Atlantic Council - ISSUE BRIEF - Cleveland, Ohio: Promoting a Local and Just Energy

The plan also decline, starting in the 1960s, of Cleveland’s industrial and addressed cross-cutting priorities across the focus areas manufacturing bases, which continue to be the backbone of social and racial equity, good jobs, climate resilience, of Cleveland’s economy.5 and business leadership. [...] As just one of many possible examples, the construc- Partnership, the city’s Chamber of Commerce, for example, tion of highways through Cleveland starting in the 1950s split have begun to monitor their scope-one and scope-two the city unevenly, and to the detriment of poorer minority emissions due to increasing customer demand for sustain- communities.6 Today, the legacy of Cleveland’s unequal abi. [...] The city’s population loss was the sur- occurred as regional eGrid emissions fell on coal-to-gas rounding Cuyahoga County’s gain (Cuyahoga is by far the switching, as well as the increased adoption of clean ener- largest county among the five in the MSA), although it too gy.10 At the state level, Ohio’s use of coal in the electricity has declined in population, from around 1.7 million in 1970 sect. [...] It has the express goal of reversing the to pockets of the city.32 Bike Cleveland, a local nongovern- loss of tree cover through identifying appropriate policy mental organization (NGO), has identified twenty-seven remedies and generating public and civil-society buy-in to miles of potential new or improved bike facilities to en- reforestation of the city.36 hance biking connectivity and safety.33. [...] Conclusion and Recommendations Despite the state of Ohio’s recalcitrant policies toward re- newable energy, there is much opportunity for Cleveland For the city of Cleveland and the surrounding region to in this domain.