BUILD YOUR OWN
RESOURCE LIBRARY
Charlotte adopts updated Strategic Energy Action Plan
SEAP+ builds on the 2018 plan and outlines bold goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transition to clean energy and create a more resilient community.
Charlotte City Council has voted in favour adopting its new Strategic Energy Action Plan (SEAP+), an updated and expanded roadmap for reaching the City’s new climate and energy goals.
SEAP+ builds on the 2018 plan and outlines bold goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transition to clean energy and create a more resilient community. The addition of the ‘plus’ to the plan represents the new inclusion of a climate risk assessment, creating a stronger link between energy transitions and climate challenges.
Local sustainability experts
The update process included a survey that was open to the public to give input, numerous outreach events, and guidance from a Technical Advisory Committee made up of local sustainability experts. The final SEAP+ updated the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, highlighted the climate risks affecting the city, considered all feedback, and moved forward with reimagining the focus areas.
“SEAP+ adoption is another strong step toward our goal of becoming a global leader in environmental sustainability,” said Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles. “I am proud of our achievements so far, and I am eager to continue the bold work laid out in this plan.”
With the reworking of the focus areas, workforce development has been incorporated as a component of each, while the SEAP+ reaffirms the Buildings, Energy Generation, and Transportation focus areas. A new focus area called Cross Sectional ties into the additional areas of water conservation, waste diversion and reduction, smart data approaches, urban heat mitigation, and the city’s tree canopy.
The goals focus on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and supporting actions that support a healthy, sustainable community
One of the requirements of the City’s Sustainable Facilities Policy (SFP), adopted in 2021 and a cornerstone of the SEAP, 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 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 its buildings and visualise efforts to conserve energy.
Read More
According to the City, a key to implementing lasting change is to highlight measures of success and monitor the data over time. For the Sustainable Energy Action Plan, it has the SEAP+ Dashboard. The interactive dashboard gives users insight on progress toward achieving the SEAP+ goals, originally adopted by City Council in 2018. The goals focus on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and supporting actions that support a healthy, sustainable community.
Additionally, another dashboard focuses on the City’s voluntary benchmarking programme, Power Down the Crown. This dashboard hosts data on the City’s benchmarked buildings, as well as those from community partners.
“SEAP+ adoption is another strong step toward our goal of becoming a global leader in environmental sustainability. I am proud of our achievements so far, and I am eager to continue the bold work laid out in this plan”
The City reports these dashboards are an important step in allowing it to see how effective the programmes, initiatives, projects, and policy changes are for long-term change in Charlotte. Information from the dashboards will be used to review how successful efforts have been and will offer feedback to support ongoing efforts.
The Strategic Energy Action Plan annual reports are yearly updates on the City of Charlotte’s success metrics for sustainability work, highlighting the polices enacted and in action over the last calendar year, as well as cumulative efforts since the SEAP+ was adopted. There has been a report published since 2019, helping to show the continued efforts toward the City’s 2030 and 2050 sustainability goals.
Why not try these links to see what our SmartCitiesWorld AI can tell you.
(Please note this is an experimental service)
How does SEAP+ integrate climate risk assessment with energy transition goals?What metrics are used in the Charlotte Energy Performance Benchmarking Report?How does workforce development enhance the effectiveness of SEAP+ focus areas?In what ways does the SEAP+ Dashboard track progress on greenhouse gas reductions?How does the Cross Sectional focus area address urban heat mitigation and waste reduction?Charlotteclimate actionClimate change/ResilienceConnectivity & DataDataeconomic developmentEnergy & EnvironmentGovernance and CitizenMunicipal buildingsPeople and SkillsPolicy Makingsmart wasteurban space
Latest City Profile
Latest Summit Speakers
(22-26 June)
SmartCitiesWorld Newsletters (Daily/Weekly)
You may also like these related articles...
BECOME A MEMBER
© 2026 SmartCitiesWorld
Smart Cities World Ltd, 37 Lombard Street, London, EC3V 9BQ