Overview
- For the past few years, it seemed nearly certain that Ann Arbor would meet or come close to achieving the city's goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. However, the city has recently encountered challenges in passing resolutions supporting its A2Zero climate initiative, due to a combination of financial concerns, perceived program redundancy, and debates over the city's role in energy provision.
- Ann Arbor has hit significant roadblocks in its path to carbon neutrality. Efforts to pass key climate measures—like a natural gas ban or local carbon fee—have been halted, largely due to legal uncertainties and a political environment that's become less supportive of strong environmental regulations. City officials and commissions are now focused on finding alternative solutions that can still advance the A2Zero goals.
- A major concern is funding. The city stands to lose as much as $30 million in federal support, including $10 million for a transformative geothermal project in the Bryant neighborhood. That project was meant to serve as a model for carbon-neutral communities. With more than 50 neighborhoods and over 53,000 housing units in the city, losing this kind of funding could have a cascading effect on broader decarbonization plans.
- Voters did approve a climate millage in 2022, which provides about $7 million a year to support local sustainability initiatives. It’s a big win, but not enough to fully replace the scale of federal and state contributions. There’s also some tension in the timeline—this millage runs through 2043, while the city’s carbon neutrality goal is set for 2030, which raises questions about how realistic that target remains.
- Public-private partnerships, which could help close funding and implementation gaps, have yet to take off in any significant way. There’s been some coordination with the University of Michigan, especially around shared solar and geothermal opportunities, but nothing on a scale that would move the needle citywide.
- Finally, structural challenges remain. State-level building codes and laws prevent local governments from enacting more aggressive decarbonization policies. And market factors—like tariffs and the ongoing transition in heat pump technology—have slowed progress in retrofitting and constructing greener buildings. Inflation Reduction Act incentives are still vital, but they may not be enough to overcome these obstacles on their own.
- John Mirsky, a member of the Ann Arbor’s Energy Commission and a liaison to the Environmental Commission, says that a city resolution proposing a carbon fee is almost certainly dead, as is an earlier resolution calling for a natural gas ban, primarily due to possible legal challenges at the state and federal level, but funding shortfalls are likely too.
- Despite the changing political climate, which some, including Ann Arbor’s Mayor Christopher Taylor, view as “hostile” to environmental initiatives, John says that the Energy and Environmental Commissions are working with the city’s sustainability office to come up with solutions that still keep the city’s carbon neutrality goals in sight.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU. I'm David Fair, and we're going to talk energy and carbon neutrality today. This is Issues of the Environment. Back in June of 2020, Ann Arbor City Council formally adopted a measure that set 2030 as the goal for the city to become carbon neutral. The A2Zero plan was and is ambitious. Five years into planning and implementation, some roadblocks to meeting that target data popped up. That includes changing priorities and environmental program funding from the new federal administration. Our guest this morning is familiar with the challenges and is among those continuing to work on solutions. John Mirsky is a member of the Ann Arbor Energy Commission, and thanks for making time today, John! I appreciate it!
John Mirsky: You're welcome! Glad to be with you!
David Fair: I'm curious about the tasks you and your fellow commission members are working on and through: developing strategies for cleaner and more renewable energies and working toward implementation. That's weighty enough. Does the political climate make it feel even heavier?
John Mirsky: Oh, absolutely! The role of the energy commission is, formally, to advise city council on policy matters. So, obviously, some of that includes broader strategies, although the A2Zero plan lays that out extremely well, as well as a bunch of actions to do that. So, that is our primary focus. Getting specific to your question, the political environment is obviously a big concern for everybody working in this space and on environmental issues more broadly. And that's not just true at the federal level with the Trump administration, but the state of Michigan House of Representatives slipped from Democratic to Republican. So, that is gonna make it more difficult to take any action on the legislative side.
David Fair: I think it's easy to get somewhat lost in the challenges when there's such a sense of urgency. I think that it's important to acknowledge just how much progress has been made since A2Zero was adopted five years ago. As you look at it, what would you consider the highlight among the accomplishments thus far?
John Mirsky: Well, actually, something that wasn't in the A2Zero plan, but that was hatched shortly after it is the foundation of the Ann Arbor energy utility--Ann Arbor Sustainable Energy Utility, the SEU. That is going to be a huge enabler. We hope that city residents sign up for it. It's going to enable solar on rooftops, battery backup, microgrids that are going to link houses to each other. Another thing that it can do is it can do on-bill financing of new appliances and HVAC equipment. So, this will put those types of improvements much more within the reach of city residents. That's really one of the huge steps that we've taken. The new gas franchise is a positive step in some regards. In many regards, it sends a clear signal.
David Fair: Franchise with DTE. Right.
John Mirsky: That's with DTE. Correct. And that's a positive step. And then, there's just lots of little things, like the Ann Arbor Solarize program, the climate millage--that is something that is providing $7 million of support for climate action activities, including hiring city staff, including incentives for new electrification projects like appliances again. So, there's a whole number of different things where we're making really significant progress.
David Fair: There has been a change in federal priorities and investments in environmental programs. Some have already been cut. There's the potential for even more. Where has Ann Arbor and its efforts been hit?
John Mirsky: Well, I heard secondhand that an assessment from the city is that Ann Arbor stands to lose $30 million. A significant portion of that is a Department of Education, or excuse me, Department of Energy, grant of $10 million to help with district geothermal in the Bryant neighborhood. The city already received a $500,000 grant to do engineering work on that. That engineering work has been completed, and this was for its implementation. I've also heard since that the projected total cost could be as high as $30 million, but, obviously, that $10 million is really, really significant to get this project going, and that looks to be not forthcoming under the Trump administration. That's just one element of the $30 million in total. I couldn't list all of them for you. That's something that the city could provide.
David Fair: Our Issues of the Environment conversation with Ann Arbor Energy Commission member John Mirsky continues on 89.1 WEMU. In 2022, a voter-approved climate millage was passed, and it brings in about $7 million a year. Now, the kind of cuts you just mentioned, that's not enough to offset those federal cuts, nor any state cuts that may come. Where is the city now and determining how or if it can replace that money and fill the gap, is there a role for the Energy Commission in helping devise those plans?
John Mirsky: First of all, it's gonna be really, really difficult to fill the gap in federal funding. I mean, that's true in just about any entity or any sector that's being impacted by Trump administration cuts. The millage, as you said, is limited in terms of its proceeds. It's about $7 million a year. That provides us with a lot of things that we can do on our own. In terms of additional revenues, there's a lot of limitations at the state level, in terms of implementing fees or taxes of any type. And so, in terms of the City of Ann Arbor doing something beyond the millage, levying anything like the carbon fee that was considered, that's also obstructed at the state level by the state building an energy code. So, we're really constrained in terms of the kinds of things that we can do to raise additional funds.
David Fair: There has been progress when it comes to energy efficiency and devising ways to make less carbon output in our effort to become carbon neutral. Can we continue at the level of investment in those kinds of programs as we move towards the 2030 deadline?
John Mirsky: We can. So, the kinds of things that are being done right now, the city has a home energy advisor program. That is free to residents. The city has a Home Energy Incentive Program for electric appliances and HVAC equipment. The city has a brand-new program to help with the implementation of electric heat pumps to replace natural gas furnaces. So, there's a number of programs that the city has put in place that will continue to be funded through the climate millage. I would say, putting things into broader context to give you a sense of how big the challenge is in front of us, the city currently admits--this is together with the university--approximately two million metric tons of CO2 a year. We are currently decarbonizing, or we have been, at the rate of about 0.04--actually a little bit less than that--metric tons of CO2 per year. At that rate, it will take us 50 years, without any offsets, to get to carbon neutrality. So, you see how huge the hurdle is that we face in terms of what we need to do. And this is really not a city problem. This is a problem that all of us face and all of us have to contribute to. This is residents. These are property owners and landlords. These are businesses. This is something that has to be a collective effort in order to be able to make faster progress on decarbonizing our city and beyond, obviously.
David Fair: I think the A2Zero plan always had initiative and goals that would carry well beyond the 2030 goal of carbon neutrality, and when that climate millage was enacted, it was enacted for a period until 2043. So, there is a much longer-term commitment, and it seems as though the city is dedicated to getting there. Given where we are now and adding in the expected and unexpected challenges that seem to arise, do you sense when carbon neutrally can realistically be achieved? You said 50 years. Is that about the target?
John Mirsky: No, I think that's just the rate that we have been decarbonizing. It's actually between 2015 and 2023. We don't actually have the inventory yet for 2024, so, hopefully, that's starting to accelerate, and some of the things that we talked about earlier will accelerate that. Also, the university, which is a part of those total emissions, is really starting to do great things. That said, the university has set a target of 2040. So, that target was set after Ann Arbor set its target, including the university, for 2030. So, my personal opinion is that 2040 is still a hugely ambitious target, but it's something that is within the realm of possibility. And again, that only will happen is if we all come together: the city, the university, residents, I named a bunch of different entities. All of these entities need to come together and recognize what the social costs of carbon are and how they're having such a huge negative impact on our lives, the environment, biodiversity, and so on and so forth. This has to be an all-hands-on deck effort.
David Fair: Well, the one thing I can be certain of is we will have plenty of occasion to talk through these years ahead as we move toward carbon neutrality. Thank you so much for the time today, John! I appreciate it!
John Mirsky: You're welcome, David! And thanks for your listeners for listening in on this!
David Fair: That is John Mirsky, a member of the Ann Arbor Energy Commission--our guest on Issues of the Environment. For more information, check out our website at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89-1 WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
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