Celebrating Four Years of Acting Boldly to Combat Climate Change

Published on September 19, 2024

• August 2024: Mayor Romero leads a group of 23 Mayors and government leaders to urge FEMA to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters under the Stafford Act
  
  
• July 2024: Mayor Romero and City of Tucson celebrate $11.38M FTA grant to replace bus lifts to ensure greener, cleaner buses are operating and optimal efficiency and to invest in additional bus shelters to protect bus riders waiting along major heat corridors
  
  
• July 2024: City of Tucson Climate Action Team, Housing First’s Multidisciplinary Outreach Team, Community Safety, Health & Wellness Program, University of Arizona AZARA Branch, and Mayor’s Office begin distributing cooling kits to protect those who are unsheltered from extreme heat
  
  
• June 2024: Mayor and Council take immediate action adopting Worker Heat Protection Ordinance and Heat Action Roadmap
  
  
• June 2024: City of Tucson partners with Arizona Governor’s Office and Arizona Department of Health Services to open two COOLtainers to provide respite from extreme heat for those who are unsheltered
  
  
• March 2024: City of Tucson receives Climate Action Solutions award for our Climate Action Plan, Tucson Resilient Together, from Arizona Forward
  
  
• February 2024: City of Tucson and University of Arizona co-host the Southern Arizona Heat Planning Summit. Findings from the summit are included in Governor Hobbs’ Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan
  
  
• Jan 2024: Mayor Romero meets with President Biden in the Oval Office to share Tucson’s transformative investments to decarbonize our bus fleet and invest in our urban tree canopy
  
  
• Oct. 2023: City of Tucson and community partners win competitive FEMA grant for $829,696 to create resiliency hub networks in Tucson
  
  
• Sept 2023: City of Tucson wins competitive $5M urban forestry grant from USDA to invest in more green spaces and youth workforce development
  
  
• Sept 2023: City of Tucson hires its first Chief Resilience Officer
  
  
• Sept 2023: City of Tucson’s One Water 2100 plan comes before Mayor and Council
  
  
• Aug 2023: The City of Tucson’s Urban Forestry Program completes the Tree Best Practices and Standards, to be ready for implementation in Fall of 2023. This plan was funded by the Arizona Department of Fire and Forestry (AZDFF) and guided by a stakeholder working group
  
  
• July 2023: City of Tucson is awarded $21.4M federal grant to purchase 39 new compressed natural gas buses, phasing out its remaining diesel bus fleet
  
  
• July 2023: City of Tucson, in partnership with New Buildings Institute, local jurisdictions, state agencies, researchers, industry partners, and community-based groups are being awarded $3.5M from the Department of Energy’s Resilient and Efficient Code Implementation (RECI) to develop southwest climate-adapted building code that addresses affordability
  
  
• May 2023: The City of Tucson’s EV Roadmap receives Arizona Forwards’ 2023 Crescordia Environmental Excellence Award in the Climate Action Category
  
  
• May 2023: Mayor and Council adopt the city’s Zero Waste Roadmap
  
  
• May 2023: Mayor Romero signed a groundbreaking water conservation agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the Central Arizona Project (CAP), making Tucson one of the first cities in Arizona to leave a significant allocation of Colorado River water in Lake Mead
  
  
• May 2023: Mayor and Council vote to make transit fare permanently free
  
  
• April 2023: Mayor and Council pass implementation strategy directing resources to take near term actions to advance over 50% of actions in Tucson Resilient Together in the areas of Climate Leadership and Governance; Energy, Transportation and Land Use; Resource Recovery and Management; and Community Resilience
  
  
• April 2023: Mayor Romero inaugurates the City of Tucson’s TREE Center (Tree Resource Education and Ecology Center) with the capacity to grow 5,000 desert adapted trees and plants. The TREE Center supports Mayor Romero's Tucson Million Trees initiative
  
  
• March 2023: Tucson Mayor and Council adopt City's climate action plan, Tucson Resilient Together
  
  
• Jan 2023: The City of Tucson adds 15 light duty vehicles and a F15 Lighting truck to its fleet
  
  
• Jan 2023: Mayor and Council approved the City’s first Green Fleet Transition Plan to advance the EV Readiness Roadmap and transition the City’s light duty fleet to electric
  
  
• Oct 2022 – Mayor and Council allocate $900,000 to create a Solar Empowerment Program to improve access to solar power for low-income families
  
  
• May-Nov 2022: City staff carry out community engagement for climate action plan, including: 13 community dialogues, 2 large public workshops, 9 pop up events, 2 community organizations and business sector meetings
  
  
• Sept 2022: Mayor Romero testifies before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on State and local governments
  
  
• Aug 2022: Mayor and Council require new multi-family and commercial buildings to be EV-ready
  
  
• Aug 2022: Sun Tran is awarded a $12M FTA Low or No Emission grant for 10 electric buses for Sun Tran, seven electric vehicles for Sun Van, two electric vehicles for a new transit route to the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, and to install five dual-sided charging bays at the Sun Tran north yard, four Sun Van charging stations, and one charging station dedicated for the Sabino Canyon service
  
  
• Feb 2022: Mayor and Council allocate $250,000 to develop the City’s first Tree Inventory and a request for proposals resulting in contracting with Davey Resource Group. The Tree Inventory will be completed in Fall 2023 and data integrated in 2024
  
  
• Feb 2022: Mayor and Council adopt the final Electric Vehicle (EV) Readiness Roadmap which provides a foundation to advance EV adoption city-wide,
  
  
• Feb 2022: City of Tucson selects nationally-recognized firm Buro Happold to develop the city's Climate Action and Adaption Plan (CAAP)
  
  
• Jan 2022: Mayor and Council legalized casitas, or Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to support energy-efficient infill development and more affordable housing options
  
  
• Jan 2022: The City of Tucson and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality inaugurate the Central Tucson PFAS Project to prevent the chemicals from impacting additional water sources.
  
  
• Dec 2021: City of Tucson officially opened the SHARP facility to recharge and store up to 1.3 billion gallons of recycled water annually in the local aquifer 
  
  
• Nov 2021: The City of Tucson launches the Santa Cruz River Heritage Project Irvington Outfall Site, extending the length of the flowing river to restore native wetlands, support native plants and animals, and replenish Tucson’s underground aquifers will be replenished for future generations.  
  
  
• Sept 2021 – The City launches first five 40ft zero-emissions electric buses, partners with TEP to install its charging infrastructure, and incorporates workforce development.
  
  
• Aug 2021: Every City Department that manages trees as assets now have Standard Operating Procedures related to tree pruning and removal
  
  
• July 2021: Mayor and Council rename Los Reales Landfill to Los Reales Sustainability Campus, embracing waste as an asset
• July 2021: Mayor and Council commit the City of Tucson becoming a Zero Waste City by 2050
  
  
• June 2021: Mayor and Council pass EV ready code amendment for all new residential development
  
  
• March-July 2021: Mayor Romero and UC3 partners develop and implement 12 climate listening session resulting in over 1300 unique comments
  
  
• May 2021: City of Tucson adopted the SolarAPP+ system allowing for same-day solar permits. Since its adoption, the City has already issued 4,371 permits using SolarAPP+, resulting in 29,927 kilowatts approved and an estimated 4,451 hours saved on initial permit reviews.
  
  
• April 2021: Mayor and Council adopt the EV Readiness Roadmap draft
  
  
• Feb-May 2021
• • Mayor partners with the University of Arizona’s Climate Change Coalition (UC3) to issue an online climate action community survey
    
    
• Feb 2021 – Mayor Romero joins 1t.org US Chapter Stakeholder Council to inform the strategic direction of the US Chapter of 1t.org
  
  
• Dec 2020 – The City of Tucson is recognized by the US Conference of Mayor’s 2020 Mayors Climate Protection Awards for the Santa Cruz River Heritage Project
  
  
• Nov 2020: The City of Tucson hires its first Urban Forest Program Manager
  
  
• Oct 2020: Mayor Regina Romero was given the honors of reintroducing the Gila topminnow into the flowing waters of the Santa Cruz River in downtown Tucson
  
  
• Sept 2020: Mayor and Council declare Climate Emergency, commit the city to carbon neutrality by 2030 and develop a climate action plan that centers frontline communities
  
  
• June 2020: Sun Tran is awarded $3.8M FTA Low or No Emission grant for 5 E-Buses
  
  
• May 2020: Sun Tran add electric buses to our transit fleet, installs EV charging infrastructure
  
  
• April 2020: Sun Tran pilots its first electric bus via lease to test its performance for 10 months.
  
  
• April 2020: City of Tucson partners with University of Arizona Compost Cats to open a new compost facility at Los Reales Sustainability Campus
  
  
• April 2020: Mayor Romero launches nature-based climate initiative, Tucson Million Trees, to increase tree cover in heat vulnerable communities and hires the City’s first Urban Forest Program Manager; Mayor and Council adopt Tree Equity Score Map
  
  
• Feb 2020: Storm to Shade program is created by ordinance
  
  
• Feb 2020: Mayor Romero joins Climate Mayors, hires Climate and Sustainability Policy Advisor
  
  
• Jan 2020: Mayor and Council identify need for climate action plan, implementation strategy