Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Mayor Brett P. Smiley joined Director of Sustainability Priscilla De La Cruz to begin community engagement around the five-year update for the City’s Climate Justice Plan at a kickoff meeting at Elmwood Community Center. The City is conducting its first comprehensive update to the plan since it was published in 2019 and will be based upon the most up-to-date science and input from Providence neighbors.
“Providence’s Climate Justice Plan is a nationally recognized roadmap that has guided the essential work of addressing environmental justice priorities in our City,” said Mayor Brett Smiley. “My administration has consistently been working to confront climate change challenges and build a more sustainable and prepared city for everyone that calls Providence home. Updating this plan will ensure that we can continue to be a leader in sustainability, advancing cleaner, renewable energy and ensuring a healthier and more resilient future for all of our neighbors.”
In 2019, the City and the Racial and Environmental Justice Committee (REJC) codeveloped the City’s first Climate Justice Plan (CJP). The plan included seven key sections that contained direct methods to track progress and measure outcomes aimed at creating an equitable, low-carbon and climate resilient city. The CJP centered equity in the planning process and set the expectation that the plan would be implemented through a collaborative governance approach to address the causes and impacts of the climate crisis by centering the priorities of Providence’s frontline communities who are disproportionally impacted by climate pollution.
“Centering frontline voices who are most impacted by system environmental injustices ensures that climate action solutions benefit all Providence residents without leaving any of our communities behind,” said Director of Sustainability, Priscilla De La Cruz. “Our update to the Providence Climate Justice Plan will honor that equity in sustainability approach.”
The City of Providence now begins a series of community meetings to discuss progress to date on the CJP strategies and conduct conversations around the current highest priority issues of Providence residents. During the update process, City stakeholders, community organizations and residents will develop an equitable community engagement strategy through collaborative engagement that center the voices and priorities of frontline communities.
Based on the outcomes of the community engagement process, plus the analysis from technical consultants, the City, REJC, its technical consultants—CIVIC, GZA and BW Research—and community organizations will develop a draft and final update of the Climate Justice Plan, including a five-year implementation roadmap. Following the publication of the updated CJP, the City will continue its work towards accomplishing the set objectives, including incorporating and codifying the plan into future plans and policies.