Ashland Climate Collaborative, Rogue Climate, and Southern Oregon Climate Action Now issued the following joint statement of support for the 2025 updates to the City of Ashland’s Climate & Energy Action Plan. It’s the first time that the three organizations have spoken with one voice.
October 1, 2025
Dear Mayor and Council,
We are writing to you today to express our strong concurrence with the direction of the 2025 Climate & Energy Action Plan (CEAP) Report authored by Chad Woodward, Climate & Energy Analyst for the City of Ashland.
We believe that the approaches laid out in this report will provide an excellent framework for City policy, local community-based organization efforts, and collaboration among all the above.
Background
In 2015, Ashland embarked on a journey to explore our community’s role in addressing climate change and how best to prepare for the changes to our climate that are already underway. The culmination of this work was the Ashland Climate & Energy Action Plan (CEAP) – a document that establishes goals to reach net-zero by 2050 and enhance Ashland’s resilience to climate change. The City Council approved the CEAP in 2017, as well as a city code to formalize the City’s commitment (AMC 9.40 Climate Recovery).
The CEAP was a landmark report that ensured a sustained commitment to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and climate resilience work in City policy and operations and across the community. While the document is not perfect, we continue to believe that creating the CEAP was a brilliant idea. It still provides a solid foundation for dramatically reducing our contribution to climate change and enhancing our resilience. Its core strategies and actions remain relevant.
The 2025 CEAP report identifies important refinements to the original CEAP that we see as essential to our success. We wholeheartedly support this updated framework and urge the Council to embrace this direction.
Specifically, we applaud the following aspects of this report:
1. Eliminating the CEAP goal of reducing our emissions by 8% per year from 2017 to 2050. Since the approval of the CEAP, the 8% goal has been problematic in several ways. It can’t be measured. It ignores the time lag inherent in implementing major system changes that can move the needle. It has been interpreted to indicate that we’re failing, when actually we’re still in the early stages of a 33-year endeavor.
That said, new, more meaningful goals are needed to take the place of this one. The City should retain the overarching goal to achieve net zero by 2050, and supplement that with periodic interim goals to achieve between now and 2050. These goals should provide specific targets for reducing “natural” gas (methane), transportation, and electricity emissions. We recognize that annual measurements may be imprecise at times, but we urge that we not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We’d welcome the opportunity to work with the City and CEPAC to develop the best available measurement strategies.
2. Focusing on emissions that can be measured and worked on locally—like reducing the use of fossil fuels to heat our buildings and travel around town. We believe that, collectively, local efforts can make a huge difference.
3. Establishing primary, secondary, and tertiary focus areas to prioritize our efforts. The CEAP defined 26 strategies and 65 “priority” actions. The reality is that only a few of these actions will significantly move the needle. We support the report’s prioritization of “natural” gas and transportation emissions in the primary tier, and the statement that, of these, “natural” gas and transportation emissions reflect our greatest opportunities to reduce GHG emissions.
Natural Gas Reporting
The carbon pollution impact fee ordinance (3254), taking effect on January 1, 2026, includes the following requirement: “Any utility providing fossil fuels and operating within the City’s Right of Way must submit an annual report detailing total residential and commercial fossil fuel consumption. For metered fossil fuel services, the report must include the total number of operational meters, separated into residential and commercial accounts. This data shall be provided on the same schedule as payments to the City for Right of Way use.”
We strongly recommend that the City continue to demonstrate its commitment to measurable and responsible GHG reduction by ensuring Avista’s compliance with this ordinance. This data is essential to enabling our community to make informed decisions and reach our climate goals.
4. Understanding what it takes to succeed. The report acknowledges that while incentive programs and city policies can help drive adoption of low-carbon home energy and transportation strategies, outreach and education efforts are “integral to all activities.” We recommend that the City allocate more resources to these activities.
5. Seeing the City as a leader. With its widespread support for GHG emission reduction, Ashland can develop successful local models and empower data collection that will help accelerate the uptake of tangible climate solutions in other communities.
In Conclusion
Ashland’s 2017 Climate and Energy Action Plan put us on a good initial pathway to reduce our contribution to climate pollution. As Ashland’s CEAP journey approaches its tenth anniversary, we believe the refinements articulated in the 2025 CEAP Report will put us on a path for success.
Our ultimate success will require an ongoing commitment to transparent reporting on the uptake and impact of our conservation programs and the progress toward our specific emission-reduction goals. It will also require a willingness to continue refining these programs annually or semi-annually as conditions evolve.
Thank you again for your leadership and your public service.
Signed,
Erin O’Kelley Muck, Executive Director, Ashland Climate Collaborative
Brooke Nuckles, Executive Director, Rogue Climate
Daniel Scotton, Executive Director, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now