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Climate Change Advisory Committee Meeting

Chatham County · Climate Change Advisory Committee
Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 7:00 pm · Virtual Meeting, Virtual Pittsboro, North Carolina 27312

Advisory board meeting Environment and sustainabilityAppointments and personnelComprehensive planFarmland and open spaceGrants and outside fundingPublic facilitiesRoads and transportationSolid waste and recycling

Agenda document Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved 5Commissioners' April 21 decision on the climate retreat Approved by the commissioners; retreat expected in July or August

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Chatham County's Climate Change Advisory Committee met on 24 April 2025, three days after the commissioners agreed to hold a climate retreat on the committee's recommendation. It reviewed the county's 2024 greenhouse gas inventory and saw the county's new GIS conservation viewer.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Transportation is still the county's largest emitting sector at 42 percent of the total. Industrial emissions rose 20 percent with Duke Energy's coal ash recycling facility now counted. Residential emissions fell 8 percent, commercial and agricultural rose slightly, and Duke Energy accounts for about 70 percent of emissions in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors together. Agriculture, mostly beef cattle and broilers, is 5 percent.

Inside county government, building emissions fell, possibly from the solar installations, while fleet emissions rose with the number of vehicles. Electric vehicle charging counts under buildings rather than fleet. Waste emissions rose in 2022-2023 on construction debris, which staff said may be overstated by the method.

The committee agreed the meaningful trend runs from 2019, when the method was standardized, and excludes the COVID-affected 2020 figure. The 2010 and 2015 inventories used different methods and do not compare cleanly.

The commissioners agreed unanimously to proceed with the retreat, with the manager to bring a full proposal in June. The retreat was then expected in July or August; it did not happen until October and November.

Speaking at this meeting

Chatham County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (8)

Procedural · 2Staff or committee report · 2Minutes approval · 1Presentation · 1Discussion item · 1Appointment · 1
  1. 1 Certification of Quorum
    Procedural
  2. 2 Approval of Minutes - March 27, 2025
    Minutes approval
  3. 3 Announcements: Haw River Climate Action Fair; commissioners' intent on a climate retreat
    Procedural Environment and sustainability
  4. 4 Overview of the GIS conservation viewer
    Presentation Environment and sustainabilityFarmland and open space
    A demonstration of the county's conservation viewer: navigation, bookmarks, measurement, adding external data, filtering and exporting.
  5. 5 Commissioners' April 21 decision on the climate retreat
    Staff or committee report Comprehensive planEnvironment and sustainability
    The commissioners agreed unanimously to proceed, with the county manager to bring a full proposal in June.
    Approved by the commissioners; retreat expected in July or August
  6. 6 Greenhouse gas inventory discussion
    Discussion item Environment and sustainabilityPublic facilitiesRoads and transportationSolid waste and recycling
    Transportation at 42 percent of emissions, industrial up 20 percent with the coal ash recycling facility counted, residential down 8 percent, and Duke Energy behind about 70 percent of the residential, commercial and industrial total.
  7. 7 New member search
    Appointment Appointments and personnel
  8. 8 Report from the Director of Chatham County Environmental Quality
    Staff or committee report Environment and sustainabilityGrants and outside funding
    The finance department is chasing the IRS on the rebate return and will set up a way to track the $218,000 sustainability fund.

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