Climate Change and Chapel Hill's Progressive Invovlement

"We are pleased that topics of this importance are going to be discussed in Chapel Hill," said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy. "We are striving to become a model community for reducing greenhouse emissions and are actively pursuing sustainable initiatives."

Chapel Hill became the first U.S. municipality to commit to a 60 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 through the Community Carbon Reduction Project.

Some of the ways the community will realize this goal is by increasing greenways and open space and establishing new tree protection rules. In Chapel Hill, new or expanded Town government facilities must be built to green building standards and private developers are encouraged to incorporate energy efficient features into their projects. The Town also has set aside funds to install energy efficient features into existing public buildings.