In the City of Oberlin???s recently completed 2025 Strategic Plan, citizens, elected officials, and city staff identified Oberlin???s three top strategic priorities as: ???Keep Our City Safe,??? ???Focus on Economic Development/Tourism,??? and ???Lead With Sustainable Practices.??? In 2005, the Board of Trustees of Oberlin College unanimously adopted ???Move toward Environmental Sustainability??? as one of the College???s strategic directions in its Strategic Plan. A joint effort of the City of Oberlin, Oberlin College, and private and institutional partners, the Oberlin Project provides a framework for achieving these strategic priorities of improving the resilience, prosperity, and sustainability of our community.
Both the City and College have affirmed these priorities by signing on to become one of 16 Clinton Foundation Climate Positive Development Program cities (one of only two in the United States), thereby committing to reducing Oberlin???s greenhouse gas emissions below zero. Thanks to the work of community-owned Oberlin Municipal Light & Power System (OMLPS), which is responsive to its customer base and City Council, the City of Oberlin is on target to reduce its emission by 50% of 2007 levels by 2015, with 90% of its electricity coming from renewable sources. In the Climate Action Plan adopted by City Council in late 2011, the City sets the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The first of its peer institutions to sign the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, Oberlin College has led the way in establishing comprehensive sustainability planning and practice and adopted the goal of carbon neutrality by 2025.
