County Officials Disregard Trump’s Climate Policy

County Executive David Crowley and Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson sign resolution reaffirming climate goals. Photo taken April 1, 2026, by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County officials sent a message to the Trump administration Wednesday that they would take the threat of climate change seriously, even if the federal government would not.

County Executive David Crowley signed a resolution Wednesday that reiterates the county’s support for the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which calls for achieving net-zero fossil fuel emissions by 2050. It is the second time in less than a decade that county policymakers have reaffirmed the commitment.

In 2017, during President Donald Trump‘s first term in office, he formally pulled the U.S. out of the landmark international climate treaty, which established global goals for emission reductions in response to climate change. In 2021, then-President Joe Biden’s administration rejoined the agreement. In 2025, Trump issued an executive order withdrawing the United States again.

“We’ve been here before. In 2017, when federal leadership — no, when Trump stepped back — I stood with my colleagues to pass legislation reaffirming Milwaukee County’s commitment to the principles of the Paris climate agreement,” Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell said. “We didn’t wait then, and we’re not waiting now.”

The resolution, sponsored by Nicholson-Bovell and Sup. Anne O’Connor, reaffirms the county’s commitment to climate goals and the climate-related projects already underway. The county has already spent four years developing a plan to achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement by 2050.

“In other words, stay the course on the progress we’ve already made for our residents, our economy and the next generation,” O’Connor told her colleagues on the Committee on Community, Environment and Economic Development in March.

The signing ceremony was held Wednesday at the Urban Ecology Center in Washington Park. Crowley said the resolution sends “a very, very clear message that Milwaukee County will continue to lead regardless of what is happening at the federal level.”

The county has already made significant progress toward emission reduction goals. The government is on track for a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from the baseline year of 2005 by 2030. The county had already reduced emissions by 46% by 2023, largely through reducing the county’s building footprint under budgetary pressures and installing new energy-efficient building systems in remaining county facilities.

Buildings still account for approximately 65% of all county emissions. The county’s fleet, including buses used to operate the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS), accounts for the other 35%. MCTS, which is on track for major service cuts in coming years, reversed course on electric buses after difficulty with them.

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the county will likely have to spend more than $400 million over the next 25 years, according to the county’s climate plan. The local government will struggle to finance the overhaul without funding support from the state or the federal government, as a long-standing structural budget deficit already makes it difficult for county policymakers to maintain existing services.

The county has made it a policy to evaluate infrastructure projects for their potential to reduce or add to emissions, and favor those that reduce emissions when considering how to allocate the county’s limited resources.

In 2025, the county installed a solar array on the new Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Building, 1230 W. Cherry St. The array includes 86 panels generating approximately 11.5% of the building’s annual electricity. When the array was installed, Crowley said state and federal partnerships were critical to future investments in renewable technology.

For now, county officials are committed to staying the course, even if they have to go it alone.

“Let me be clear, while federal climate commitments may shift, Milwaukee County’s commitment does not,” Nicholson said.