Saint Paul Green New Deal Resolution

We are pleased to share that a St. Paul Green New Deal Resolution has been drafted by Sunrise Twin Cities and shared with city councilmembers. 

Sunrise TC, the local hub for a national youth climate justice movement, has also been reaching out to organizations including Community Power.    

Here is the full text of the resolution as well as the cliff notes version / outline of the resolution.    

Because the text of the Green New Deal resolution is so thorough in policy ideas, as well as in its general vision for climate justice in Saint Paul, advancing the resolution would help the city in updating its Climate Action and Resilience Plan, due later this year.

Here are some additional messaging points for the GND Resolution as well as a 1-pager for color printing. Highlights of the resolution include: 

• Making Saint Paul carbon-neutral by 2030, through building decarbonization, local food, transit justice, zero waste
• Funding the transition by creating a dedicated, equitable revenue source based on the “make polluters pay” principle.
• Combating gentrification through a citywide mandatory affordable housing program.  
• Prioritizing investment of these funds into frontline communities (historically most harmed by economic, racial, and environmental injustice) gaining equal access to clean air and water, adequate green space, plus protection from heat waves, droughts, and storms and in further work around a Green New Deal.
• Transitioning from an economy based on extraction and exploitation to one based on regeneration and cooperation, where the social and ecological well-being of all people is prioritized over the profit of private corporations.
• Creating stable, well-paying jobs that prioritize local hire and have built-in labor protections.

 The above points are in line with the Community Power mission statement to educate and activate residents of Minnesota cities and towns to create clean, local, equitable, affordable, and reliable energy systems.

The resolution also calls upon President Biden to declare a climate emergency and use the federal power to implement a country-wide transition necessary to avert the climate crisis as well as ensuring the American Climate Corps is a model for Green New Deal jobs.

Click here to sign the online petition for the St. Paul Green New Deal Resolution. 

Follow @sunrise_twincities on Instagram for campaign updates, including eventual public hearing dates.

Encouraging Updates about Networked Geothermal in Saint Paul !

• The Heights Awarded $4.7 Million for Geothermal Energy System  The loan award is the first from the newly created Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority. City of Saint Paul press release, March 27, 2024

• State ‘green bank’ funds its first climate project in St. Paul The geothermal system will heat and cool The Heights. By Estelle Timar-Wilcox, MPR News, March 28, 2024 

• St. Paul, Minnesota’s public schools are tapping geothermal to cut emissions and building costs New technology and federal incentives have helped convince the district that geothermal is among its best options for achieving its climate goals. By Frank Jossi, Midwest Energy News, March 22, 2024