The City’s goals for our environment

The City of Oxford has signed a commitment and joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.  Oxford dedicates itself to creating local climate resilience and joins more than 10,000 cities in the goal of a net-zero-emission world by 2050 through a reduction in carbon emissions.

We will use the net-zero goal to influence future decision-making, to foster an environmentally and socially responsible culture within the Oxford community, and to realign our practices and standing legislation to be more climate-driven.

For more information, see Oxford's Climate Goals, Emissions & Resilience page.

Global Covenant of Mayors

After signing onto the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) in 2020, the City of Oxford has continued to make strides towards meeting the goals of this organization.  By joining GCoM, Oxford has teamed up with over 10,000 cities worldwide to reach global net-zero emissions by 2050.  To support these cities in their efforts, GCoM provides 3 major initiatives.

  • Invest4Cities
      • This initiative aims to increase the flow of both public and private-sector investment into funding for urban climate change resilience, or the ability for a system to maintain function despite any issues that climate change may present. It also advocates for more equitable access to funding and removes barriers to developing climate projects that will draw investors.
  • Data4Cities
      • This initiative looks to ensure that data remains transparent, consistent, and high-quality, regardless of the city the data comes from. It also looks to increase accessibility to data and provide a mechanism for analyzing it. This helps city governments understand their own local circumstances as well as the circumstances of cities like them.
  • Innovate4Cities
      • This initiative recognizes the importance of and hopes to achieve community connection and understanding. To achieve this, GCoM holds events that are meant to answer the most pressing questions about emissions reductions: the whys and hows. These events are open to everyone — city leaders, scientists, researchers, academics, youth, business people, and anyone else who may be interested.

Learn more about the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.(link is external)

In alignment with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, the City of Oxford has created the Climate Steering Committee to facilitate climate action and the creation of a pathway towards carbon neutrality in the Oxford community.  So far, the committee has overseen the completion of a Greenhouse gas emissions inventory, a risk and vulnerability assessment, and created the City’s emission reduction targets. By the end of 2022, the committee hopes to complete a Climate Action Plan, which will lead our community to net-neutrality, and an Adaptation Plan, which will make our community more resilient to the changes in our climate.

At any given time, the committee will consist of seven voting members appointed by the City Council, consisting of 2 council members and 5 community members. The committee will also include liaisons from other important facets of our community such as members of the Planning Commission, Environmental Commission,  Parking and Transportation Advisory Board, the City Manager’s Office, other key community organizations, and a representative from Miami University.