Let the countdown begin.

The Sedona City Council approved the city of Sedona’s first-ever Climate Action Plan on July 14. Now, implementation of some lofty goals is under way.

According to a city report, the Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive road map that outlines the specific activities that the community will take to reduce green­house gas pollution and adapt to climate change.

It will consider the projected climate changes in the Verde Valley, Sedona’s greenhouse gas emissions, community vulnerabilities, and the priorities, ideas and concerns of Sedona residents. The plan will recom­mend the actions that achieve the greatest emission reductions or improve community resiliency.

Council approved the plan unanimously. By majority consensus, but without taking a vote, council agreed in January with the recommended target to reduce 50% of community greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

“A 50% community-wide reduction in greenhouse emissions is physically possible,” Sustainability Coordinator McKenzie Jones said. “It is possible with our existing technologies. It is possible to achieve. But, it is difficult to achieve it with voluntary action. So when we look at our numbers and when we look at incentives, it’s hard for us to know exactly how far we’re going to be able to go.”

The plan will cover five main topic areas: Resilience; buildings and energy; transportation and land use; water and natural systems; and waste and consumption.

The report states an example of a resiliency action is developing a volunteer to assist implementing Firewise recommendations at residents’ homes. It will build on the work already being done by the city and identify additional opportunities.

Some of the highlights of the plan include:

■ Letter from the Mayor: “The Sedona Climate Action Plan positions Sedona to be a leader by presenting a coordinated strategy that holistically responds to the challenges of a changing climate.”

■ Process: The city hosted five public work­shops, three online public surveys, one staff work­shop and regularly met with a group of 13 volun­teer stakeholders to iden­tify, refine and evaluate strategies for the plan.

■ Framework: The plan responds to climate change through both miti­gation — reducing green­house gas emissions to limit additional warming — and adaptation, which includes preparing for and building resilience to climate change impacts.

■ Outline: The plan contains strategies and actions for climate change mitigation and adaptation in five sectors: Buildings and energy, transportation and land use, materials and consumption, water and natural systems, and climate resilience.

■ Goal: The plan sets a goal of reducing commu­nity-wide emissions by 50% by 2030. Examples include: Increasing energy efficiency, sourcing more energy from renewables, reducing the amount people drive, increasing electric vehicle use and reducing the organic waste that ends up in the landfill.

■ City Goals: The plan also solidifies internal municipal goals previ­ously outlined in the city’s Municipal Sustainability Plan. These include having municipal opera­tions be carbon neutral by 2030, transitioning all passenger vehicles in the city fleet to electric by 2030 and using 100% renewable energy for municipal operations by 2025.

■ Individual Actions: The plan also outlines actions individuals and local businesses can take to reduce their personal emissions and help reach the community-wide goal of a 50% reduction in emission.

In the Climate Action Plan survey conducted in June 2020, 68.9% of 251 respondents said they are quite worried or very worried about climate change; 68.4% of respon­dents said that it is quite important or very impor­tant that the city take action on climate change and 72.4% of respondents felt that the city should be very invested or moder­ately invested in taking climate action.

Specifically, the plan aimed to:

■ Establish a target to reduce Sedona’s commu­nity greenhouse gas emissions.

■ Identify steps that the community will need to take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

■ Identify actions to prepare for and adapt to climate changes.

■ Focus on implementa­tion, return on investment and synergy with other city efforts.

■ Build partnerships with community organi­zations and institutions.

“Climate change is a global problem, but the impacts are felt locally,” the plan states. “Sedona is seeing increased flooding, more frequent and severe wildfires and smoke, and rising temperatures that strain water resources. As global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, these changes will increase over time and continue to threaten our safety, natural resources and economy.”