The Regional Sustainability Playbook is a menu of tailored strategies for local communities to mitigate climate impacts, increase resilience, and improve the health and equity of Greater Cincinnati.
We need your insights!
From 2023-2025, ThriveTogether completed a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) for the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area through the US EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program (CPRG). The plan identifies major sources of greenhouse gas emissions and outlines strategies to reduce emissions, strengthen community resilience, and support a healthier region.
ThriveTogether, along with its planning team, partners, and stakeholders, is now working to document and advance implementation across the sectors identified in the CCAP. This includes identifying ongoing and emerging climate actions, connecting organizations and communities to implementation opportunities, and developing strategies to engage and inform more stakeholders across the region.
As part of this next phase, we are also updating and expanding the ThriveTogether engagement platform, GoVocal, to provide accessible opportunities for residents, organizations, and community partners to stay informed, share ideas, and contribute to ongoing climate action.
We invite you to share your perspectives through the survey below on the climate hazards affecting your community, solutions and actions you would like to see prioritized, infrastructure and community needs, and how ThriveTogether and its partners can best support implementation.
The Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) is a technical and policy planning document focused solely on greenhouse gas emissions. Under the EPA's CPRG framework, it also includes a comprehensive GHG inventory, emissions projections, reduction targets, quantified measures, benefits analyses, implementation authority, funding opportunities, and workforce considerations. The Regional Sustainability Playbook, coming spring 2027, will provide recommendations beyond pollution reduction and include strategies related to resilience and equity.
Learn more in the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP)
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Measures
Transportation
- Continue to track EV charging stations and EV registrations to reliably identify gaps and needs within the region's charging network.
- Continue to provide access to funding to help local governments provide EV charging points at public buildings, parks, airports, and other locations for public use.
- Develop EV hubs that support transit ridership and/or public or private fleet vehicle operations, including infrastructure needed to support charging lots.
- Support fleet EV and alternative fuel vehicle purchases for local government, school districts, and transit.
- Support use of battery electric locomotives in local rail freight operations.
- Provide case studies/examples to lower mystery and demonstrate the effectiveness of low/zero emission vehicles to local governments.
- Support the use of electric Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Vertical Take-Off and Landing (e-VTOLs) to replace diesel truck trips within the region.
- Improve bike and pedestrian connectivity so that residents can safely access the places they need to go and transit for longer trips.
- Improve regional transit connectivity and service to provide an attractive, reliable, and efficient option for travel.
- Use incentives to grow transit ridership to improve efficiency and reduce emissions.
- Provide needed infrastructure support for Bus Rapid Transit, including transit centers and park & ride facilities.
- Provide improvements that make transit easier and more attractive to use, including language services for non-English speakers.
- Develop more affordable housing close to good transit service.
- Continue to support the use of roundabouts at appropriate intersections to reduce delay and avoid unnecessary signals.
- Provide jurisdictions with studies of traffic lights to reduce wait time. Time traffic lights.
- Use data on trip origin/destination and traffic congestion to support recommendations to large employers to adjust timing of shift changes.
- Advance efforts to develop and utilize sustainable aviation fuel via feasibility studies and/or infrastructure.
- Support ongoing intra/interstate Amtrak projects. Develop proposal for regional system.
- Implement programs to bridge the gap between rail travel and local destinations and movement while at the destination.
Electric Power
- Provide funding support through loans and grants to local governments to support the conversion of street lights to LED fixtures.
- Develop community solar to support local non-profits and community-based groups.
- Support the implementation of municipal virtual power plants.
- Support solar installations for local governments through financing options that are tailored for their situation.
- Continue the development of hydropower along the Ohio and Great Miami Rivers.
- Encourage the development of private solar installations, especially the utilization of large rooftops for solar or solar development on dormant landfills.
- Increase adoption of SolSmart principles by area local governments to make the installation of solar easier and less costly in the region.
- Encourage community aggregation programs that include or are exclusively renewable energy.
- Increase the region's low- and moderate-income households' access to inexpensive renewable energy.
- Support the adoption of Renewable Portfolio Standards policies.
- Implement a carbon earnings tax and dividend to low-income households and low polluters.
- Streamline utility grid permitting.
Buildings
- Create a fiscally-positive revolving loan fund or grant opportunity to finance energy-efficient and/or solar improvements for local and county public entities (governments, schools, libraries, park districts, etc.) in the region.
- Help connect non-profit organizations with funding for energy efficiency and solar.
- Conduct energy audits and make energy-efficient building upgrades to public buildings.
- Adopt Energy Efficient Portfolio standards.
- Support foundational work, such as the regional 2030 District, as they develop methods to achieve building efficiency goals.
- Expand the number of households in the region served by the Home Weatherization Assistance Program.
- Provide incentives to replace inefficient household appliances and HVAC equipment with new electric-based equipment.
- Encourage the development of residential units that are more energy efficient/adopt enhanced energy efficiency standards.
- Incentivize energy-efficient improvements through a property tax abatement program.
- Expand the MowGreener program in the region to electrify lawn care equipment.
- Conserve embodied carbon in existing buildings by avoiding demolition of existing buildings where possible.
- Promote transit-oriented development zoning and incentives for this type of development.
- Adopt cluster-style development in rural areas to reduce infrastructure and preserve agricultural and forested lands.
- Enhance energy standards for new construction to reduce the life-cycle carbon emissions of new buildings. Do this through the promotion of model codes to be adopted by applicable jurisdictions.
- Hold events that build awareness and focus energy around reducing GHG emissions in the region.
- Leverage existing coalitions (WeThrive, LiveWell) as community mobilizers (health in all policies).
Industrial
- Advance industrial decarbonization through alternative fuel and energy-efficient equipment/infrastructure replacements/upgrades.
- Identify transportation options for hydrogen.
- Explore opportunities to develop local production of hydrogen, especially green hydrogen.
- Work to improve the energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions from buildings and industrial processes.
- Electrify, improve the energy efficiency and operations of intermodal transition between barge and freight.
Waste, Water, and Sustainable Materials Management
- Create a local Green Hub to increase coordination and provide for more effective recycling, reuse, and organic waste diversion.
- Partner with local schools, governments, and park districts to implement composting programs.
- Develop infrastructure, incentives, tracking, and reporting of food waste to reduce the amount of wasted food in the region.
- Provide access to recycling service/containers at multi-family buildings.
- Counties should continue to provide regular household recycling events.
- Capture methane from wastewater treatment facilities and use it to generate electricity to help offset the power needs of the facility.
- Work to divert organic waste from the region's landfills.
- Continue to work to reduce methane emissions at landfills.
- Use an anaerobic digester to turn organic waste into compost on a large scale.
- Process organic waste into biofuels and biochar.
Agricultural
- Establish a program or business to produce and source compost for use in agricultural production.
- Cover Crop Use.
- Develop region-specific marketing and low GHG certification for local food products to allow farmers to monetize best practices.
- Explicitly label food options' energy intensity.
- Provide incentives to farmers to reduce carbon on equipment.
- Incentives to lessen the risk of trying something new.
- Support education and workforce development to implement low-emission AG and food service/rescue.
Carbon Removal
- Establish a program or business to produce and source compost for use in agricultural production.
- Cover Crop Use.
- Encourage trees along roadway networks, sidewalks, and paths.
- Require trees and landscaping in and around parking lots to reduce urban heat island impacts.
- Work with local soil and water utilities to create landscapes that manage increased rain events.
- Increase wetland protection and restoration.
- Use biochar in tree plantings/soil improvement.
The following organizations are working together to engage communities in this regional planning process. This work is made possible by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Pollution Reduction program.
