{"id":263705,"date":"2026-05-08T17:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/263705\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:23:11","slug":"after-desantis-signs-bill-banning-local-climate-efforts-tampas-climate-action-plan-is-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/263705\/","title":{"rendered":"After DeSantis signs bill banning local climate efforts, Tampa&#8217;s &#8216;climate action&#8217; plan is in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSCN6846-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-258832 size-258832 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" large=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGovernor Ron DeSantis in Tampa \/\/ Chris Young, WMNF News, 5\/12\/2025<\/p>\n<p>Listen:<\/p>\n<p>On Earth Day, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill stopping local governments\u2019 climate change efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But now, the future of Tampa\u2019s extensive Climate Action and Equity Plan is up in the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor joined others to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmnf.org\/tampa-unveils-climate-action-and-equity-plan-to-address-climate-change\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">present the city\u2019s Climate Action and Equity Plan<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, we\u2019re proud to release Tampa\u2019s first climate action and equity plan, and I think everyone has a copy of that. A great deal of work went into this plan, for two years as part of our Resilient Tampa roadmap.\u201d Castor said in 2023.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kathycastor-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-204353\" style=\"width:357px;height:auto\"  \/>U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor speaks at Loretta Ingraham Community Center \/\/ Credit: Chris Young WMNF 6\/16\/23<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/document\/climate-action-and-equity-plan-122846\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The plan<\/a> would reduce carbon emissions through infrastructure changes, with a goal of \u201cnet-zero,\u201d which means cutting carbon emissions to a balanced level.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But DeSantis\u2019 bill, among other things, bans local governments from using net-zero policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s like, okay, we\u2019re just going to stop the madness here, and that\u2019s what this bill does. It safeguards Floridians by prohibiting all levels of government from adopting or\u00a0 enforcing these radical climate policies.\u201d DeSantis said at a Jacksonville press conference.<\/p>\n<p>Susan Glickman, vice president of Policy and Partnerships for CLEO, calls the decision appalling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo sign a bill on Earth Day feels quite cynical, that he\u2019s thumbing his nose at the local communities that are suffering from extreme weather, and also that are suffering with paying power bills, and affordability is on everyone\u2019s mind, and this went in the exact opposite direction,\u201d Glickman told WMNF.<\/p>\n<p>Non-profit climate change group the CLEO Institute partnered with the city to create the 156-page plan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating because clean energy solutions have gotten cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. And again, because you take the fuel, the fossil gas, or coal, out of the equation, it\u2019s just less expensive.\u201d Glickman said. <\/p>\n<p>Non-profit group, The Nature Conservancy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.org\/en-us\/about-us\/where-we-work\/united-states\/florida\/stories-in-florida\/florida-climate-change-adaptation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">calls Florida \u201cground zero\u201d<\/a> for the effects of climate change, including warming temperatures, sea-level rise, and changing drought conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In an email sent to WMNF from Tampa\u2019s Sustainability and Resiliency Officer, Kayla Caselli, she says the city attorney and legal department staff are still reviewing how the legislation will impact the City of Tampa\u2019s policies and programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The law takes effect July 1st.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Governor Ron DeSantis in Tampa \/\/ Chris Young, WMNF News, 5\/12\/2025 Listen: On Earth Day, Governor Ron DeSantis&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-263705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}