t get certain foods like avocados or folded eggs. Whole foods are powerful. I can do a cartwheel and get to some liquor, but I can’t find an apple or banana. I was diagnosed with diabetes, but then I started eating more whole foods and changing my diet and lifestyle for the next five years. Afterwards, to my doctor’s surprise she said I don’t need to put you on medicine anymore. If each neighborhood could have true sustenance, we would all thrive. We wouldn’t have to run and hoard at the same store. Fresh, whole foods change my life and now, I don’t have to do no more sticking.”

• Tyrone Johnson, Kingsway East and the Greater Ville (“Kingsville”)

CASE STUDY

Cool Roofs

⬚ figure

Cool roofs are an effective tool for increasing building efficiency while also enhancing resilience to extreme heat. Cool roofs are designed to reflect more sunlight than a conventional roof by absorbing less solar energy. This lowers the temperature of the building just as wearing light-colored clothing keeps you cool on a sunny day. In fact, cool roofs can stay more than 50°F (28°C) cooler than traditional roofs. This can save energy and money in buildings with air conditioning and improve comfort and safety in buildings without air conditioning. Cool roofing products usually cost no more than comparable conventional roofing products for new construction or roof replacements.¹ The City of St. Louis offers a guide for starting a cool roof program in your own community.²

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Tree Canopy

Tree canopies are the layer of branches and leaves that create a cover over the ground below. They support cities in numerous ways. For example, they can reduce storm water runoff by catching rainfall and increasing water absorption in soil. Additionally, tree canopies help keep neighborhoods cooler in the summer and reduce urban heat.¹ Given these benefits, the 3+30+300 principle offers a straightforward and evidence-based framework for supporting urban greening with three critical components:

• 3 - Everyone should be able to see at least three large trees from where they live, work, learn, or receive care.

• 30 - Neighborhoods should have at least 30% tree canopy cover.

• 300 - We should all have a high-quality, publicly accessible green space of no more than 300 meters (328 yards) away.

The combination of these components ensures that we always have accessible, visible green space and sufficient tree canopy coverage. This principle has gained popularity across the world and is now being used by many local authorities, national governments, community groups, and businesses.²

77

CASE STUDY

St. Louis Public Schools Green Schoolyard Project

⬚ figure

St. Louis Public Schools is currently engaging in pilot projects to transform schoolyards to green space. The reimagined schoolyard will improve students’ well-being and play space while providing learning opportunities, and contributing to the ecological health and resilience of the community. The plan will transform the asphalt schoolyard into a green space through community engagement and participatory planning.

These projects leverage MSD Project Clear grants to fund equitable redevelopment of asphalt-covered schoolyards. The first pilot project is in Froebel Literacy Academy.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal D

Increase landfill diversion by 5% while investing in more reliable and consistent refuse service.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Significant decrease in illegal dumping and dumpster overflow, especially in neighborhoods with high vacancy and high population density, mitigating negative health and environmental outcomes from waste.
• Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while saving landfill costs and encouraging a circular economy.

⬚ figure

D - Strategy: Improve the City’s refuse program to reduce illegal dumping and litter, prioritizing areas of historical disinvestment, and divert waste from landfills while increasing recycling.

Illegal dumping is an issue in St. Louis City that extends beyond the obvious blight. Litter can end up clogging stormwater drains, leading to flooding, and garbage making its way into the river and other natural areas. This pollution attracts pests, vector-borne diseases, and other potentially toxic or dangerous materials. Addressing these waste management services will enable the City to modernize service and support reuse programs, composting, and circular economy systems. The City currently uses landfills outside of the city, creating more emissions from trucking materials.

79

Priority Actions

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Circular Economy A circular economy keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. Compared to our linear system in which resources are mined, made into products, and then become waste, a circular economy reduces material use, redesigns products to be less resource intensive, and reuses waste as a resource to create new products. By focusing on minimizing waste and increasing reuse, our economies can help slow climate change and improve community health.¹ Organizations like Perennial, New Earth Farm, and many others are encouraging reuse and circular economy growth within St. Louis City.

Additionally, St. Louis City has many repair and reuse shops, thrift stores, vintage and antique stores, bicycle and computer repair shops, and more. Throughout the city there are swap and share groups and events promoted on social media, along with repair and recycling workshops.

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal E

Develop and expand climate-smart land use and development policies that promote resilience, community livability, and community development.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions and minimized environmental impact from development, especially in neighborhoods already burdened by environmental risks, while making St. Louis City competitive for development.

⬚ figure

E - Strategy: Ensure development processes and city policies, including zoning standards, development policies, and building ordinances, advance climate goals, support resilience, and do not create unintentional barriers.

As our city attracts new development and residents, there is an opportunity to move the city towards becoming a more climate-smart, resilient community. By creating thoughtful and clear policies for new development, the City can ensure each new project adds to a positive, low-carbon future. These actions inspire new approaches to zoning, parking, and infrastructure development, while providing potential incentives and resources, like sustainable building guidance, so that St. Louis City can be both development- and climate-friendly.

Priority Actions

✤ Strong Alignment ☀ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CASE STUDY

Durable Sanctuary

⬚ figure

One way to make our buildings more climate resilient is by designing buildings to function as durable sanctuaries. A durable sanctuary refers to a home or building that ensures a safe and healthy living space for its occupants both every day and during extreme weather events and emergencies, including power outages for multiple days. A durable sanctuary should support the needs of the resident population (including communications, medical needs, and refrigeration) by maintaining safe temperatures, good air quality, and providing electricity for key uses. This design is particularly important for multifamily buildings that often house disadvantaged populations who are more likely to have increased vulnerability to climate threats and health complications from these events.¹

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Kaiser Permanente Radiation Oncology Center - LEED Gold Certified

CASE STUDY

Green Building Standards Green building approaches are encouraged through various standards and systems, such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Design (LEED). These systems define criteria and guidance to reduce a building’s environmental impact. The LEED certification assesses different aspects of sustainability in a building, including the use of low-carbon and efficient construction materials, indoor air quality, access to transit options, and water efficiency. Pursuing green building standards like LEED can help cities like St. Louis City achieve their climate goals.¹

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Pillar 2

Expand City and Community Capacity for Climate Resilience

Pillar 2 is focused on building capacity, both by ensuring that there are sufficient resources within the City’s operations and by enhancing the community’s understanding and recognition of the benefits of climate practices. By ensuring that those who are tasked with implementing climate action are set up for success, the SCP can help build capacity for the City and community to address and adapt to climate change.

⬚ figure

This Pillar addresses the work that the community is already doing to create a culture of climate awareness and action. While some residents are already passionate and activated, others may not be aware of the actions that they can take in their lives to build climate resiliency and action, which can also reduce their energy burden and improve their health.

Internally, this Pillar touches on increasing staff capacity in several areas and, similar to the community, building climate considerations into City processes. One of these examples is developing a climate lens that would require all City plans, processes, and projects to consider how climate could be integrated. For example, when building a new park or City facility, using green infrastructure in the place of traditional hardscape. Or, considering how the Zoning Upgrade could take climate and sustainability into consideration.

87

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

88

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal F

Increase resilience through community knowledge and awareness of and active participation in climate-friendly practices.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Design and implementation of culturally-relevant sustainability practices in a diversity of neighborhoods.
• Establishment of permanent mechanisms to maintain and increase community voices in the implementation of the work.
• Community members are prepared for extreme weather events.

EQUITABLE AND JUST ST. LOUIS CITY

“Please, remain steadfast in a commitment to equity and environmental justice regardless of political identities and administrations. St. Louis NEEDS equity in all realms of work, as historically under-invested communities continue to struggle they have different needs than those communities that were historically invested-in.”

• Online Community Survey Respondent

F - Strategy: Fund and support climate communications staff and ongoing climate education, emergency preparedness, and awareness activities. Residents often know the best ways to address the issues that they face in their daily lives and need the City to work collaboratively to build mutual understanding of needs and solutions. The City and its partners can support sharing critical climate information, emergency preparedness tools, and climate-friendly practices. Together, the community and the City can be partners in climate action.

89

Priority Actions

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal G

Build City capacity

to implement the SCP.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Full-time, well-compensated staff who are charged with SCP implementation.
• Climate considerations are integrated across the City operations and policies.
• New Energy Department or Division that combines residential and business support services.

⬚ figure

G - Strategy: Increase the number of full-time staff in the Office of Sustainability, and other key staff, such as in the Buildings and Facilities Departments, to implement the SCP, build efficiency, and streamline services.

To ensure that the SCP can be implemented, there needs to be sufficient staff to achieve the initiatives outlined. Climate needs to be considered in all that the City does – addressing the gravity of the moment and integrating climate at the outset of all projects, plans, and policies. One of the most important elements of this strategy is setting up a new department that consolidates multiple activities in one place to catalyze energy efficiency and future energy work. A consolidated department would have multiple benefits to the City, including streamlining access to information and incentives for residents and businesses, leveraging partnerships across multiple sectors, and improving ability to access and distribute funding effectively. It’s important for the City to have enough capacity and funding to maintain what it builds.

91

Priority Actions

☘ Strong Alignment ✹ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

INVESTING IN A RESILIENT ST. LOUIS CITY

“Adding more trees is critical but won’t succeed unless planning for trees and protection/improvement of planting sites is invested in. Our policies are completely insufficient. We don’t just need more money, we need the entire system to be modernized and for trees to be treated like other critical infrastructure instead of like an aesthetic afterthought.”

• Online Community Survey Respondent

CASE STUDY

City of Baltimore Energy Division The City of Baltimore’s Energy Division leads the City’s strategy for the decarbonization of City buildings and fleet. The Energy Division collaborates with the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability and other agencies to develop and implement the City’s Climate Action Plan and Sustainability Plan. The Division has three main functions: 1) energy data and performance, 2) energy project management, and 3) energy policy and strategy. Through this dedicated division, the City of Baltimore is successfully reducing energy costs and achieving its GHG emissions reduction goals.

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Missoula Climate Lens To address climate change, it must be considered in all that a City does. One way to do this is by adopting a climate lens. For example, in 2022, Missoula City Council passed a Climate Lens Resolution directing staff to create and implement a “climate lens” to guide city planning and development. The Climate and Resilience Lens has provided a toolkit to help city staff consider climate when making policy, education, and process change decisions. The lens has thus embedded climate considerations into city planning, and also led to the adoption of two new policies that help meet its emissions reductions goals: the Vehicle Emissions Policy and the Environmentally Sustainable Building Policy.¹

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal H

Create opportunities to extend City resources.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Vibrant and growing ecosystem of advocates, nonprofits, educational institutions, and service providers advancing sustainability and a green economy with a focus on support and advocacy for organizations serving BIPOC, disabled, veteran, senior communities, and those with high housing/energy burden.
• Ability to leverage the extensive network of partners regionally and locally to help advocate, fund, and implement climate action.

ST. LOUIS CITY AS A CLIMATE LEADER “St. Louis has the potential to position itself as a leading climate resiliency hub in the Midwest, but we have to start taking action now.”

• Online Community Survey Respondent

H - Strategy: Utilize the SCP to determine key nonprofit and private partnerships and activities, and to capture grants and other funding opportunities, with a focus on priority areas and underserved neighborhoods. The SCP recognizes that many of the climate needs cannot be done by the city alone. St. Louis City has a wealth of community-based organizations, nonprofits, and other entities that are dedicated to addressing climate change, building community resilience, and offering support to EJ communities. The City should continue to build upon these existing partnerships and leaders in the community to make progress throughout St. Louis City. Creating a regional coalition with the East-West Gateway, St. Louis County, and others is particularly important to work with the State and with utilities to achieve more pro-climate policies and funding.

95

Priority Actions

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✧ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Portland Green Fund

The City of Portland, OR is working to extend climate change resources to its frontline communities. One way the city is doing so is through the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund. This initiative provides a consistent, long-term funding source for local climate action efforts, particularly for communities of color and people with low incomes. The fund invests in clean energy projects, transportation decarbonization projects, regenerative agriculture and green infrastructure projects, and climate action-related workforce development programs. The initiative prioritizes people who have been historically under-resourced by sustainability programs. By doing so, the Community Benefits Fund ensures that Portland’s most impacted residents are prepared for a changing climate as the city moves towards its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.¹

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal I

Update and refine City systems and protocols to enable implementation of the SCP.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Transparent communication between the City and residents about progress toward implementing the SCP, including disaggregated data by neighborhood and/or ward, where possible.
• Better collection and use of data to direct and monitor climate-related activities and impacts.

⬚ figure

I - Strategy: Update data collection systems to more effectively understand, track, and monitor climate-related activities, particularly related to energy use, air quality, and health metrics.

The City needs effective and consistent data collection polices, procedures or systems to be in place to enable-effective decision making. Deploying smarter technologies and systems will help to inform and assist in the City’s climate work. These systems can mitigate climate impacts, such as traffic lights that track and adjust the light schedules to reduce the time that cars idle at red lights. Other systems can help track flooding and air quality issues, allowing the City to address and dedicate resources as needed more quickly. In addition, technology can help to better communicate and share data with the community-at-large.

Priority Actions

🍀 Strong Alignment ☀ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

Pillar 3

Advance Energy Efficiency while Reducing Energy Burden

Energy use in buildings is the greatest source of GHG emissions in our community, coming in at 76% of emissions from residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.

This is because much of the energy St. Louis City receives comes from coal and natural gas which power our buildings. The burning of coal for generating electricity is the main source of GHG emissions. This minimizes the effectiveness of electrification and makes it difficult to reduce GHG emissions. These sectors are challenging for the City to influence or control. However, we need to prepare to align with our region’s clean energy goals. Therefore, this Pillar focuses on increasing access to resources and initiatives that help building owners and homeowners understand their energy use and promote upgrades. These proposed efficiency upgrades will reduce energy and water use while improving overall health and affordability.

⬚ figure

While energy efficiency upgrades and reduced energy use are a key part of reducing our emissions, it is also a difficult and complex issue. The majority of buildings in St. Louis City are over 100 years old. Renters are often hesitant or not allowed to make upgrades in a building they do not own, and landlords are not incentivized to make upgrades that lower energy costs. Therefore, focusing resources through staffing, financing for upgrades, and other energy efficiency programs addresses both the high emissions of energy use but also the cost burden, especially on low-income community members.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

A CALL FOR REDUCED ENERGY BURDEN

“Three months after moving into my new apartment--my electric bills suddenly increased to four or five times their previous levels. I called the electric company to ask them to check the meter. The company would not come out unless invited by the landlord and the landlord would not agree. Although rent for my four-bedroom apartment is $700, my electric bills are frequently as high as $500-$700 each month, with occasional “low” bills in the $200-$300 range. I found partial bill assistance through charities and reduced my use of electricity to the absolute minimum – sometimes I avoided using the stove or oven to cook meals for my family. Even with this adjustment, I still continued to receive extremely high electric bills.”

• MJ, Dutchtown

102

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN

Goal J

Increase energy efficiency in 5% of all buildings through upgrades, weatherization, and other improvements.

⬚ figure

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Reduced energy costs through energy efficiency with a specific effort to reduce the number of residents experiencing energy burden.

• Establishment of a one-stop shop for businesses and residents to access energy efficiency resources and technical support.

J - Strategy: Over the next 5 years, expand and continue to support a City-sponsored centralized resource center for residents (renters and owners) and businesses to learn and participate in programs, and to connect to rebates aimed at reducing energy use and energy burden.

The City can serve as a partner in reducing energy use through energy efficiency upgrades to existing buildings. While the City has little control over the type of energy (coal, natural gas, wind, solar, etc.) that residents and businesses use, building upgrades such as weatherization, updated heating and cooling systems, hot water heaters, can dramatically reduce energy burden and energy use. When rebates and incentive programs are available from the utilities or State or Federal government, these need to be easily found and leveraged. The City has a role in promoting these options and providing assistance to its residents and businesses to meet its climate goals. Currently, the City is partnering with Building Energy Exchange - St. Louis to do this work and this strategy would enhance and expand that effort.

Priority Actions

☘️ Strong Alignment ✴️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

DOE Energy Score

To promote energy efficiency, the US Department of Energy developed the Home Energy Score. This program provides homeowners, buyers, and renters directly comparable and credible information about a home’s energy use, similar to a miles-per-gallon rating for a car. The Home Energy Score Report estimates home energy use, associated costs, and provides energy solutions to cost-effectively improve the home’s efficiency. Each Home Energy Score is shown on a simple 1 to 10 scale, where a 10 represents the most efficient homes. Through the department’s partners, hundreds of Home Energy Score Assessors have provided thousands of Home Energy Scores across the country, helping residents achieve energy efficiency and contribute to broader sustainability goals.¹

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex) STL

In 2020, the City of St. Louis passed a building energy performance standard ordinance requiring that all municipal, institutional, commercial and multifamily buildings equal to or greater than 50,000 square feet must consume energy at or below a standard set by the city. BE-Ex STL aims to assist communities in complying with the ordinance and enhancing their buildings to be high-performing and energy-efficient, leading to lower utility costs, improved comfort, and healthier indoor environments. BE-Ex STL provides financial tools, upcoming events, news, and connections to improve Home, business, work, recreation, school, or community spaces.²

105

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Cost Savings through Climate Action in Chicago Since 2020, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Chicago-based environmental nonprofit Elevate have collaborated to identify pathways for energy retrofits in Chicago’s housing, while also considering equity implications and other co-benefits of this transition. These efforts align with the City of Chicago’s 2022 Climate Action Plan priorities. NREL’s analysis demonstrates that under the right circumstances, energy efficiency upgrades and electrification with heat pumps can reduce utility costs and produce more than 50% energy savings in older vintage homes in Chicago, reduce CO2 emissions, add necessary cooling, and remove indoor air quality hazards like NOx pollutants. These benefits are important, as homes in Chicago are generally older, less energy efficient, and more likely to be constructed out of brick compared to national housing. Because these older vintage homes are prevalent in communities with historic disinvestment and/or low-income populations, these retrofits can improve energy, health, and financial well-being in Chicago neighborhoods where inequities have persisted for decades.¹

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal K

Engage with commercial and industrial sectors to promote energy savings and efficiency, reducing energy use in large commercial buildings by 20%.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• Commercial businesses are routinely reporting their energy use and upgrading their buildings.
• Industrial businesses are engaged with the City, working towards reducing their energy use.
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions based on energy use in the commercial and industrial sectors.

⬚ figure

K - Strategy: Expand and enhance the City’s benchmarking ordinance to cover buildings of 25,000 square feet by 2031, and 10,000 square feet by 2036, in concert with enhanced building performance implementation and technical assistance.

The Commercial and Industrial sectors represent some of the greatest sources of emissions in the City, but also the greatest opportunities for energy reduction. The City has a Building Energy Awareness Ordinance (benchmarking) that requires buildings over 50,000 square feet to track and report their energy use to the City. Those same buildings must also meet the Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS), which sets energy use targets by building type. There is an opportunity to expand this work to more building types and smaller buildings and to provide technical assistance to encourage upgrades related to their benchmarking reports.

Priority Actions

☘ Strong Alignment ☀️ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal L

Implement strategic electrification projects and prepare for electrification.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

A set of projects that demonstrate decarbonization approaches for St. Louis City and help scale future efforts.

⬚ figure

L - Strategy: Create a strategic electrification plan, identifying and prioritizing areas where electrification and renewable energy will be most feasible in the short-term and detailing the longer-term transition to phase out fossil fuels.

Currently, the majority of electricity in St. Louis City comes from coal; therefore, electrifying our buildings will not result in reduced emissions in the short-term. Strategic electrification is identifying opportunities where it makes the most sense to electrify in a way that increases energy efficiency and reduces pollution, while lowering costs and phasing out fossil fuels. This effort could include piloting new innovations, addressing data center energy demands, installing microgrids and the like.

Priority Actions

✤ Strong Alignment ✸ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Microgrids Microgrids are smaller, self-sufficient energy networks that serve a localized area, such as a college campus, hospital, or apartment complex. Microgrids can help reach renewable energy goals and provide social and health benefits. An example of this is the battery storage microgrid installation at Marcus Garvey Apartments, a multifamily affordable housing development covering nine city blocks in Brooklyn. The project is meant to help reduce energy costs and enhance resiliency, and was the first battery storage microgrid installation at a low-income multifamily property in greater New York City. The energy storage system balances the output of solar and fuel cell systems and serves as an emergency power supply. Residents now have reliable energy resources during power outages caused by storms or during times of high electricity demand. Furthermore, operation of the microgrid system lowered the monthly power bill for Marcus Garvey Village by 15% to 20%. This project serves as a model for other cities and communities striving for clean energy and resiliency.¹

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Goal M

Establish the City as a leader in energy efficiency and water conservation in the community.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

• City buildings and operations utilize and demonstrate best practices in energy and water conservation.
• Reduced emissions and energy costs from municipal buildings.
• A more efficient process and organization to implement energy efficiency across all departments.

⬚ figure

M - Strategy: Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of Municipal facilities energy-efficiency upgrades, water-efficiency improvements, transportation fleet management, and ongoing maintenance services to meet SCP goals.

The City is already succeeding in reducing its costs and emissions with smart upgrades. It needs to continue to lead by example, showing the community best practices and examples throughout the city of climate action at work. Additionally, by upgrading and retrofitting existing City buildings, the City can reduce its energy use and cost.

Priority Actions

✤ Strong Alignment ☀ Moderate Alignment ✦ Weak Alignment

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

CASE STUDY

Resilience Hub

Resilience Hubs are community-serving facilities that support residents, coordinate communication, distribute resources, and reduce carbon pollution while enhancing quality of life. Various agencies and local governments are designing their own Resilience Hub initiatives. In Baltimore, MD, the city launched the Baltimore City Community Resilience Hub Program. The Program is a partnership between service-based community organizations in Baltimore’s most climate-vulnerable neighborhoods and the Office of Sustainability (BoS), Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and Department of Health (BCHD). There are currently seventeen Resiliency Hub partner organizations in the program. They partner with the city and provide essential resources and community support during times of crisis. One specific goal of the program is to provide Community Resiliency Hub partner organizations with solar power and battery back-up capabilities. This increases access to renewable energy and back-up power in low to moderate income communities in Baltimore.¹

⬚ figure

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

CHAPTER 4

Implementation

Equitable Implementation

Funding & Staffing

Sustained Engagement

Partnerships

Tracking & Reporting

This chapter will discuss how the Sustainability & Climate Plan will be implemented, taking into consideration prioritization of strategies and actions, funding opportunities, and partnerships.

The SCP was created with implementation at the forefront. During the SCP development, tough decisions were made to focus the City’s resources on a narrower, more achievable set of strategies that will set the City up for success.

To implement the SCP, there needs to be adequate staffing capacity, sufficient and diverse funding sources, sustained engagement with the community and internally with staff, reliance on partnerships, and tracking and reporting of progress.

The following section outlines how each of these areas need to be considered and integrated.

Equitable Implementation

While all St. Louis City community members are impacted by climate change, Environmental Justice communities are disproportionately affected by climate and environmental changes because of historic, pervasive socioeconomic conditions, systemic racism, and inequitable resource distribution. These conditions and systems have left St. Louis City’s Environmental Justice communities and neighborhoods with unsafe, unhealthy neighborhoods and limited access to quality public services and economic opportunities.

The transition to a lower carbon economy will require critical consideration of how a policy may benefit some communities more than others. Especially with regards to housing and transportation, EJ communities in St. Louis City have a higher cost burden, inferior housing and neighborhood quality, reduced access to services, and poorer health. The policies within this Sustainability and Climate Plan (SCP) must work to reverse and mitigate this systemic discrimination and create a path forward that lifts these communities. The following equity consideration of key concerns focus actions on creating a more equitable future.

The Forward Through Ferguson Report used the following three questions to determine priorities and these questions should serve as a guide for the SCP.

• Transformative: Is the policy call to action innovative? Will it create an impact or cause positive change?
• Urgent: Will this policy call to action address pressing issues?
• Unflinching: Does the policy present cause-driven solutions that call out core issues in the region?

In addition to these questions, the following considerations should be used in the SCP’s implementation.

GREEN JOBS FACILITATION AND CREATION

The projects associated with implementation of the SCP provide the City of St. Louis with the opportunity to fuel economic growth in targeted sectors, neighborhoods, and demographics that creates more living wage jobs and /or facilitates people with barriers to employment to attain existing green jobs. This consideration spurs local job development and accessibility during the transition to a greener economy, particularly for people experiencing barriers to employment. Questions to consider include:

• Does the proposed action support or invest in communities of color and low-income populations through workforce development, contracting opportunities, small business support, or the increased diversity of city staff?
• Does the proposed action create local opportunities for livable wage jobs for low-income communities and communities of color?
• Does the proposed action place hold institutions accountable to address historical disparities in contributing to climate change?
• Does the proposed action increase the availability and accessibility of green jobs for low-income communities and communities of color?

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND SAFETY

Most GHG reduction measures reduce air quality impacts, including emissions from criteria air pollutants like ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide, that have negative health impacts. Many Environmental Justice communities are more likely to live near sources of these air pollutants (e.g., vehicle traffic, railyards, industrial facilities) due to decades of racist policies like redlining. Therefore, implementation of the SCP must consider and protect communities most impacted by poor air pollution, reduced tree canopy, and older building stock that is more likely to result in poor indoor air quality, higher energy costs, and health issues related to mold. Questions to consider include:

• Does the proposed action reduce air pollution (Ozone, VOC, NOx, etc.) and reduce asthma and other respiratory-related hospital visits?
• Does the proposed action extend expected longevity and/or quality of life (including physical and mental health) for populations experiencing health disparities?
• Does the proposed action reduce vulnerability to climate hazards (extreme heat, flooding, wildfire), particularly for low income communities and communities of color?
• Does the proposed action help restore or protect ecosystem health (air, land, water, soil, wildlife), particularly in low income communities and communities of color?

CULTURAL VIBRANCY

Culture plays a significant role in a community’s inclusivity, resilience, and sustainability. The United Nations adopted seventeen Sustainable Development Goals for 2050 as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” Goal 11, make cities more resilient and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, emphasizes the power that preserving and leveraging local culture and heritage can have in achieving a community’s goals. The local community’s heritage and values must be represented and included in climate action outreach. Questions to consider include:

• Does the proposed action acknowledge/ respect/honor the culture, historic assets, and traditions of low income and communities of color, including traditional ecological knowledge from indigenous communities?

• Does the proposed action improve social cohesion (engagement and connection within/to the community) among low income communities and communities of color? Does the proposed action’s decision-making processes go beyond dollars and cents to address shared values and cultural differences in order to support implementation?

• Does the proposed action help to restore or support the culture and historic places or neighborhoods of low income and communities of color?

ACCESSIBILITY

The SCP should increase access to housing, transportation, funding, education, healthy foods, a clean environment, and a clean energy economy for low-income communities, communities of color, and people of different mobilities. The actions should remove barriers through city infrastructure, policy, and investments.

The SCP and associated documents must be accessible to all audiences, especially those who are underrepresented. The phrasing of the planning and policy documents must be written in clear language that engages people of all backgrounds.

Further, policies and programs stemming from the SCP must incorporate strong awareness components, as well as digital, language, and geographic accessibility considerations to ensure everyone has an opportunity to benefit. Questions to consider include:

• Does the proposed action expand access to healthy/clean active transportation systems, such as walking paths, bike routes, shared vehicles, public transit in order to access essential services (hospital, school), amenities, and/or jobs?

• Does the proposed action improve amenities and essential services in traditionally underserved geographies/neighborhoods?

• Does the proposed action increase equitable participation in economic benefit programs (i.e., tax revenues, job creation or incentives) from low income communities and communities of color?

• Does the proposed action remove any barriers that might prevent individuals in low income communities and communities of color from benefiting fully if this strategy were implemented as written?

• Does the proposed action increase equitable access to information/education around climate, i.e. impacts, benefits, and programs?

ACCOUNTABILITY

The SCP and future implementation efforts must include mechanisms to hold the City accountable and ensure that EJ communities will equitably benefit and not be disproportionately harmed by actions. Specifically, the City is responsible for implementing the SCP in an equitable manner at each step. The City must continue to build rapport with the community and use transparent, accessible communication with stakeholders and incorporate community feedback accordingly. A sustained Community Working Group can help guarantee that the voices of the communities are reflected in the implementation of the SCP. Questions to consider include:

• Does the proposed action have provisions to ensure ongoing collection of data (that can be disaggregated by race/ethnicity/income) and public reporting of data? Can this data be validated qualitatively by community members?
• Does the proposed action have clear markers of short-term and long-term success as well as timelines for meeting markers of success? If so, what are the mechanisms we will utilize to ensure that goals are met (successful implementation and enforcement)?
• Does the proposed action address consequences if goals are not met? Is there a process for those impacted by the policy to express grievances or satisfaction and to ensure that concerns are met?
• Is the proposed action adequately funded to achieve its designed goals?

AFFORDABILITY

The implementation of strategies and associated actions must be affordable so that low-income residents can access their benefits and services. The City can work with partners, service providers, nonprofits and other funding entities to develop affordable approaches to energy efficiency efforts, increase access to healthy foods, expand access to nature and green space, and establish community resilience hubs. Further, any ordinance or policy must integrate accessible funding and financing mechanisms to support the community's transition. Questions to consider include:

• Could this action limit the displacement of residents and small businesses when surrounding property values rise?
• Is the proposed action affordable to all community members, and/or does this offer inclusive financing strategies that prioritize the most income-burdened populations?
• Does the proposed action reduce cost burden and the number of families that are cost-burdened by housing (including utilities) and transportation?
• Does the proposed action reduce burdens (including financial, health costs), either directly or indirectly, to communities of color or low-income populations? If no, how will the City mitigate these impacts?

Funding & Staffing

Implementation of the SCP will require dedicated funding and adequate staffing to ensure that progress is made, tracked, and reported back to the community. For both staffing and funding, a common theme that was heard throughout the planning process was the need for continued maintenance. While finding initial funding to build a project or write a policy can be a hurdle to overcome, the larger hurdle is ensuring that the project can be maintained over time or that the policy has the staffing to implement and enforce it. Including those considerations in the initial planning process is key.

Funding to implement the SCP will ultimately come from a variety of sources, including the City budget, grants, private investment, and philanthropic contributions. The City needs to remain agile in finding and securing opportunities as they arise. Some of these funding opportunities are outlined in this section.

City Funding

There are countless co-benefits of the strategies listed in the SCP - investments in transportation will result in improved community health, upgrades and maintenance of green infrastructure can prevent or lessen costs to repair flood damage, a healthier tree canopy can reduce the overall temperature of a whole neighborhood, to name a few examples.

The SCP was created to ensure that our communities are prepared for a changing climate and extreme weather. If investments are not made in the coming years, we will face increasing costs in the future - both in monetary terms and in human health, productivity, and wellbeing.

The City should move towards long-term support of climate and resilience investments, instead of one-time and discretionary funding sources. Within these investments, it is critical that maintenance and operations have dedicated funding to protect City investments and community resilience. While maintenance is critical and often a priority for community members, it is often left out of the cost considerations for making upgrades.

The City could allocate dedicated funding to Department or Division budgets, specifically for climate readiness. This could include upgrading infrastructure to a higher standard to withstand extreme weather or making investments in low carbon materials or equipment. By adopting a Climate Lens, these considerations will be incorporated through planning, projects, and policies as laid out in Action G1.3: Create a “climate lens” policy that directs all City operations, planning efforts, and capital projects to consider climate impacts, including guidance on budgeting and implications of no action and lifecycle costs.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

124

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Additional Funding Sources

To complement these dedicated funding sources, the following are examples of potential alternative sources.

GREEN REVOLVING FUNDS

Green revolving funds are internal capital pools dedicated to funding energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability projects. Successful examples of Green Revolving Funds include the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund and the Pittsburgh Green Initiative Trust Fund.

The Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) provides a consistent, long-term funding source and oversight structure to ensure that the community’s climate action efforts are implemented to support social, economic, and environmental benefits for all Portlanders, particularly communities of color and people with low incomes. The PCEF is funded through a 1% surcharge on the sales of large retailers with $1 billion in national revenue and $500,000 in local revenue. Guided by a Climate Investments Plan, the PCEF will invest roughly $150 million annually.

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Green Initiative Trust Fund (GITF) aims to implement the city’s Climate Action Plan recommendations primarily using energy cost savings. The City of Pittsburgh seeded the GITF with an initial deposit of $100,000. Additional deposits are made based on the energy cost savings in the annual operating budget compared to Citywide costs in the baseline year, 2007, as realized through reduced utility rates, audits of energy accounts, and energy efficiency projects. All grant funds awarded to the City for green initiatives also go to the GITF. The GITF has funded the installation of solar energy systems and LED street lights across the city, as well as the retrofit of City facilities.¹

GREEN BONDS

A green bond is a fixed income debt instrument in which an issuer (typically a corporation, government, or financial institution) borrows a large sum of money from investors for use in sustainability-focused projects. Green bonds work similarly to a traditional bond issuance, except the funds are slated for use in energy efficiency, renewable energy, or other projects that meet certain sustainability requirements.¹

PUBLIC/PUBLIC AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

There may be opportunities for the City to partner with other government agencies, or with private entities to accomplish a shared goal. This is a strong tool that can provide opportunities for investments in climate investment. St. Louis City has many prominent philanthropic and private organizations that could be good partners for the City.

GRANTS

The City can continue to look and apply for a variety of grants to help fund projects. While grant opportunities are becoming rarer, the City should still be actively looking for these opportunities as they arise. The City can also look for grant opportunities that are not explicitly focused on sustainability or climate, but rather on transportation or infrastructure.

Staffing

Staff capacity is a constant challenge for the City and its partners to complete the tasks laid out in the SCP. Where most critical, the SCP specifically called out areas where the limited staff capacity prevents the implementation of the SCP from occurring. Additionally, the actions listed in the SCP are each assigned to a Lead Department, who will be responsible for implementing the action, and Supporting Departments, who will assist the Lead Department in completing the action. However, many of the actions in the SCP are assigned, either in Lead or Supporting, to the Office of Sustainability.

Currently, the Office of Sustainability is housed in the Planning Division, and has only one staff member. With responsibilities beyond implementing the many actions in the SCP, this staffing level is insufficient to make the needed progress. Many other similar-sized cities across the country have several employees in their Sustainability or Climate teams. Additionally, by integrating energy across departments it can build capacity without creating dedicated positions that support the intersectional goals of this work.

The SCP recommends that the Energy Office that is referenced in Action G.2 be within the Sustainability Department.

Sustained Engagement

Through this planning process, community members (through the Community Advisory Group) and City departments have been advising the planning team at each stage. In order to accomplish all that is written in the SCP, that engagement needs to continue.

F.3 describes the formation of two advisory groups for coordination and implementation of the SCP – one for businesses, executive leaders, and institutions; and one composed of nonprofits and residents. These groups would help guide the City in SCP implementation, ensuring that the process is transparent and equitable throughout.

Similarly, Action G.4 describes ongoing cross-departmental coordination and collaboration to monitor and implement the SCP. As the section, Tracking & Reporting, details below, a system has been created for the City to monitor its progress on the SCP. The Office of Sustainability will be responsible for this tracking and monitoring, and would be reporting out to the two groups mentioned above.

⬚ figure

COMMUNITY ADVISORY GROUP PRIORITIES

During the engagement process, Community Advisory Group members shared which SCP Actions they believe the City should prioritize for implementation. The top Action priorities are:

Community Advisory Group Priorities During the engagement process, Community Advisory Group members shared which SCP Actions they believe the City should prioritize for implementation. The top Action priorities are:

A.2 Continue to expand and connect a comprehensive bikeway network which integrates safe and appropriate bike facilities to link all areas of the city and increases the number of people who can comfortably use bikes for travel.

A.5 Work with transit and nonprofit partners to remove programmatic barriers to transit use and access, such as reduced fee programs, education campaigns, and improved transit stops.

B.5 Develop a self-funding financing program and tools to bolster maintenance and development of green infrastructure.

C.4 Establish funding and resources for the creation of a City-managed tree nursery on existing City-owned land, which grows cost-effective, climate adaptive trees for replacements and plantings.

E.1 Create a climate-smart development action plan, policies, and process in consultation with developers and businesses to explore and establish feasible incentives and regulations for promoting sustainable development.

G.1 Establish a sustained funding source for the City’s maintenance and operations staff to effectively manage and maintain green infrastructure and urban tree canopy, including stormwater system, parks, and green streets.

H.2 Develop a revolving loan fund mechanism, green loan fund, or other funding sources to help support and maintain citywide climate efforts, particularly for energy efficiency goals.

J.1 Leverage existing partners and the Building Energy Exchange - St. Louis to provide resources and maintain a database of various rebates, programs, etc. for residential (owners and renters), commercial, and industrial buildings.

L.2 Work with Ameren and key partners to identify pilot solar/microgrid developments that support the electric grid, reach climate goals, and reduce energy costs in neighborhoods with high energy burden.

Partnerships

St. Louis City has incredible depth and quality of community-based organizations, nonprofits, and other government agencies that are focused on community resilience and climate change. The City already works very closely with many of these organizations and these partnerships have already led to progress.

For example, Building Energy Exchange St. Louis is a nonprofit resource hub dedicated to advancing energy efficiency and building performance in the St. Louis region. Established in 2021 as part of the national Building Performance Partnership, BE-Ex STL supports building owners, operators, and policymakers in achieving energy savings, improving indoor comfort, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The City works with the group to connect residents and businesses to these resources.

⬚ figure

East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG) is another frequent collaborator with the City. EWG is the metropolitan planning organization for the St. Louis region, serving both Missouri and Illinois. It brings together local governments, stakeholders, and agencies to collaboratively address regional challenges related to transportation, economic development, public safety, and environmental planning. The City can work with EWG to move the region towards a common vision, while also using their combined influence to advocate for positive changes at the regional, state, and federal level.

Partnerships like these and working with neighboring municipalities and St. Louis County allow the City to extend its resources and reach beyond its current capacity, while not duplicating work that is already being done by other partners. These partnerships should continue, while the City also looks for other ways to work with partners that are making strides towards a more resilient St. Louis City.

Tracking & Reporting

The strategies and actions laid out in Chapter 4 provide a framework for how the City plans to reach its GHG emissions reduction targets and create a more resilient community. However, while the SCP is a short-term five-year plan, there is still a need for flexibility in implementation. New funding opportunities may arise, challenges may become easier or harder to overcome, or new technologies may come online.

Through the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the City of St. Louis has access to the newly released ClearPath 2.0 tool, which provides upgraded capabilities for managing and analyzing data and strategy effectiveness. The City will be able to document its goals and strategies, quantify anticipated emissions impacts where applicable, and track progress.

By tracking progress, the City can provide updates on SCP milestones. The City will track the following elements:

Lead: City department responsible for implementing the action.

Supporting: Other City departments or partners that will assist in implementing the action.

Target Alignment: What GHG emission reduction target this action addresses.

Timeline: When the action is expected to be started.

Status: The current progress of the action – Not Yet Started, Initiated, In Progress, Near Final, Complete, Delayed.

Status Date: Last date that the status was reported.

Implementation Progress: Key highlights from the implementation of the strategy. Could be used to communicate progress to the public.

(blank page)

Glossary of Terms

⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure

Glossary of Terms

The following is a glossary of terms that are used in the Plan.

Adaptive Capacity The ability of a system (a home, a city, a regional area, etc.) to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences.

Alternative Energy Energy derived from nontraditional sources (e.g., compressed natural gas, solar, hydroelectric, wind).

Best Practices Commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.

Battery Storage A technology that stores energy from sources like solar and wind and releases it when needed.

Carbon Dioxide A naturally occurring gas and a byproduct of burning fossil fuels and biomass. At high concentrations, it causes the greenhouse gas effect, trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.

Carbon Footprint The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization, or company. A person's carbon footprint includes greenhouse gas emissions from fuel that an individual burns directly, such as by heating a home or riding in a car. A carbon footprint also includes greenhouse gases that come from producing the goods or services that the individual uses, like emissions from power plants that make electricity, factories that make products, and landfills where trash gets sent.

Carbon Sequestration The process by which trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide, release the oxygen, and store the carbon.

Climate Adaptation An adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment.

Climate Change Any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among others, that occur over several decades or longer.

Co-Benefit The benefits of policies that are implemented for various reasons at the same time. For example, in the case of climate mitigation, a policy that promotes using electric vehicles reduces greenhouse gas emissions will also help decrease air pollution and increase community health.

Depaving Depaving is the process of removing excess pavement and concrete and replacing it with native plants, trees, and shrubs. Depaving helps cool urban areas, absorb rainfall and reduce flood risk, restore native habitat, and create more green space for people to enjoy.

Ecosystem Any natural unit or entity including living and non-living parts that interact to produce a stable system through cyclic exchange of materials.

Emissions The release of a substance (usually a gas when referring to the subject of climate change) into the atmosphere. The City produces a Greenhouse Gas Inventory report accounting for emissions within the city.

Energy Retrofits Modifications to buildings that may improve energy efficiency or decrease energy demand, such as upgrading roof insulation, installing efficient windows, and replacing traditional heating systems with high-efficiency heat pumps.

Environmental Justice (EJ) The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Environmental Justice Communities (EJ Communities) Those experiencing continuing injustice, including people of color, immigrants, people with lower incomes, people experiencing homelessness or houselessness, people with disabilities, seniors, and Indigenous people. These communities often face a legacy of systemic, largely racialized inequity that influences their living and working places, the quality of their air and water, and their economic opportunities.

Greenhouse Gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are a category of gases that absorb heat energy emitted from the planet's surface and they remain in Earth’s atmosphere for a long time (from decades to centuries). Though they make up only a small portion of the atmosphere (less than 1% of all air molecules), GHGs absorb a significant amount of heat energy and re-radiate some of it back toward the surface. They’re called “greenhouse gases” because they trap heat near the Earth’s surface in a manner somewhat similar to how a greenhouse allows in the sun’s rays and then holds in the resulting heat.¹

Green Infrastructure Green infrastructure refers to natural areas and features designed and managed to enhance biodiversity and provide a variety of ecosystem benefits, such as urban heat reduction and flood mitigation. This includes both natural systems like parks and forests, as well as engineered solutions like rain gardens and green roofs that mimic natural processes.

Hazard An event or physical condition that can potentially cause fatalities, injuries, property damage, infrastructure damage, agricultural losses, damage to the environment, interruption of business, or other types of harm or loss. Ex: tornadoes, floods, droughts, etc.

Impact The consequences or effects of a hazard on the community and its assets.

Microgrids Smaller energy systems consisting of energy sources and loads capable of operating in parallel with or independently from the main power grid.

Mitigation Human intervention to reduce the human impact on the climate system. This includes strategies to reduce greenhouse gas sources and emissions and enhance greenhouse gas sinks.¹

Natural Gas Underground deposits of gases consisting of 50 to 90% methane and small amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbon compounds such as propane and butane (C4H10).

Racial Equity A state in which race no longer predicts outcomes like childhood poverty, homeownership, access to healthy foods, legal representation, and more.

Renewable Energy Energy resources that are naturally replenishing, such as biomass, hydro, geothermal, solar, wind, ocean thermal, wave action, and tidal action.²

Resilience A capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to social well-being, the economy, and the environment.

Risk Assessment or Vulnerability Assessment Product or process that collects information and assigns values to risks for the purpose of informing priorities, developing or comparing courses of action, and informing decision-making.

Risk The potential for damage, loss, or other impacts created by the interaction of natural hazards with community assets.

Solid Waste Residential solid waste (colloquially known as trash) and some non-hazardous commercial, institutional, and industrial wastes. This material is generally sent to municipal landfills for disposal.

Stakeholders A person with a technical interest or concern in something.

Sustainability Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance.

Urban Heat Island An urban area with temperatures higher than the surrounding non-urban area. As urban areas develop, open land and vegetation are replaced by buildings, roads, and other infrastructure, which absorb more solar heat and create higher temperatures.

Vulnerability The degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes.

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN

2025

⬚ figure ⬚ figure ⬚ figure

Appendices

Appendix A

Community Engagement Summary

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Community Advisory Group

⬚ figure

Overview

21 Members representing St. Louis City

4 Meetings

⬚ figure

Community Advisory Group Role

• Represent the perspectives and needs of St. Louis City residents and those impacted by climate change in the community.
• Ensure the plan is addressing the needs of the community.
• Provide input on direction and identify existing system gaps, barriers, and opportunities.
• Help engage stakeholders and garner public input.
• Review and provide comments on draft documents.
• Make recommendations regarding plan adoption

⬚ figure

Community Survey

⬚ figure

Survey Overview

• 321 responses
• Open from February 11 to March 14
• Advertised via
• CAG Members
• Project Website
• City Outreach Channels

⬚ figure

Key Findings

• Overall, residents do not feel prepared for climate disasters.
• Most residents drive as their primary mode of transportation, with many never or rarely taking public transportation or biking.
• Many residents have old, inefficient housing and/or high energy bills, but are unable to make energy efficiency upgrades in their homes because they are renters or cannot afford upgrades.
• Food costs and lack of nearby grocery stores are the biggest barriers to accessing healthy foods.

140

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

Question 1: How well do you feel your community is prepared to respond to climate disasters?

⬚ figure

Question 2: Considering the climate hazards that exist in St. Louis City, tell us how each hazard has affected you (thinking about your health, property, job, etc.).

⬚ figure

Question 3: What impacts from these hazards are you most concerned about?

⬚ figure

⬚ figure

Question 2: Other Responses

⬚ figure

Question 4: What would you like to see done to make St. Louis City more resilient to climate hazards such as flooding or extreme heat? Check all that apply.

⬚ figure

141

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Question 4: Other Responses

Improve stormwater management by restoring natural watersheds and modernizing drainage systems.

More protected bike lanes, safe pedestrian infrastructure, and carbon-free public transportation.

Create cooling centers.

Decarbonize commercial and residential buildings and increase energy efficiency.

Part 2: Reducing Our City's Impact and Our Emissions

Question 5: Please select the following that best describes your living situation?

⬚ figure

■ I rent my home ■ I own my home ■ Other

Question 6: Select the following climate strategies that you already incorporate into your life.

⬚ figure

Question 7: Climate action has many benefits beyond reducing greenhouse gases. Which of the following are the most important to you?

⬚ figure

Question 7: Other Responses

City-wide recycling and composting.

Increasing mental health in the community.

Improving local biodiversity and ecosystem health.

Decreasing racial and economic inequities.

142

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

⬚ figure

Part 3: Transportation

⬚ figure

Question 8: How do you usually get around town? (Google Form)

⬚ figure

Question 8: How do you usually get around town? Rank the following from 1, most used, to 6, least used. (SurveyMonkey)

⬚ figure

Question 9: How can we make it easier to get around St. Louis City without a car?

⬚ figure

Question 9: Other Responses

⬚ figure

Question 10: Do you use an electric car or electric bike to get around town?

⬚ figure

143

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Question 11: If you answered no above, what would encourage you to use an electric bike or car? ⬚ figure

Question 11: Other Responses ⬚ figure

Part 4: Buildings and Energy ⬚ figure

Question 12: Are you experiencing any of the following issues in your home or business? ⬚ figure

Question 13: Have you made energy efficiency upgrades in your home or business (such as increased insulation, sealing windows and doors, installed high efficiency water heater)? (Google Form) ⬚ figure

Question 13: Have you made energy efficiency upgrades in your home or business (such as increased insulation, sealing windows and doors, installed high efficiency water heater)? (SurveyMonkey) ⬚ figure

144

Question 14: If you answered no or some in the previous question, please explain why. If you answered yes, leave blank.

⬚ figure

Question 15: What helps you waste less food at home?

⬚ figure

Question 16: Other Responses

⬚ figure

Part 5: Solid Waste

⬚ figure

Question 16: In what ways would you like to see trash management improved?

⬚ figure

Question 17: How easy is it for you to access healthy foods?

⬚ figure

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Question 18: If you answered Somewhat Hard or Very Hard, what is the barrier to accessing healthy foods? ⬚ figure

Question 19: Is there anything there you would like to share on the topics covered in this survey? • The city needs to address the unreliable recycling system. • Safer streets and sidewalks are a priority. • More trees need to be planted and maintained. • Invest in people, not cars. • Prioritize historically disinvested communities in the plan. • Energy utilities must be community-owned rather than private for-profit corporations. • The city should better prepare for winter storms, particularly maintaining sidewalk and transit access. • Address city air quality by implementing tracking systems.

Part 6: Demographics ⬚ figure

Question 20: What ward or neighborhood do you live in? ⬚ figure

Question 22: Select the answers that describe your relationship with St. Louis City. ⬚ figure

Question 23: How long have you lived or worked in St. Louis City? ⬚ figure

146

Question 24: What is your age?

⬚ figure

Question 26: Which race or races do you identify as?

⬚ figure

Question 25: Which gender do you most identify with?

⬚ figure

(blank page)

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Appendix B

SWOT Analysis

Introduction

The City of St. Louis is currently developing an updated Sustainability & Climate Plan (SCP) that will provide a new vision for sustainability in St. Louis City; balance the environmental, economic, and social needs of the City now and in the future; and establish key strategies to address and adapt to the changing climate.

Phase One of this project is centered around discovery – identifying the current state of sustainability and climate in St. Louis City; analyzing the City's existing plans, policies, and operations; and researching similar efforts in comparable cities.

This SWOT Analysis includes the following sections:

• Emissions & Hazards: A summary of the 2018 Greenhouse Gas inventory and its implications on our planning process, as well as information from the 2018 Vulnerability Assessment.
• SWOT Analysis: This section will use the information gathered from Task 1: Summary Review Report, to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the City's current sustainability and climate efforts.
• Gaps: Drawing from the SWOT analysis and the analysis of the previous sustainability work done by the City, this section will identify existing gaps within the City's sustainability initiatives.
• Preliminary Findings & Recommendations: This section will provide preliminary recommendations for how the Sustainability & Climate Plan will best address the takeaways identified in this memo. The major focus areas for the Plan will also be identified within this section.
• Appendix A: Community Profile: A brief background about St. Louis City, including: demographics, population growth and forecasting, economic development, equity concerns, etc.

⬚ figure

Emissions & Hazards

The Sustainability & Climate Plan addresses both climate mitigation and climate adaptation. As shown in the graphic below, climate mitigation reduces emissions that cause climate change while climate adaptation helps protect and strengthen communities against climate change impacts. Some strategies can both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Both are equally important when developing climate plans and ensuring communities are resilient and carbon neutral.

⬚ figure

Figure 1: Mitigation vs. Adaptation

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

Sustainability & Climate Plan

SWOT Analysis

Section: Emissions & Hazards

Greenhouse Gas Inventory

In 2018, the City conducted a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory update, providing a picture of GHG emissions associated with activities of St. Louis residents, businesses, and government. An updated GHG inventory is currently being developed but will not be completed for several months. While this updated information will be helpful to our planning process, based on other cities, we assume that the categories and level of emissions will not be significantly altered.

In 2018, the Commercial sector accounted for the largest portion of emissions (41%), followed by the Residential sector (24%), Transportation sector (17%), and the Industrial sector (15%). Roughly 79% of community GHG emissions came from buildings within the City’s footprint, while 17% came from various modes of transportation. The consumption of electricity remains the largest community emission source, accounting for approximately 59% of emissions, followed by transportation fuels (gasoline and diesel) at 17%, and natural gas at 23%.

While the City can still make improvements to meet its internal goals, it is important to highlight that City emissions make up about 3% of total community emissions. City buildings and facilities accounted for the largest portion of Government emissions at 33%, with Water Division operations following at 27% of Government emissions. Streetlights and signals showed the most significant emissions reductions, with 16,936 mtCO2e avoided. The GHG reduction is a result of approximately 35% of city streetlights being switched to LED lighting. The Water Division also experienced a high GHG emissions reduction of 12,805 mtCO2e. Overall, the government still relies heavily on electricity; 73% of the government emissions are attributed to electricity consumption.

For additional information, the 2018 GHG Emissions Inventory Report has detailed breakdowns of each section.¹

⬚ figure Figure 2: 2018 GHG emissions

Sustainability & Climate Plan

SWOT Analysis

Section: Emissions & Hazards

Climate Hazards

The City of St. Louis completed a Climate Vulnerability Assessment in 2018 that detailed the top five climate hazards facing St. Louis City. The Vulnerability Assessment measured exposure, sensitivity, and adaptative capacity. This report also included racial and economic equity considerations.

The top five climate hazards facing St. Louis City are extreme heat, extreme cold, drought, tornadoes and strong wind, and flooding and rainstorms. The section provides a short summary of these climate hazards taken from the Vulnerability Assessment, but to learn more please reference the comprehensive document.²

Extreme Heat

Extreme heat and heat waves, three or more consecutive days with hot air masses, are the deadliest natural disaster in the United States, surpassing hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods combined. Approximately 600 people die each year from heat and heat waves. Heat waves have been increasing across the globe over the last four decades. From January 2000 to September 2009 the number of record highs was more than doubled the number of record lows. Global climate models predict that heat waves will become more frequent, more intense, and last longer in Europe and North America. The effects of heat waves are exacerbated in urban areas, where large numbers of people live in close proximity in heavily built-up environments.

In 2022, Missouri averaged 15 days a year with high temperatures reaching extreme and dangerous levels. Projections show that by 2050, the state will see more than 60 days a year.³

Extreme Cold

Cold waves are rapid falls in temperature within a 24-hour period. Climate scientists predict that – though global temperatures are warming – changes in the jet stream will lead to shorter, but more intense, cold waves and heavier snowfall. Scientists also predict that ice storms are likely to increase in frequency and severity during the coming years. Extremely cold weather and sudden cold waves often have disastrous effects on public health and can lead to injury, hypothermia, respiratory illness, and cardiac events. Approximately 63 percent of temperature related deaths are due to cold exposure. Because cold waves can be sudden and occur outside of typical winter months, cities must be prepared for deaths from cold to occur year-round.

Cold waves can have impacts on human health, infrastructure, economy, and more. During the December 2022 artic front, the extreme cold temperatures caused power outages, burst pipes, and limiting transportation around the holidays.

Tornadoes and Strong Wind

Tornadoes are mobile, destructive vortexes of violently rotating winds that have the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud and advancing beneath a large storm system. The majority of tornadoes in

SWOT Analysis

Section: Emissions & Hazards

The United States (77%) are considered weak, ranking as only an F-0 or F-1 on the 0-5 Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity. Though few storms reach the intensity of the F-5 classification, these storms with winds over 200 miles per hour are responsible for 70% of tornado fatalities. On average, 57 people are killed each year by tornadoes in the United States, making it the second deadliest weather hazard after flooding. Manufactured slab homes which do not contain basements to shelter from tornadoes and brick homes that may not tie structurally sound enough to endure the high winds, are of particular concern in St. Louis City.

Climate change is predicted to impact the frequency and intensity of tornadoes. While tornadoes are now most common between March and August, climate models show that peak tornado season will occur earlier in the year. The United States has already seen a steady increase in the number of tornadoes per year since official tornado reporting began. Tornadoes have a broad range of negative effects. While the direct health impacts of tornadoes are generally related to falling trees, flying debris, and collapsed buildings, tornadoes can also damage public infrastructure, blocking access to emergency aid and severing power lines.

Drought

Drought is characterized as "a dry condition with low rainfall," but drought conditions vary across the country depending on local average rainfall. Air temperature increases cause evaporation from water within the soil, leaving the soil dry. Rising global temperatures brought about by trapped greenhouse gases will worsen the severity and frequency of droughts worldwide. Global temperatures are on the rise. Since 1990, the global average annual temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Communities that rely heavily on agriculture for income will be most directly impacted by worsening drought, but the effects of rising food prices will be felt by everyone.

As of November 2017, it is estimated that 27.6 million people, or 11% of the population of the United States if affected by drought. This number is only expected to increase, with NASA warning areas of Arizona and Southern California to prepare for major droughts of a severity not seen since the twelfth century. The United States has already experienced the disastrous effects of drought. In 1988 a major drought affected 67% of the nation, destroying a third of corn agriculture and resulting in financial losses exceeding $4.7 billion. While it is impossible to predict the exact pattern of new droughts in the future, it is certain that will increase in severity and frequency as the nation's average temperature is expected to rise from between 2 - 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.

Drought in St. Louis City increases the risk for fires, harms ecosystems and urban agriculture, and impacts the local economy. Due to the large port, water levels impact the ability for barges to move through the Mississippi River.

Flooding and Extreme Rainfall

The risk of flooding is expected to rise significantly as global temperatures continue to climb. As air temperatures rise, more water evaporates from oceans, lakes, and rivers, condensing in the air, and forming rainstorms. If the global average temperature rises by 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit anticipated, then the world could face a 500 percent increase in the risk of flooding, affecting 70 percent of the global population and GDP. Rising floodwaters and sea levels caused by heightened temperatures will inundate coastal communities and exacerbate inland river flooding. Permanent

rises in water level will displace millions. Already, between 2008 and 2015, 22.5 million people globally have been forced to relocate because of flooding.

St. Louis City has experienced several large flooding events in the several years. In 2019, the Mississippi River halted barge traffic for 4 months, leading to millions of dollars in lost revenue. In Summer 2022, double-digit rainfall fell in less than 12 hours, leading to flooding across the City. Two people died and thousands of residents were affected, especially in the Ellendale neighborhood.¹ These flooding events caused millions in damages to housing, businesses, infrastructure, and more.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN

2025

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis

This section utilizes the information gathered from Task 1: Summary Review Report, to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the City's current sustainability efforts. In addition to reviewing existing planning efforts, this section considers feedback from the Core team, the Community Advisory Group, and various City departments. This section also considers factors beyond the City's planning efforts, in an attempt to set the stage for our current planning process landscape.

The following is a summary of the SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The City of St. Louis is dedicated to creating a more sustainable and equitable future for its residents. There are several notable City efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build resilience, and create a more sustainable St. Louis City. Most recently, the City adopted a 2013 Sustainability Plan that established a framework of sustainable objectives designed to foster an economically, socially, and ecologically vibrant city. In 2017, the City adopted their Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, building on the 2013 plan, to establish policy and planning objectives and to detail the strategies required to achieve their newly identified target: carbon neutrality in citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Previous Planning Efforts

Focusing primarily on the 2013 Sustainability Plan and the 2017 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, there are many strengths that the SCP can leverage. These plans identify key strategies that are critical to achieving the City's goals.

The 2013 plan is comprehensive, connecting environmental, social, and economic factors in a "triple bottom line" analysis. The plan goes beyond environmental and ecological city improvements and highlights equity as a foundational element of the plan. Similarly, the 2017 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan is broken into mitigation and adaptation goals, with specific objectives identified.

Both documents have a rather comprehensive list of strategies, addressing the key issues identified in the Plan. The 2017 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan was largely built off the 2013 Sustainability Plan, focusing on the objectives of climate protection and emissions reduction. This Plan sets a target of climate neutrality by 2050.

Consideration of Equity

The City of St. Louis has done considerable work to embed equity throughout their planning processes, including equity-specific planning processes such as the 2018 Equity Indicators Baseline Report. Additionally, the 2013 Sustainability Plan, the 2017 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, the 2018 Resilient St. Louis, and the 2018 Vulnerability Assessment, among others, include specific equity considerations.

Despite this focus on equity, there are still significant disparities throughout the City, as detailed in the Community Profile section.

Identification of Hazards and Vulnerability

The 2018 Vulnerability Assessment is a foundational document for the Sustainability & Climate Plan. This document assesses the key areas that this Plan should address, including the socioeconomic vulnerability factors, health conditions and vulnerability, and landscape conditions and vulnerability in St. Louis City.

Development of Strategies

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

Due to the amount of planning that the City of St. Louis has done, many key strategies intended to reduce emissions and build resilience have already been identified. Staff may already be somewhat familiar with strategies, and may better understand potential roadblocks to implementation. However, as discussed in more detail in the Weaknesses section below, many of these strategies have not been implemented, or still could be further implemented.

Climate as a Priority The City has a dedicated Sustainability Director that works on climate and sustainability issues, which is critical to achieving climate action. By forming an Office of Sustainability, the City has shown its dedication to climate as a key issue facing the City. The City has also joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

In addition, St. Louis City has many non-profits and community-based organizations that are working to create a more resilient community. The City can explore or continue partnerships with these groups to advance climate action.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

Weaknesses Combatting and adapting to a changing climate is a complex and difficult task, requiring cities to be flexible and aggressive, pragmatic and bold. The following section identifies the weaknesses in the City of St. Louis' climate and sustainability work.

St. Louis City is not alone in struggling to meet the climate goals that it has set out. While cities with climate action plans outperform their peers with no plans, less than 2 out of 5 cities are on track to meet their emissions targets. There are many reasons for this, several of which are laid out in the Figure below.

⬚ figure Figure 1: Why Climate Action Plans Fail

Previous Planning Efforts The 2013 City of St. Louis Sustainability Plan has little to no framework for execution or accountability, laying out goals without a well-defined pathway to completion. There is no

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

emissions reduction target, or any other quantitative goals, and no mention of how objectives will be funded. Timelines are only in “short-term” or “long-term” rather than specific years and dates, which makes it harder for City officials and other key partners to remain accountable. It does not follow or reference a framework (such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or guidance from the Carbon Disclosure Project). Although the multidisciplinary approach is beneficial as an overall outlook, there are parts of the plan that have little to no bearing on sustainability and could be instead included in other city plans, allowing the Sustainability Plan to be a bit more focused.

The 2017 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan improves on some of the weaknesses mentioned above, as it sets an emissions reductions target, identifies threats, and follows some guidance from the Compact of Mayors commitment, but it still does not identify how most strategies and action items will be implemented or funded. Setting quantitative goals, interim targets, and strict timelines with a comprehensive plan for implementation and funding will increase the likelihood of execution in a timely manner. To determine the success of the 2017 Plan, a scorecard was created to track the progress of each strategy. As shown in the table below, only 3 strategies were completed.

Capacity

The City of St. Louis currently has only one employee dedicated to climate and sustainability work. Increasingly it is clear that cities need to integrate climate expertise into all departments to ensure that a climate lens is effectively employed in planning and design of projects and helps to avoid decisions that may hinder achieving climate goals. The City also struggles with funding climate

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

projects. That is not unique, as many city’s climate action teams are understaffed, and the average city spends less than half a percent of its budget on climate action.¹

However, since climate affects almost every department in a City, the burden of implementation should be shared throughout all relevant departments. Tying climate action into public health, housing, equity, economic development, and other departments can help achieve multi-beneficial results with limited funding.

Governance

A governance model that describes how the City will continue to make decisions and progress in climate action is also needed. During the planning process, there will be a Core Team group that guides deliverables and provides input; however, this collaboration needs to continue throughout the Plan implementation. There needs to be a staff member (or members) that leads Plan implementation, continues to apply pressure to City leadership if progress lows, and holds departments accountable.

Jurisdiction

One of the major barriers to moving the needle on climate action is the lack of jurisdiction over critical emission areas, such as the energy sector. For St. Louis City, according to the 2018 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report:

• The largest emissions were from commercial, residential, industrial, and transportation.
• In addition to Municipal emissions, areas related to transit, roads and mobility infrastructure, land use, and water infrastructure, where the city has a role in policy, planning, and implementation are important focus areas.
• Municipal operations emissions accounted for only 3% of overall community emissions.

There are several areas where the City may not have direct jurisdiction but can still make an impact. For example, electricity is managed by an investor-owned utility, Ameren, and accounts for almost 60% of GHG emissions for the community, largely due to the high level of coal as a source. While the City cannot control the energy mix that residents and businesses receive, they can implement measures and help incentivize to reduce demand and encourage the development of renewable energy. Equally, stormwater and wastewater are also managed by an investor-owned utility.

Green Economy

The transition to a more resilient community will require physical upgrades to our homes and businesses, our transportation systems, and our city infrastructure. For homes and businesses, these upgrades can be expensive and leave many unable to complete them or exclude renters who may not be able to make upgrades in their rentals. Furthermore, there is no centralized place where residents can find information on what upgrades would be most impactful, available rebates, etc. There needs to be a centralized, one-stop shop to make sustainable implementation easy.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

At the same time, the transition to a cleaner and more resilient economy requires a shift in our workforce and increases the demand for skilled high paying jobs. This green economy will require a workforce to construct new power plants and transmission lines, modernize older buildings, and plan more resilient communities. Electricians and plumbers, as well as other trades, will be in high demand as services for building upgrades increase. The demand for wind turbine service technicians is expected to increase by 44.3% by 2031 and the demand for electricians is expected to increase by 7.1% in the same time frame. Many climate plans do mention green jobs, but only in passing, without identifying a path to job training or partnerships with groups that will engage new workers, train them, and provide services.

Infrastructure

As climate hazards continue to intensity, St. Louis City will need to adapt. One of the areas of concern is urban infrastructure – things like stormwater systems, sewage systems, water treatment facilities, and levees need to be bolstered to meet larger amounts of rainfall at one time, for example. The electrical grid will also need to be enhanced to adjust to higher levels of electricity, local renewable energy, and battery storage.

Additionally, 56% of the housing stock in St. Louis City was built before 1940.¹ Focusing on energy efficiency upgrades can be an effective solution to reduce energy use, energy burden, and emissions. However, making these upgrades in older houses requires time and money that some residents may not have. While some programs exist, there are still barriers to making these upgrades.

The Vulnerability Assessment identified areas where physical infrastructure is especially vulnerable to climate hazards, as well as providing potential adaptive strategies to combat these stresses on our public infrastructure.

City / County Division

The long-standing separation of the City of St. Louis from St. Louis County impodes the ability of adjacent municipalities to achieve sustainability goals that might be easier and more efficient to attain if they shared an overarching county leadership. While it is beyond the scope of this plan to address how to resolve this separation, it is noted that special attention and resources should be allocated to build collaboration between the city with adjacent municipalities to attain shared goals and shared projects. Efficiencies of scale may be realized, with positive impacts shared with a greater population than just the city alone.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

Opportunities

There are many opportunities for the City of St. Louis to capitalize on to make progress on climate mitigation and adaptation.

State and Federal Funding

In 2024, the City of St. Louis was selected as one of the Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities. This is a three-year initiative to increase cities' efforts to leverage historic levels of federal funding to build low-carbon, resilient, and economically thriving communities. The cities will receive support from Bloomberg Philanthropies to bolster city capacity in driving progress on climate mitigation and promoting equitable outcomes. Potential projects in the 25 cities include developing affordable energy-efficient housing, increasing access to clean energy, investing in electric vehicles and infrastructure, and more.

In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed, making historic investments in climate action. Federal grants in various areas, including climate pollution reduction, community air pollution, mobile source programs, and methane emissions programs, have been and continue to be given to local jurisdictions to further local climate work.

While federal and state funding are subject to changing administrations, the City can prepare for these funding opportunities by having projects and programs identified for when funding opportunities arise. Additionally, by developing strategies with community buy-in, equity considerations, and a prioritization framework, the City will be more competitive when applying for these grants.

Partnerships

There are opportunities for partnerships and alignment with the County of St. Louis to advance climate goals, particularly around jobs, housing, and transportation. As discussed above, the City has a limited jurisdiction to what it can control. All other sources of emission reduction and adaptation will need to be addressed via partnerships or incentives.

In October 2024, the County of St. Louis announced that they are planning to develop a Climate Action Plan. This is an opportunity for the City and County to work together towards a common goal. Residents in the area do not live within the City or County's boundaries but travel freely through them. One area for coordination will be ensuring that our transportation systems are cohesive, and that people can commute to and from the City on public transportation. This can help to reduce the emissions associated with transportation.

Another area where partnerships are vital is working commercial and industrial partners to meet climate goals together. Encouraging businesses to reduce energy consumption, transition to renewable energy, and adopt green business practices can help shift the emissions coming from the commercial and industrial sectors. Many companies are actively working to make their businesses more climate-friendly, due to economic, social pressure, and good will, and may be interested in working with the City to make progress.

There is also an opportunity to partner with institutions like Washington University in St. Louis on research or curriculum to help educate the community on the benefits of sustainable and climate

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

CITY OF ST. LOUIS Sustainability & Climate Plan

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

strategies. Additionally, the City can partner with non-profit organizations to help with funding, capacity, and implementation to create a more resilient St. Louis.

The City has strong neighborhood pride and representation with passionate and involved community members. Connecting and working closely with these groups to be a part of the solution. Neighborhood volunteers can help relieve the staff capacity issue and assist in local maintenance, priority identification, and strategy implementation.

The City can also explore existing relationships, such as with Ameren, to advance climate action. The City is Ameren's biggest customer and nurturing that relationship and partnership could help provide incentives to residents and businesses for energy efficiency upgrades.

Renewable Cost Savings and Incentives

There are several partners that are proving incentives to residents and business owners for switching to renewables and making energy efficiency upgrades.

The Missouri Clean Energy District has a goal to provide access to capital for all property types and categories pursuing clean energy. Public and private property owners can apply for energy project funding to improve residential, multifamily, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and municipal facilities. According to their website, they provide "unlimited capital." Property owners can apply for 100% funding of energy improvement projects. Residential and commercial financial is available with long-terms and fixed rates to make cash flow positive. Programs like these can make clean energy more appealing to corporations and businesses, possibly to industrial partners.¹

There is also an opportunity to leverage green banks that provide grants and create custom loans to support clean energy upgrades.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources provides loans and grants to a variety of entities. Their Energy Loan Program caters to public schools (K-12), public and private colleges and universities, local governments, public-owned airport facilities (municipal, county, regional and international), public water and wastewater treatment facilities and public and private not-for-profit hospitals to help reduce energy costs. The Energize Missouri Agriculture Program caters to farm operators by providing cost-share grants for energy efficiency projects. Grant and loan financing may be used for various energy-saving investments, including projects such as upgrading insulation, irrigation systems, lighting systems, heating and cooling systems, windows and other items that affect your energy use. Municipal Utility Emergency Loan Program provides no interest loans to municipal utility entities for winter storm costs.²

Precedent and Climate Leaderships

St. Louis is in a position to learn from other cities and continue to be a model for climate action. For an in-depth examination of other cities' climate planning processes, please visit the Task 1: Report of Key Findings.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS Sustainability & Climate Plan

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

The City itself can stand as a climate leader for residents through its Municipal Operations. Municipal buildings can implement the energy-efficiency measures first that it wants businesses and residents to implement.

Co-Benefits

Addressing climate change has a variety of co-benefits that extend well beyond reducing emissions. Just as climate impacts have repercussions for health, wellness, and livability – addressing climate impacts can have positive impacts across our communities. A well-run public transportation system can reduce the vehicle miles traveled and therefore reduce emissions, but it can also provide more mobility to those with no car. Energy efficiency upgrades can reduce energy emissions, but it can also reduce the energy bill of low-income residents. Tying these wins together, especially across City departments, can help build further community and political support.

Geographical Location

The City of St Louis sits along-side the longest and largest waterway in North America, its location since the pre-Columbian era being an important inland port. Moreover, St Louis ranks in the top 3 freight rail centers in the United States, and has many vital cross-continental interstates passing through or adjacent to the city. Illinois governmental leadership has implemented legislation to construct high-speed rail between Chicago and the City of St. Louis, shortening a five-hour trip to approximately two-hours. While the City population has experienced a continual decline since the 1950s, with a growing national population, its central location in the United States, and being well-served by transportation infrastructure; St Louis appears well-positioned to experience population and business growth in the future. Sustainability goals and practices should be created and implemented in the immediate future so that they are positioned to become the standard before possible future growth is realized. The City should act now so they are not behind in the future.

Land Use Policies and Mobility

Like many American cities, our land use practices have impeded our ability to have walkable neighborhoods, reliable transit options, and green infrastructure. The City of St. Louis is currently updating its Strategic Land Use Plan (SLUP) and developing a Transportation and Mobility Plan (TMP), together providing an opportunity to align and integrate climate considerations identified in the SCP into these critical efforts. Having walkable spaces and concentrating and growing activity and density were two major themes from the SLUP outreach. The SLUP also includes the idea of a 15-minute city so that residents have access to the essential services and amenities they need within a 15-minute walk from where they live. Not only does a 15-minute city provide a more connected, enjoyable neighborhood, but it also reduces the need for driving – which is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions – and enhances the health and wellbeing of the community.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

Threats

State & Federal Policies

Missouri's plan to expand solar power in underserved communities was one of 60 selected for funding through the Environmental Protection Agency's $7 billion Solar for All program. Other than that, no straightforward goals or targets have been set by the state. However, Missouri has not developed a statewide adaptation plan. Cities like St. Louis and Kansas City have set goals but there is nothing required at the state level.

2021 HB 734 prohibits cities and municipalities from adopting any policies that remove access to a utility service based on the type of energy it provides. This policy prevents cities from banning new buildings from using natural gas. The investor-owned utility, and other energy policies, such as time of use and net metering, may impact the City to increase community solar and other renewable energy.

Ameren as an Energy Source

The Labadie Energy Center is a coal plant in Franklin County, Missouri, which is approximately 40 miles east of St. Louis City. The coal plant does not have sulfur dioxide scrubbers, making it the country's highest emitter of the outlet. Even if Labadie's SO2 emissions were cut in half, the plant would still emit more than all but two coal plants in the country.¹

Using Medicare records to estimate the number of deaths tied to air pollution from coal plants, researchers estimated that from 1999 to 2020, about 4,000 deaths were linked to "fine particulate matter" from Labadie, according to a study published in the journal Science.

The City of St. Louis has no jurisdictional control over Ameren, or the source of the energy they receive. Therefore, there are systemic barrier to slashing emissions if this plant is still running and the majority of energy used in St. Louis City is from coal.

In some other ways, Ameren attempts to support clean energy. Ameren has a net zero carbon emissions by 2050 goal and a commitment to expand their wind and solar portfolio. Ameren Missouri's third community solar facility, the New Florence Solar Facility, will add an additional 7MW of solar power to the regional grid and offset the amount of coal powered energy required to maintain the grid, according to their website. Waitlisted customers can expect to receive renewable energy by the end of 2025. However, this solar energy is a premium subscription and most costly than the standard energy mix. ²

Ameren has pursued opportunities to expand renewable energy generation by installing solar facilities in underutilized locations, such as on a parking garage, next to an airport runway, and in underserved neighborhoods. However, the Missouri Public Service Commission regulations make it difficult for Ameren to install solar fields less than 1 MW, which requires a 5-10 acre area. ³

Limitations of Renewables

While renewables are not fully limited, there are challenges to increasing use. Some of these challenges can be addressed with partnerships or increased outreach on existing programs. Other challenges, like the needed increase in infrastructure and facilities may be more difficult and long-term. As of 2024, Missouri is ranked 29th in energy efficiency according to the ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy), and 9% of its energy comes from renewable energy.

Renew Missouri is a 501(c)3 dedicated to transforming Missouri into a leading state in renewable energy and energy efficiency, they often work with Missouri Legislature and other advocacy groups. ⁴

The Missouri Energy Efficiency Coalition (MO EEFA) works to improve efficiency and affordability in low-income multifamily housing through engaging utilities and building power within local communities.

Economics of St. Louis

Often progress on climate action is difficult to achieve due to budget constraints or other economic factors. However, what is not calculated is the cost of inaction and the co-benefits of climate action.

Recent research has found that every one dollar invested in climate mitigation saves at least six dollars in clean up and adaptation work. ⁵ When considering the cost to repair damage to flooding, extreme heat and cold, extreme weather events, the cost of inaction is staggering. Additionally, there are secondary factors that may not be considered. For example, in 2015, there were 2,048 emergency room visits made by children for issues related to asthma, with black children being ten times as likely to visit emergency rooms for asthma-related complications. Lessening the emissions that come from the Labadie Energy Center would have a significant impact on the GHG emissions of the community, but it has the potential to help improve air quality and those with health issues, like asthma.

Looking beyond climate mitigation and adaption, taking action on areas that make the community healthier, better off financially, and more connected, will improve the city as a whole.

Crime & Safety

The City of St. Louis has and continues to be rank in the top 3 cities of violent crime nationally. While not a direct impact to sustainability goals, this significant public health hazard poses a significant financial risk to the City; funds needed to support sustainability goals and livability improvements for St. Louis citizens are at risk of being diverted to augment law-enforcement and other crime-response measures. Moreover, the negative publicity of the City's high crime ranks deters many businesses from moving to the City, as well as new residents, constraining potential.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: SWOT Analysis

tax revenue important to City operations. The negative publicity also deters residents from using public transportation or utilizing green spaces throughout the City.

The City of St. Louis has had an increase of 15% from 2019 to 2021 pedestrian fatalities according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Wide and fast streets paired with the lack of safe bike lanes and bike infrastructure are a deterrent for residents to use alternative modes of transportation.¹

Health Outcomes

In addition to the climate hazards that the Vulnerability Assessment identified, there are additional climate-related health concerns.

Extreme Heat

Adults 65 years and older, low-income individuals, and children are some of the most vulnerable to heat-related negative outcomes. Higher urban temperatures are associated with higher levels of air pollution and greenhouse gases, which can worsen asthma and other respiratory diseases. Extreme heat is a significant threat to city livability as it is augmented by the urban heat effect, coupled with typical exposed brick buildings (residential and commercial) that store summer solar gain as heat, impacting populations who cannot afford sufficient air conditioning.

Cold Exposure

Approximately 63% of temperature related deaths are due to cold exposure. Cooler weather also leads to higher risk of infectious disease, due to increased time spent inside. Populations that are especially vulnerable to cold weather are adults 65, low-income individuals, younger populations, and African Americans.

As indicated in the community profile, heat and pollution are major concerns for the city, as are the health of the community.

Behavioral Change

There is always a challenge in implementing new policies or changing mindsets, especially on something as far reaching as climate action. Staff and decision makers are often grounded in "this is the way it always has been done." Community members may be too busy, not convinced, or unwilling to make changes to their day-to-day activities, especially if it requires extra money, time, or effort. Changing a mindset is critical in innovating and creating noticeable change throughout the community.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: Preliminary Findings & Recommendations

Preliminary Findings & Recommendations

Reflecting on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the City of St. Louis' climate action can begin to highlight a path forward for the Sustainability & Climate Plan.

Gaps

Drawing from the SWOT analysis, and the analysis of the previous sustainability work done by the City, this section will identify existing gaps within the City’s sustainability initiatives and areas for additional research.

• Implementation: The previous plans did not include how the strategies were going to be implemented, who the responsible party was, or what the timeframe for completion. There are already a number of strategies identified to help move towards the City’s goal but need to have more specific and actionable steps to implement. Without a clear framework, continuous monitoring of progress, identified champions, funding mechanisms, accountability, or a timeframe, implementation may be stalled or hard to track.
• Tracking: While the City has been diligent in doing GHG inventories every 5 years, the has been limited tracking of the strategy implementation as it occurs. Understanding what has been done, what has not been done, and figuring out the barriers to previous efforts is key for ensuring that this Plan is actionable.
• Infrastructure: While the Vulnerability Assessment was comprehensive in identifying the socioeconomic, health, and landscape impacts from climate change, it did not provide an assessment of the City’s current infrastructures ability to deal with a changing climate.
• Commercial and Industrial Sector: The commercial and industrial sectors in St. Louis are critical to the economy but are also the primary source of emissions. The previous plans included these sectors but did not provide as strong of a focus and action plan as may be merited.
• Partnerships: While this Plan is focused on reducing emissions and building resilience within St. Louis City, the City will have to form partnerships to achieve its goals — with the County, with private industries, with community-based organizations. Additional focus is needed on commercial and industrial strategies, as well as energy reduction on the demand side.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Section: Preliminary Findings & Recommendations

Key Takeaways for the Sustainability & Climate Plan

• Action-Oriented Plan. The SCP should be action-oriented, focusing predominantly on how progress will be made within the jurisdiction of the City. The Plan should acknowledge all of the previous planning efforts, the library of strategies previously created, and highlight any new strategy areas that can help establish a bold and visionary plan. It should also ultimately focus on key priorities that will enable a transformation to a zero-carbon community.
• Short and Long Term. Within the Plan, there should be short-term actions that are much more detailed, as well as more general longer-term strategies. This short-term planning should include roles and responsibilities, timing as well as identifying funding opportunities. These short-term strategies should help set the City up to increasingly impactful action in the future.
• Based in Community Values & Goals. The SCP should be based in and likely organized around community values and goals. Equity should be embedded throughout the entire plan, using a criterion that considers equity in each strategy and action. The following are key areas to explore for strategy development:
  • Promote a Safe, Climate-Friendly City
  • Build Climate Capacity and Resilience
  • Enhance Well-being and Climate Health
• Modern & Forward-Thinking. The SCP does not have to follow the rules of a "traditional" climate action or adaptation plan. The City should consider what format is most helpful to them, what the community is most likely to reference, and any other limitations they should consider. A modern and forward-thinking plan would have less narrative, more graphics, and may even be hosted through a website or a Storymap.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

Appendix: Community Profile

The following is a brief community profile, highlighting key facts that may impact the Sustainability & Climate Plan.

Geography

St. Louis City is located just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The City is known as the Gateway City for opening America's Gateway to the West. The City still serves as an important route for cross-country travel.

The City is a part of a larger metropolitan area, which extends across the Mississippi to Illinois. This metropolitan has an estimated population of 2.8 million people, far outsizing the City population.¹

⬚ figure

Figure 2: Ward Map

The City is broken into 14 wards, each served by an Alderman. The Board of Alderman is the legislative body of the City and creates, passes, and amends local laws, as well as approve the City's budget every year.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

Demographics

The following demographics are taken from the Census QuickFacts.¹ St. Louis City has a population of 281,754 over nearly 62 sq miles of land. Since 1950, the population of St. Louis has declined 63 percent from a peak of about 850,000 people. This has led to a large amount of vacant property, with nearly 25,000 vacant parcels.² Population has continued to decline over the past decades, although rates have slowed from a 12.2% decline from 1990 to 2000 to a 5.5% decline from 2010 to 2020.³

Within the City, there is a 65.9% employment rate, which is slightly higher than the State's average of 62.5% and the national average of 63.0%. However, the median household income is $52,941, which is lower than the State's average of $65,920 and considerably lower than the national average of $75,149. There are an average of 2.01 people per household, which is lower than the State average of 2.37 and the national average of 2.57.⁴

The median age in St. Louis City is 37.2, which is similar to the State's average (39.3) and the national average (36.5).

Ten percent of households speak a language other than English at home, including Spanish, Farsi, Vietnamese, Bosnian, French, Pashto, and Dari.⁵

The race breakdown of the City is shown in Figure 2.

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

⬚ figure

Figure 2: 2020 Census - Race and Hispanic Origin

Population Growth and Forecasting

While there has been no official population forecasting for the City of St. Louis, there are some population figures that should be taken into consideration during the SCP planning process. While the SCP will only consider activities within St. Louis City, understanding the growth patterns and composition of the larger metropolitan area is important as it relates to transportation, jobs, housing and commute patterns. The following table shows key figures that provide comparison.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

Table 1: City and Metropolitan Area Demographic Comparison

The disparities in household income and persons living below the poverty line should be considered while developing the SCP, understanding that those struggling to meet their basic needs may have limited capacity or desire to focus on climate action. However, by creating strategies that make our communities healthier, more mobile, and more energy-efficient, both residents and our environment can benefit.

Social Vulnerability

As described in the City of St. Louis 2018 Vulnerability Assessment, social vulnerability is defined as the social characteristics that influence a community's ability to respond to, cope with, recover from, and adapt to environmental hazards. These characteristics include age, socioeconomic status, race, and disability status. The Vulnerability Assessment specifically identifies the following populations as especially vulnerable to climate hazards:

• Populations over the age of 65
• Children under age 5
• People living below the poverty line
• Non-white residents
• Populations who speak English as a second language
• People with disabilities
• Renters
• Households with no vehicles¹

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

Equity

Racial and economic inequalities have been a key component of the City of St. Louis' previous planning processes. There are several recent planning processes that focused on racial and economic inequities within the City, such as the 2018 Resilient St. Louis Strategy, 2018 Equity Indicators Baseline Report for the City of St. Louis, the 2022 SLDC Economic Justice Action Plan, along with other planning processes that considered equity throughout.

As these documents point out, residents of color in St. Louis are disproportionally impacted by several challenges facing the city.

According to the Equity Indicators Baseline Report²:

• Black children are more likely to live in poverty than children of any other race.
• Black children are more likely to have significant health issues, with black children being more than ten times as likely as white children to visit emergency rooms for asthma-related complication.
• Racial disparities in wealth persist throughout all life stages in St. Louis, starting in childhood, continuing into adulthood, and extending into old age.
• Black pedestrians are twice as likely as white pedestrians to be killed or injured by motor vehicle collisions.
• Black residents are less likely than white residents to be able to participate in digital forms of democracy and are less likely to live in neighborhoods with active neighborhood associations.
• Residents of majority-black neighborhoods report more problems with city infrastructure and services than residents of majority-white neighborhoods.
• Many St. Louis residents lie in hyper-segregated neighborhoods, where more than 90% of residents are the same race.

The following maps from show the density of low-income households and African American households. These maps point to increased social vulnerability in the North part of the City, particularly Wards 3, 11, 12, 13, and 14.

CITY OF ST. LOUIS SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE PLAN 2025

CITY OF ST. LOUIS

Sustainability & Climate Plan

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

⬚ figure

Figure 4: Median Household Income in St. Louis City

Prepared by BluePoint Planning | December 2024 | Page 27

CITY OF ST. LOUIS

Sustainability & Climate Plan

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

⬚ figure

Figure 5: Density heat map of African American Population by Ward

Prepared by BluePoint Planning | December 2024 | Page 28

162

SWOT Analysis Draft #3

Appendix: Community Profile

Economic Development

The greater St. Louis metropolitan area is home to seven Fortune 500 companies, and the ten largest employers include manufacturing, health care, professional, and retail industries. Within St. Louis City boundaries, the top employers and their workforce are shown in Table 2.¹

Table 2: Top 10 Employers in St. Louis City

In the St. Louis region, a majority of the workforce works outside of the county or city that they live within, as seen in Figure 3. This has implications for climate action, due to the large number of emissions that come from the transportation sector. While this data does not tell us how commuters travel (other efforts make it likely that it is primarily via single-occupant cars), it does demonstrate the importance of cross-jurisdictional partnerships when it comes to transportation.

Figure 3: Percent of Employees Working Outside of Home County²

(blank page)

Consulting teams who supported development of the City of St Louis Sustainability & Climate Plan, 2024 – 2025:

CANNONDESIGN, ST LOUIS MO Eric Corey Freed Mike Cavanaugh Brian Hicks Charul Chhabria Melissa Johnston

GREENWOOD CONSULTING, KANSAS CITY MO Sara Greenwood Simone Fraid Grant Stevens

BLACKROCK CONSULTING, ST. LOUIS MO Sunni Hutton

BLUEPOINT PLANNING, BERKELEY CA Mindy Craig Hayley Padden Allisia Sandoval

VERDICAL GROUP, LOS ANGELES, CA & ST LOUIS MO Emily Hand Rebecca Ramsdale

Chronology of Sustainability & Climate Plan

Drafts and Associated Reviews, 2025:

Draft 1: issued May 5, 2025 for City of St. Louis review and comment (City project Core Team review).

Draft 2: issued May 30, 2025 for review and comment by City of St. Louis review (City Core Team, City Departmental Leads) and Community Advisory Group.

Draft 3: issued July 2, 2025 for presentation to City of St. Louis Planning Commission.

Draft 3.1: issued September 9, 2025 for Public Review and comment.

Final Plan: issued October 2025.

*For composition of City Core Team and Community Advisory Group, see page 4.

Elysia Russell Director of Sustainability

Office of Sustainability

stlouis-mo.gov/sustainability