Five Years of One Climate Future

Five years ago, the Cities of Portland and South Portland joined forces to create and adopt One Climate Future, a bold roadmap charting a course to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 and use 100% clean energy for municipal operations by 2040, while building resilience to the impacts of climate change.

With One Climate Future as a road map, we have been able to make significant strides toward realizing our “Six Big Moves” – these are high impact, cross-cutting initiatives that touch on multiple aspects of our climate plan. Together, we have partnered with other departments, community organizations, citizens, and businesses to:

POWER EVERYTHING WIth CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY
  • EV charging capacity: Together both Cities have installed 50 EV chargers.
  • Clean, renewable energy: The Cities generated more than 63 million kWh of solar power, saving the Cities over five million dollars.
  • Electrify Everything!: Our flagship rebate program, Electrify Everything!, has distributed over $450,000 to 698 low & moderate income residents for e-bikes, heat pumps, energy efficient appliances, home weatherization, and more, making clean technology accessible to all.
Build community resilience and the collaborative capacity 
  • Improved risk knowledge: We developed an innovative hydrodynamic model of coastal flood risk to inform key policies, such as our ReCode and Coastal Resilience Zoning, as well as South Portland’s Comprehensive Plan update. 
  • Public education and outreach: We created tools to communicate about climate risks so that residents can engage in decisions that shape our communities. For example:
  • Portland: We’ve installed signage at 60 sites throughout the City to educate residents and visitors about resilience initiatives, with more planned. 
  • South Portland: We created a digital ‘storymap’ that guides people through the effects of coastal flooding on our neighborhoods.
  • Social resilience: Portland launched the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program to empower residents to come together, build relationships, and take collective action in their neighborhoods. The program provides free block party kits and cleanup kits, supporting 20 block parties and 31 neighborhood cleanups thus far, and has completed its first round of Neighborhood Mini Grants, awarding 29 grants citywide for neighbor-led projects that foster collaboration and strengthen social connection.
reduce waste and grow a circular economy
  • Food waste recycling: The Cities introduced 15 free, composting drop-off sites that have diverted over 3.6 million pounds of food scraps from the waste stream.
  • Growing the sharing economy: South Portland’s Swap Shop enables residents to exchange items they no longer need for items they do and received over 10,000 visits in 2025. 
Build better buildings
  • Building codes: In 2021, Portland and South Portland adopted the state’s first Energy Stretch Code – improving the efficiency of new buildings by 30-35%.
  • Development standards: Both Cities have proactively adopted development standards to ensure that new development is efficient, connected, and resilient in the face of climate change:
  • Portland: We have created Transit Oriented Zones, enhanced stormwater and heat mitigation requirements, eliminated parking minimums, and adopted parking maximums
  • South Portland: We updated our EV Charging Ordinance in 2025 to require all new residential development to have EV ready parking. 
  • Energy benchmarking: Portland’s Energy Benchmarking Ordinance also helps large building owners make more informed decisions to enhance the energy efficiency of their buildings.
Nourish ecosystems which nourish us
  • Landcare management: Both Cities worked to improve water quality and increase native plants and biodiversity through their adoption of Landcare Management Ordinances and soil quality standards for new development.
  • Urban tree canopy: Both Cities dedicated efforts to mitigate high heat through a more robust, equitable tree canopy.
  • Portland: Over the last five years, we planted 892 trees, prioritizing low-equity urban areas.
  • South Portland: In 2023, we passed a Tree Protection Ordinance to preserve trees and wooded ecosystems.
  • Resilient Yards: South Portland launched its Resilient Yards program in 2023. Since then, the program has involved 230 residents and 65 volunteer coaches, to plant a total of 1,352 native pollinator plants in yards across the City.
Connect people to places, to opportunity
  • Transit-oriented development: Laying the foundation for a sustainable transportation network, both Cities focused on adding density, incentivizing development around transit corridors, and promoting biking and walking.
  • Safe and accessible transportation: Initiatives such as Complete Streets and Vision Zero set the vision for safe, accessible transportation networks that we are working towards.
  • Public transit: The Cities took a large step to coordinate and expand transit in 2024 by merging South Portland Bus Service with Greater Portland METRO.


January 2026