It has been more than three years since the Longmont City Council de…

It has been more than three years since the Longmont City Council declared a climate emergency and called for “immediate” action to address the crisis.

The resident-initiated resolution, which the City Council unanimously approved in 2019, reaffirmed the city’s goal of utilizing 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

During Tuesday’s regular session, the City Council is scheduled to review Longmont’s 2022 Annual Sustainability and Climate Action Report, which details the city’s progress toward its environmental targets.

The six-page report zeroes in on 10 categories: air quality, building and infrastructure, community cohesion and resilience, economic vitality, energy, food systems, the natural environment, transportation, waste and water.

The city is on track to meet 23 of its goals, such as using 100% renewable electricity by 2030, but must improve in several other areas, according to the report.

With respect to energy initiatives, the city is not on track to increase its low-income residential energy efficiency program from 40 to 400 homes annually by 2025.

“It’s a city program and it’s always been … hanging around there and never gotten much traction,” Councilmember Marcia Martin, the council’s liaison to the city’s Sustainability Advisory Board, said Monday.

However, the number of environmentally certified buildings in the city has increased, as there were 3,824 such properties in 2021, the report said.

The city is also on track to reduce transportation emissions 40% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.

“There’s a need to make the city less car centric and more amenable to people getting out of their cars and biking and walking,” Martin said.

In a news release issued Monday, Longmont resident Ethan Augreen criticized the city for declaring a climate emergency and, in his view, not following through with it.

“I’d like to see them do more effective and strategic action,” Augreen said in a separate interview. “Not just have words on paper declaring an emergency.”

Augreen took issue with the fact that the city’s Climate Action Task Force had not met since 2020.

The Climate Action Task Force met eight times, with its last meeting occurring on June 11, 2020, according to city records. The task force finalized its full recommendations report on June 18, 2020.

“The purpose of the Climate Action Task Force was explicitly to come together to develop recommendations to accelerate climate action work,” said Lisa Knoblauch, Longmont sustainability manager, in an email. “The Climate Action Task Force members voted to disband once the report was completed, and recommended that the existing Sustainability Advisory Board be responsible for reviewing progress made toward the goals and recommendations in the report.”

Tuesday’s City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 350 Kimbark St.