Office of Climate & Sustainability

The Office of Climate and Sustainability works to implement programs and projects that enhance sustainability and resilience across the city and municipal operations. The team collaborates with other departments, governmental institutions, and community partners.

The City of El Paso is in the preliminary stages of developing a Community Climate Action Plan to chart a path toward reducing GHG emissions. The city is planning for the potential impacts caused by local changes in climate.

Chihuahuan Desert Climate Collaborative

The Chihuahuan Desert Climate Collaborative is a regional approach to developing our area’s first-ever Climate Action Plan. Find ways to get involved, give your feedback, upcoming events, and view organizations dedicated to reducing energy use.
Feel free to complete the Climate Action Plan survey at epclimate.org

This initiative is supported by a $1M grant awarded to the El Paso Region in July 2023 under the EPA's Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program. This funding will help develop and implement El Paso’s first Climate Action Plan, focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, curbing other harmful air pollutants, and addressing climate-related vulnerabilities. The plan is expected to be finalized by 2025.

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Photos of el paso, solar panels, farmers market

Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)

The City of El Paso is inviting nonprofits to apply for funding through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG), as part of the El Paso sustainability initiatives. The City has received $595,490.00 in total funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support solar photovoltaic projects at nonprofits and small businesses.

This Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) is focused on selecting a nonprofit to administer, manage and ensure that the program meets the expected outcomes. The City anticipates allocating service funds up to $50,000.00 for up to two-year period, from November 1, 2025, to August 31, 2026, with a tentative extension to August 31, 2027.

The selected non-profit will assist the City in managing up to $520,965.63 allocated to serve qualifying entities without preferences. Those funds will provide solar photovoltaic energy to local nonprofits and/or small businesses. Under this program, recipients will have the opportunity to install solar energy systems and will be able to compare their energy savings before and after solar installation.

The selected non-profit won't be able to apply for the installation of solar panels at their facility. Please be aware of this conflict of interest if your institution is interested in solar energy under this program. Eligibility and application process for the installation of solar PV will be available in the upcoming months.

Application deadline: October 22, 2025 at 12.00 PM MST

Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program
Special Terms and Conditions
• EECBG Project Management Proposal (online form)
• EECBG Budget Template

Announcements & Events

Climate Pollution Reduction Grant

On Friday, March 1, 2024, the City of El Paso submitted the Preliminary Climate Action Plan (PCAP) to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The City of El Paso was awarded $1,000,000 through a non-competitive EPA grant, the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG), which kicked off the PCAP effort. This PCAP document serves as the first step to apply for additional competitive EPA grant funding (CPRG II). This opportunity positions states, local governments, tribes and territories to develop and implement plans that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the past 9 months, the City of El Paso has forged strong relationships with 11 municipal partners to develop the PCAP while community outreach efforts helped to inform the direction of the plan.

See the Full PCAP Document See Survey Results

Women in Green 2024 - Fresh Perspectives

El Paso along with Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio collaborated to have an interactive unified USGBC Texas Chapter Women in Green Event on August 1, 2024.

This event highlighted women in sustainability by sharing heart felt stories of their work and who they looked up to as they were paving their way in their careers.

In an effort to minimize environmental impact the event had little to no decorations and diverted food waste to be used as compost.

The menu was buffet style with reusable plates and silverware. Eco-friendly badges were used where attendees filled out their own names and registration for the event was paperless online.

This event highlighted the power of when individuals come together and unite how much work can be done for the greater good.

Renewable Energy

The Regional Renewable Energy Advisory Council (RREAC) advises the City Council as an Ad Hoc Committee on all matters related to renewable energy strategy and industry development.

The RREAC’s Strategic Plan, approved in 2021, focuses on four pillars:

Education, Outreach, and Advocacy
Municipal Energy
Industry Development
Renewable Energy Infrastructure

Join the RREAC Board!
We're seeking applicants with experience and expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency and related fields to be part of the Regional Renewable Energy Advisory Council (RREAC). This board advices City Council in all matters related to renewable energy and efficiency.

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Municipal Energy

With more than 200 assets and 1,000 energy accounts, the City of El Paso is one of the largest consumers of energy (electricity and natural gas) in the Region. Acknowledging this, the City included the development of an Urban Energy Plan as one of its 25 by 25 Strategic Projects. To develop it, the City has convened an internal Cross-Functional Team, based on the RREAC’s pillars, to produce and implement the plan.

Municipal Energy Update Presentation

Resilient El Paso

The City of El Paso was part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative. In December 2014, El Paso joined leading cities around the world in hiring its first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO). The CRO is an innovative position in city government that reports directly to the city’s chief executive and acts as the city’s point person for resilience building, coordinating all of the city’s resilience efforts.

Today, the City of El Paso has now permanently incorporated the role of the Chief Resilience Officer within its organizational structure. From March 2015 - December 2016, the City of El Paso conducted over 95 community engagement events, and 21 stakeholder work sessions and piloted 11 test projects. Our team communicated with just under 12,000 El Pasoans face-to-face and approximately 70,000 via digital means over the course of this work.

Beginning with the approval of the strategy in February 2018, the Chief Resilience Officer is charged with stewardship of resilience practice as part of El Paso’s future strategic planning as well as in regular municipal operations.

The introduction of resilience thinking in the context of city strategic planning allowed an opportunity for integration across multiple areas of concern such as economic development, city planning, community development, and municipal operations just to name a few.

As part of the El Paso Resilience Strategy, four goals key to moving forward were set:

Sustainable and adaptive city infrastructure systems, both public and private.
Creation of innovative pathways toward economic prosperity for all El Pasoans.
Empowering El Pasoans to move our community forward and strengthen our city.
Enabling a collaborative and reflective government, responsive to the needs of the community and engaged as a global leader.

A Foundation for Resilience

Download Strategy

Urban Heat

Urban Heat Mapping and Heat Perceptions Study: This two-year study (2020-2021) was supported by NOAA’s National Integrated Health Information System (NIHHIS) program, the North American Development Bank (NADB), and EPA’s 2020 US-Mexico Border Program.

In 2020, the Heat Watch Campaign was conducted with help from UTEP, community-based organizations, and the regional National Weather Service office. 41 volunteers collected more than 66,000 temperature and humidity measurements that were used to develop El Paso’s urban heat map. The area covered was 105 sq. miles within city limits.

Additionally, to produce high-resolution descriptions of the distribution of temperature and humidity (heat index) across El Paso, the project successfully engaged with the community and created lasting partnerships to better understand and address the inequitable threat of extreme heat.

In 2021, the second phase of the project focused on communicating the results and collecting feedback from the community. Two workshops took place with stakeholders and the community. UTEP’s Center for Inter-American and Border Studies (CIBS) developed a heat perception survey that was distributed to the community via digital platforms. The answers collected allowed to better understand how the community perceives heat and its inherent risks associated with it.

Summary Report Heat Watch

Maps
Open Science Framework (OSF)
Web App
Web Map

Community & Human Development