ClearWorld August Publication: Largo, Florida Goes Green | Page 10

Largo, Florida Becomes 75th U.S. City To Commit To 100% Clean Energy

10

LARGO, Fla. - On Tuesday, the Largo City Commission approved the city’s commitment to transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy. Largo now represents the fourth Florida city and 75th in the United States to establish a goal to transition entirely to clean, renewable energy.

The city’s commitment to switch to 100 percent clean energy comes as an addition to and approval of the Largo Environmental Action Plan (LEAP), which “sets the direction for collaborative and sustainable operations” across the City of Largo. The plan includes 35 indicators to guide sustainability efforts across the City of Largo focusing on three main areas: infrastructure, workforce, and natural resources.

“I am proud to support our vision of being the community of choice in Tampa Bay through a transition to 100 percent renewable energy. This will lower electricity costs and provide our residents, businesses and visitors with less pollution and more economic and job opportunities,” says Laura Thomas, Sustainability Coordinator for Largo. “This commitment will assist us in improving local air and water quality and protect public health, particularly for the most vulnerable across our community.”

“I am extremely happy to see that Largo is willing to take this step to help in what hopefully, one day, be a worldwide conservation effort,” said Largo City Commissioner Jamie Robinson. “The process will be a journey, but I can't wait to start to see the implementation of this plan both for the City of Largo and the community.

As part of Largo’s commitment to move entirely to clean and renewable energy community-wide, the city also committed to establish a specific date to achieve the goal as part of the next update of the Largo Environmental Action Plan in 2021. In addition, the City of Largo adopted a goal to power all municipal operations with at least 50 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.