Raleigh chosen as sustainable city for Bloomberg climate initiative
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Oak City has been selected as a sustainable city.
Raleigh will receive Bloomberg Philanthropies support to turbocharge local climate action for a more prosperous communities.
The state's capital is one of 25 cities selected for the program that will provide support and $200 million in sustainable developments in clean and energy-efficient infrastructure. It's unclear how much of that $200 million Raleigh will receive.
Some of the initiatives the money may go toward is increasing the use of solar panels.
"I do like the idea of lower energy bills," Clifford Harris said.
The City of Raleigh is already installing solar panels at an affordable housing complex in Southeast Raleigh. City leaders said the goal of programs like that is to close the racial wealth gap and address climate change.
"We know that there are disproportionate impacts on people of color and low income people in Raleigh, like a lot of cities around the country. And we've been working on a lot of (pilot programs) to try to make changes there," Raleigh Sustainability Director Megan Anderson said.
Funds will be used to develop more affordable energy-efficient housing and increase equitable access to electric vehicle and infrastructure among other things.
"We are also working on transitioning our own fleet of over 4,000 vehicles to electric and clean energy in the next 10 years," Anderson said.
The City of Oaks will be working with Partners for Environmental Justice along the way and there's an additional focus on investing in diverse tech start-ups.
"We have tech companies that are bringing in the latest innovations in sustainability to thinking about how we think about the ways that our buildings are built, the ways that our infrastructure can be improved," said Raleigh Strategy and Innovation Heather McDougall.
This initiative runs three years.
City leaders will be holding public forums in the future to hear from residents what they would like to see.
