County Emission Plan Has $441 Million Price Tag

Solar panels. CC0 Creative Commons. Photo from pixabay.

The price tag attached to Milwaukee County’s plan to reduce carbon emissions illuminates the sweeping challenge society faces in reducing carbon emissions in response to global climate change.

It’s a rough estimate, but planners expect it will cost approximately $441 million on top of what the county is already doing, over the next 25 years, to achieve net-zero carbon emissions just for county government operations.

The figure is included in a comprehensive plan for achieving carbon neutrality. In 2021, the Milwaukee County Board passed a resolution sponsored by Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson requesting a long-term plan from the county moving the government toward climate neutrality. County Executive David Crowley released the plan earlier this month after four years of work by county staff.

At a meeting of the board’s Committee on Community, Environment and Economic Development on April 14, Grant Helle, director of the county’s Office of Sustainability, was joined by project consultants from McKinstry, who helped develop the county’s plan. They explained to supervisors that the plan, and the associated cost, was developed based on the value of dollars today and existing technology. In the future, new technologies are expected to emerge that will lower the cost emission reductions.

“[25 years is] a long time also for technology to develop and drive costs down,” said Tyler Zastrow, a project manager with McKinstry.

Even before the county board authorized the report, the county had already made significant progress in emission reductions, largely through energy efficient building systems and reducing the county’s building footprint. As of 2023, the county had already reduced emissions by 46% from the globally accepted benchmark year of 2005, established through the Paris Climate Accords.

“We’ve been focusing on some of those low-hanging-fruit-type projects, if you will, or strategies that have proven technologies,” Helle said.

Those are what the county will likely continue to focus on in the near term, said Zastrow, and beneficially, many have shorter payback periods in terms of energy savings, or are cash positive. The overarching goal of the county’s climate strategy is to prevent taking on new sources of emissions. But the next major step in lower emissions is reducing the county’s overall energy use.

“This is where I can’t, you know, stress enough that this is technology that is available today,” Zastrow said. “This is the low hanging fruit.”

That includes continuing to replace lighting with energy efficient LEDs, making HVAC systems more efficient.

Much of the cost for decarbonizing will be incurred during the latter half of the county’s timeline, said Sam Bluemer-Garibay of McKinstry. One example is replacing natural gas infrastructure with electric. The plan recommends waiting until existing natural gas infrastructure is at the point of failure before replacing with electric, as the county would otherwise be budgeting for replacement.

The county’s fleet of light and heavy duty vehicles and buses is another area where existing technology can help the county begin to tackle emissions. Currently, buildings account for 65% of the county’s emissions and the vehicle fleet the other 35%. Electric vehicles remain the best option for reducing the county’s fleet emissions, said Tom Chandlee of McKinstry.

“There are challenges with [electric] bus manufacturers in the US,” Chandlee said. “Those challenges are likely to persist for a few more years.”

The county has struggled with its own battery electric buses (BEB). The county’s BEB manufacturer, Nova Bus, left the U.S. market in 2023 and later its existing fleet of 11 BEBs were pulled during a manufacturers recall.

The good news, however, is that the number of electric vehicle options for light duty vehicles is growing. For heavy duty vehicles, like snow plows, though, it’s unlikely electric options will be available in the near term, or ever, Chandlee said. The longterm climate plan recommends the county develop a fleet electrification plan.

“Scaling the use of electric vehicles actually does not happen without a plan,” Chandlee said. “Infrastructure takes a year or more to develop significantly longer time frame than purchasing a vehicle.”

The cost estimate for decarbonizing the county arrived shortly after supervisors were presented with a dire five-year fiscal outlook, which included a $47 million project budget deficit in 2026. Supervisor Caroline Gómez-Tom noted that, despite the sticker shock of the long term goal, projects will be reviewed one by one through the county’s budget process.

There will be an opportunity to pursue grant funding, and having the comprehensive plan, loaded with potential projects, puts the county on a good footing for applying in the future, Bluemer-Garibay told the committee. “Even if it’s not fully baked, to be able to see that you have a trajectory to get there, puts you in a better position in line to receive that funding,” she said.

One of the landmark pieces of legislation passed during the former president Joe Biden‘s term, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), included nearly $400 billion in funding aimed lowering the nation’s carbon emissions, with a longterm goal of net-zero emissions, just like the county.

Sup. Steve Taylor, who said he supports the current administration of President Donald Trump, nonetheless noted that it has tried to clawback the funding and dismantle the efforts included in the IRA. “They’re gonna try to unwind as much as they can,” he said. “It’s going to set it all back more than four years.”

Recently, however, federal judges have issued rulings ordering the federal government to unfreeze IRA funding the Trump administration has tried to impound, including a $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

Chairwoman Nicholson urged her colleagues to approve the plan for adoption by the full board, stressing that addressing climate change is a necessity.

“The challenges are real, but so is our power,” Nicholson said. “And when Milwaukee County leads with courage and clarity we send a message that local government can make good things happen.”