Advocates for environmental protections say they’re optimistic about the direction of Allegheny County’s Climate Action Plan nine months after some began speaking before council to protest what they deemed a flawed and rushed process.
The backlash — spurred by concerns contracts would favor global corporations — led county officials to extend the planning process and convene a public hearing to further engage residents and stakeholders. Now the county has enlisted a slate of consultants that include local groups focused on environment and equity.
“The progress of the CAP, how it’s being organized, we feel it is going in the right direction,” said Miguel Sague Jr., a member of the board at the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center, which is a member of the CAP Justice steering committee.
Last month, the county signed a contract with ICF, a multinational management consulting firm that will lead efforts to implement a “year-long engagement and drafting process,” according to a March 14 memo to council.
The Climate Action Plan, or CAP, will be “a living plan with concrete action steps that the county intends to energetically pursue,” County Manager John Fournier wrote to council. That will likely include:
- Countywide strategies for sustainability and decarbonization, including an energy audit of county facilities
- Measures to improve resiliency and mitigate the risk posed by some of the most acute local symptoms of a warming climate, including landslides and flooding
- Carbon neutrality targets and steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the county.
The county in March signed a $600,000 contract with ICF, which is also leading efforts to update Pennsylvania’s CAP, according to the memo, which noted the firm’s “deep technical abilities” in the fields of climate resilience, environmental planning and infrastructure.
Fournier’s memo also listed the international and local organizations that will guide the CAP process over the next 12 months. They are:
- evolveEA, a local sustainability-focused architecture firm that will lead community engagement strategy
- Allen + Shariff, an engineering and project management firm headquartered in Maryland with a expertise in climate friendly building
- Black Girl, Green World, a local environmental justice advocate
- Na’Toria Marketing and Design Solutions, a Harrisburg-based marketing firm.
The county plans a public announcement sometime this month, kicking off community engagement concluding in April 2026 which will prioritize broad geographic representation, environmental justice communities and under-represented voices.
After the CAP process was initially launched by County Council ordinance in May 2023, environmental justice advocates expressed concern that without robust participation from local advocacy groups, the CAP would be unlikely to reflect the needs of the community, especially areas most affected by climate change.
The county’s choice of contractors has alleviated some fears.
Helen Gerhardt, a member of the CAP Justice steering committee, applauded the inclusion of evolveEA, which she said has a track record “leading truly inclusive processes” centered on environmental and racial justice and “a deep knowledge of Pittsburgh.” Gerhardt also pointed to the inclusion of Black Girl, Green World as an indicator that the county heard some of the concerns expressed at the public hearing last September. “It’s very encouraging to me,” Gerhardt said.
The Allegheny County Department of Sustainability is forming an engagement strategy, conducting informal interviews and assessing existing sustainability efforts, according to Brittany Prischak, the county’s sustainability director. Prischak wrote in an email to PublicSource that the county anticipates energy audits of its facilities to begin in the coming weeks.
By early summer, the county plans to launch a website and survey to gather initial input for the CAP. Prischak emphasized that the Department of Sustainability is seeking opportunities to engage the broader community at summer and fall events. Prischak encouraged anyone interested in hosting CAP-related discussions to contact the department at: sustainability@alleghenycounty.us.
A draft CAP plan is scheduled for release in February, according to the memo.
“We’re not worried about the deadline so much as having a robust and inclusive process that centers the people who will be most affected by climate change,” Gerhardt said.
Quinn Glabicki is the environment and climate reporter at PublicSource and a Report for America corps member. He can be reached at quinn@publicsource.org and on Instagram and X @quinnglabicki.
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