Project manager Andy Meyer says greenhouse gas emissions worsen the effects of climate change like extreme heat and severe storms, and hurt local air quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe emissions not only affect climate change, but [they] also have an acute effect on public health,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cThe air we breathe is a big determinant of all of our health … and Cincinnati’s air quality has been very poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan outlines dozens of actions the Tri-State could take over the next few decades to cut down those emissions.<\/p>\n
It sets a target of reducing the region\u2019s emissions 50% by 2050, compared to 2022 levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no one silver bullet to this, and that’s why the plan addresses, very comprehensively, multiple sectors,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n
Where do emissions come from in the Tri-State?<\/p>\n
![\"Screengrab](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770927791_307_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Screengrab from the Greater Cincinnati Comprehensive Climate Action Plan<\/p>\n
Buildings and equipment are the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Greater Cincinnati based on their subcategory, making up 68% of total emissions. That\u2019s primarily due to their use of electricity powered by fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
Meyer says another significant source of emissions is cars burning gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust our location, with the highways that traverse our region, we’re on major east-west and north-south corridors in the country,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n
The highest-polluting localities in the region are Hamilton, Butler and Boone counties, which are also the most populous. They produce 70% of the region\u2019s emissions.<\/p>\n
More electric vehicles, building efficiency upgrades and tree canopy<\/p>\n
The plan recommends dozens of measures for communities to take to reduce the region\u2019s climate pollution.<\/p>\n
They include expanding public transit options, improving energy efficiency in buildings, building out charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and increasing tree canopy.<\/p>\n
Meyer, who works for OKI, says the agency is focused on several of the transportation-focused actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting older, less efficient busses off the road in favor of new or hybrid and electric technology busses; building out the region’s pedestrian network so people have choice beyond driving so they can bike and walk more easily to places; and roadway improvements that reduce congestion so people are spending less time sitting in traffic,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n
The plan is opt-in, not binding. Meyer says there\u2019s no government agency that covers all 16 counties in the Tri-State that could formally adopt the plan.<\/p>\n
So, OKI and other planning partners are working with communities in Greater Cincinnati to increase awareness of the regional plan and help with implementation.<\/p>\n
Several cities in Greater Cincinnati already are working on climate action with their own plans, like Cincinnati, Oxford and Fairfield.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
After publishing and submitting the plan to the U.S. EPA in December 2025, Meyer says now the focus is on implementation and measuring progress.<\/p>\n
The organizations are set to submit a status report to U.S. EPA in 2027.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greater Cincinnati now has a playbook to reduce the region\u2019s contributions to climate change. The Comprehensive Climate Action…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-464830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}