AUSTIN, Texas — On Wednesday, the U.S. formally left the Paris Climate Agreement. In June, Travis County Commissioners adopted a Climate Action Plan to implement whether the country was part of the agreement or not.
"The president might have pulled the country out, but we as cities and counties are still in the Paris Agreement and we are working to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and protect our communities from climate change," County Commissioner Brigid Shea said.
Two of the biggest factors of climate change in Travis County are greenhouse gas emissions and water usage. Fortunately, the pandemic has brought a silver lining for curbing greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide.
"We recently did an inventory and looked at where do county operations generate greenhouse gas emissions, and the second largest category was the burning of fossil fuels and the emissions given off from employees driving to and from work," Shea said.
To limit emissions, 75% of county employees have been working from home. The Commissioners Court also is working on making that a long-term or permanent reality that qualifying employees may continue to work from home even after the pandemic is over.
Lake Travis is one of the main sources of drinking water used by the county. To limit how much water is used for drinking and in everyday objects like air conditioning units, Travis County started treating and recycling wastewater.
"In four of our large buildings downtown, we're saving about 10 million gallons a year on the demand side," Shea said. "That means it leaves more water in Lake Travis. At our jail, we're doing conversions that will save about 9 million gallons a year. So we're getting close to 20 million gallons just on five Travis County facilities."
Shea hopes other entities like University of Texas and the Texas Capitol building start to adopt those changes as well.
This week, Joe Biden said if he is elected president, he will return the U.S. to the Paris Agreement on "day one." If President Donald Trump is reelected, that won't happen. No matter who wins the 2020 election, Shea said the systems are already in place to make sure Travis County aims for the Paris Agreement goals to be more energy efficient and fight climate change.
"We actually have gone out to hire a consultant to help us put in place the necessary policies and infrastructure to support our employees, being able to telecommute on a permanent basis," Shea said. "If we're in the Paris Climate Agreement as a country and with Biden as president, if that works out, we will have policies that will support state and local governments pursuing these kinds of transitions that will have to happen in order for us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and try to heal the planet from all the horrible impacts of climate change."
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