City staff seeks Commission’s view on repealing clean energy law

photo by: Douglas County

Solar panels installed at Douglas County Public Works.

City officials in Lawrence have admitted that they are falling short of their renewable energy objectives, initially set for 2025, with staff describing the targets as untenable without a detailed strategy. The measures, which were formalized in a 2020 ordinance, now face potential repeal following this revelation.

Kathy Richardson, Lawrence’s sustainability director, revealed at a recent meeting that the city has only managed to meet around 3% of its renewable energy goal for municipal operations. As things stand, the city was aiming to have fully transitioned to renewable energy by 2025.

The Connected City and Environmental Sustainability Advisory boards recently held a combined work session to debate the city’s climate goals. They explored the reasoning behind the team’s desire to repeal the current ordinance, which originally set a 100% citywide renewable energy target by 2035. The new proposal aims for the city to be “climate-neutral” by 2050 instead.

“That is really truly saying that every residential and commercial business would be powered 100% by clean and renewable energy (by 2035),” Richardson explained. “I don’t know anybody in this field that would say that is in any way doable.”

Climate neutrality, as explained by Richardson, involves offsetting or removing all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions to achieve zero net impact on the climate system. This necessitates large-scale emission reductions in sectors such as industry, transportation, government, and households, with any remaining emissions balanced by equivalent removals.

Richardson explained that the City Commission asked staff to make revisions to the initial ordinance and engage with both advisory boards. This followed the adoption of the Adapt Douglas County: A Climate Action & Adaptation Plan in 2024, a countywide initiative designed to help the community adapt to climate change risks. City staff now wish to align their greenhouse gas reduction targets with the plan, which has the 2050 goal.

Richardson highlighted that the previous ordinance lacked a clear roadmap: “(What) the Commission adopted in 2020, (the ordinance), there was no roadmap on how we were going to get there,” she said. “For the resolution, the roadmap is the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.”

photo by: YouTube screenshot

The Connected Cities and Environmental Sustainability Advisory Boards held a joint work session on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 to discuss the city’s climate goals and whether to recommend repealing a city ordinance on renewable energy.

Looking ahead, city staff hopes the City Commission will adopt a new resolution outlining a climate neutrality goal by 2050. Richardson explained that goals are commonly found under resolutions rather than ordinances.

In an exchange with Nancy Muma, chair of the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board, Richardson shared that the new resolution would outline the strategies and goals in the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan but the resolution itself would not be changing. It will primarily communicate the 2050 goal.

Richardson also stated that the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan is subject to periodic review and potential changes. “This document, the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, is set so it’s not set in stone,” she said. “Every few years we’re reviewing and potentially changing some of the strategies or the goals and we’re going to be doing new inventories.”

Ryan Reza, a member of the Connected City Advisory Board, expressed his concern over repealing an ordinance that was passed just six years ago. He anticipates significant negative feedback given that the ordinance was passed less than a decade ago.

Nick Kuzmyak, another member of the Connected City Advisory Board, emphasised the importance of setting achievable goals moving forward, given the apparent unfeasibility of the previous ordinance.

photo by: YouTube screenshot

Kathy Richardson, sustainability director of the City of Lawrence, is pictured on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026.

Josh Roundy, vice-chair of the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board, commended the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan for outlining achievable, detailed goals that the community can measure and act on.

Richardson revealed that a resolution has not yet been drafted, but sustainability staff will meet with commissioners during a work session or another way to gather feedback from the commission, to see if they are interested in pursuing the resolution or not. If they are, Richardson said she will task staff to begin writing one. Staff will also schedule meetings with the advisory board for updates.

Richardson highlighted that the sustainability team has identified three key priorities in the last year, outlined in the city’s strategic plan.

“The three (priorities) were established or prioritized last year with the hope that the next couple years is the time frame of us working on moving the needle and working on these three,” Richardson stated.

The first priority is to reduce the amount of trash people generate per day. She said the city wants to work toward waste reduction efforts, recycling, composting, etc. The second goal is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and the final goal is to increase the percentage of city-used electricity to be powered by on-site renewable energy.

Federal climate grant award

The City Commission has decided to enter into an agreement with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to participate in a program aimed at reducing ambient air pollution. According to Richardson, this could assist in achieving the final goal for on-site renewable energy in city buildings.

The KDHE is the lead agency for the State of Kansas for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, as part of which the city secured $200,000 in grant funds. The city will use these funds to explore ways to lower greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. These grants will be available for the city to use until June 30, 2027.

A federal program will provide $5 billion in funding for climate action as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, created under the Biden Administration. This represents the largest federal investment in climate action in U.S. history.

Richardson communicated that the funds will be used for planning work to further the local Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. She clarified that the planning work specific to Lawrence will involve updated greenhouse gas emissions inventories and emissions reduction projections based on local initiatives.

Richardson also mentioned via email that other potential planning work the city has discussed with the State of Kansas includes the development of an Energy Plan for municipal buildings, a renewable energy study/analysis of municipal buildings, and an electrification study/analysis of municipal buildings.

The city intends to continue collaborating with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, previously known as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, for guidance and strategy on greenhouse gas emissions inventories and emissions reduction projections.

Richardson revealed via email that initial greenhouse gas inventories were established in 2005 as the baseline year for the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. The city has updated greenhouse gas emissions inventories a few times with 2018 being the last year data was collected up until the city reported data needed for the 2021 greenhouse gas emissions inventory included in the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.

“We very desperately need new data, and that conversation about greenhouse gas emissions and what is most important and what the city really needs to be focusing on, it’s a lot of work,” Richardson concluded. “With the help of ICLEI, we hope to get there.”