Road to a Cleaner Future
Policies, Reports and Programs
The City of Charlotte is committed to operating its buildings and facilities responsibly and sustainably. The City of Charlotte City Council unanimously passed the city's Strategic Energy Action Plan (SEAP) in December 2018. The SEAP is the city's plan to reduce its carbon footprint through a number of actions, including those focused on buildings and energy generation. The Sustainable and Resilient Charlotte resolution states:
"NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Charlotte will strive to source 100% of its energy use in buildings and fleet from zero carbon sources by 2030."
In order to meet the goal of the resolution, the SEAP identified five stages to advance the city to a zero carbon future by 2030:
- Shifting energy demand.
- Reducing energy consumption.
- Changing the energy the city consumes away from fossil fuels.
- Generating energy on-site, and
- Meeting the remainder through energy purchases.
Internal Implementation
Sustainable Facilities Policy
The revised Sustainable Facilities Policy (SFP)(PDF, 337KB) is intended to direct city departments to design, construct and operate city buildings in a manner aligned with stated 2030 SEAP goals. The focus of this revised policy builds on the elements of the original policy and subsequent updates (established in 2009, revised in 2016, and revised in 2021) and incorporates new topic areas that further reduce energy usage, facilitate more renewable energy generation and use on-site, prepare for growth in electric vehicle (EV) use, and provide a mechanism by which progress toward the 2030 zero carbon buildings goal can be regularly and accurately measured.
Charlotte Energy Performance Benchmarking Report for Municipal Buildings
One of the requirements of the SFP is for the City to annually benchmark city buildings. As a result, the inaugural Charlotte Energy Performance Benchmarking Report for Municipal Buildings was developed and published for 2020-2021, with annual reporting in subsequent years. This report focuses on the energy use intensity (EUI) for City of Charlotte buildings split out by property type – offices, police stations, fire stations, vehicle repair garages and other. This report helps to highlight the efficiency of our buildings and visualize efforts to conserve energy.
Charlotte Benchmarking Reports:
2023 Benchmarking Report(PDF, 14MB)
2022 Benchmarking Report(PDF, 6MB)
2020 - 2021 Benchmarking Report(PDF, 9MB)
Charlotte Fleet Policies
The following city fleet policies are intended to direct city departments to procure sustainable vehicles and meet SEAP goals by focusing on two of the five stages to advance the city to a zero-carbon future:
- Reducing energy consumption: Reduce fuel consumed by internal combustion engines by right-sizing the fleet and by deploying managed idle technologies.
- Changing the energy that city operations consume away from fossil fuels: Incorporate alternative energy sources into the city fleet.
Motor Pool and Rental Vehicle Policy(PDF, 152KB)
Sustainable and Resilient Fleet Policy(PDF, 135KB)
Automatic Vehicle Locator Policy(PDF, 140KB)
Communitywide Policies and Programs
News and Community Outreach
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Resources
Resources for Business Owners
Resources for Land Developers