Grant County, Washington | Comprehensive Plan Climate Element
Lotus worked with Measure Meant to complete the climate element of Grant County’s Comprehensive Plan, a requirement for all Washington jurisdictions through the Growth Management Act. Lotus assisted with the development of a climate vulnerability assessment, an iterative process that included future climate projections, “at-risk” populations, and an assessment of probability and magnitude of consequence regarding climate-related hazards specific to Grant County.
The assessment was supplemented by an engagement process targeting the Hispanic/Latinx population given their large composition of the County’s population. Engagement activities included Climate Advisory Team meetings composed of government and community stakeholders, critical partner interviews with local municipalities in Grant County and community-based organizations, focus groups structured around five climate sub-topics, meetings-in-a-box (MIABs) for the public, a public survey, and tabling at the County’s Umani Festival. Key to the success of engagement was connecting with CBOs to gain actionable insights and community connections in a largely rural, agricultural community.
Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Air Quality | CCAP Engagement
Lotus worked with the Utah Division of Air Quality under a larger consultant team led by E3 to craft the Beehive Emission Reduction Comprehensive Plan. Under the Comprehensive Plan scope of work, Lotus organized and led the stakeholder engagement, including the planning and facilitation of seven sectoral working group meetings, three sectoral focus groups, over 20 informational interviews, three community focused working group meetings, three meetings in a box, and two public meetings. These meetings collectively helped identify and prioritize key emissions reduction strategies, include detail and nuance in the final emissions model, and elevate community values in the Comprehensive Plan. A thorough report was developed to summarize the engagement results and synthesize critical insights from stakeholders. Strategy details collected from stakeholders throughout the process were included in a series of strategy coordination templates to assist with implementation.
Throughout the project, Lotus built relationships with key stakeholders in and around the emissions reduction space, as well as equity and justice stakeholders in the Salt Lake City area. Engagements were conducted largely in workplace contexts, with a few exceptions for in-person meetings and community focused meetings. Lotus deployed tactics to facilitate inclusive engagement and respond to cultural norms and needs authentically, such as providing refreshments, pivoting agendas to respond to community needs, and a variety of activities. Feedback from stakeholders was reflected in the final engagement report and strategy coordination templates, particularly in the community values that anchor the prioritization framework of the plan.
Edmond, Oklahoma | Resiliency Action Plan
Edmond Resiliency Action Plan
Lotus worked with the City of Edmond to create the city’s first Resiliency Action Plan. The plan centers city-level action around improving on current initiatives and incorporating new strategies that the city can implement to improve resiliency over the next five years. Informational interviews and dozens of focus groups helped inform existing conditions, resources, and programming in Edmond, as well as the desired future conditions for the city. All strategies were vetted and prioritized by Edmond staff. The final plan is a public-facing dashboard that will be regularly and easily updated via a google sheet that tracks KPIs. These metrics will ensure that Edmond knows it is on the right track to meet its goals.
Cheyenne, Wyoming | Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
City of Cheyenne Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
Lotus is currently working with the City of Cheyenne to fulfill the requirements of their awarded Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lotus’ role is to complete the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) including a community and local government greenhouse gas inventory, business-as-usual forecast, emission projections, and strategy prioritization and modeling. Lotus will also conduct community engagement, develop partnerships with surrounding communities, and more.
To date, Lotus has led and facilitated multiple community and partner engagements and is developing a “sustained engagement” plan for the City of Cheyenne to utilize once the grant funds are expended. Lotus has also connected with community interests around clean water and resource conservation, aligning with the requirements of the grant to maintain community connections and buy-in to the planning process.
Albuquerque | Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Data Consultant
Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Data Consultant
Lotus is currently working with the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico to complete several projects to support its Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) as a part of Albuquerque’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG). Lotus’s scope includes the creation of a four county-wide community greenhouse gas and co-pollutant emissions inventories, a business-as-usual model, and greenhouse gas emissions reductions forecasting for all measures included in the City’s CCAP. Lotus will also support Albuquerque in developing several other deliverables necessary for the CCAP, including a workforce analysis, regular federal reporting, and a cost analysis for the measures included in the CCAP.
Albuquerque has also requested Lotus support additional CPRG-funded projects that include developing a benefits analysis, assistance with guiding a climate vulnerability assessment and tree canopy analysis, graphic design for the CCAP, and drafting educational materials for a take action campaign.
Additional scope that Lotus will provide beginning in 2026 includes developing a benefits analysis to inform the development and implementation of climate pollution reduction measures. The benefits analysis will include a climate vulnerability assessment, tree canopy model, and other relevant activities to help local governments prioritize climate action and implementation. Lotus will utilize existing data sets and models, and where unavailable, will conduct research or interviews to fill any information gaps.
For the Climate Vulnerability analysis, Lotus will summarize current risks, threats, and hazards and will detail predicted future vulnerabilities to the four counties and City of Albuquerque, including those to social, economic, environmental, and infrastructure, amongst other sectors. The full vulnerability and risk assessment will include a write-up with key takeaways.
The tree canopy model will include the identification of high-impact tree planting locations (LIDAC focus, maximizing co-benefits such as traffic calming, home energy savings, etc.). The overlay map of data will include available data such as demographic data, heat data, and transportation data down to the census block group. It will also overlay city property and parks.
Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) | Climate Pollution Reduction Grant
Climate Pollution Reduction Grant
Lotus is currently working with DRCOG to fulfill the requirements of the agency’s $1 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As part of this process, Lotus supported data collection, emissions calculations, modeling, stakeholder engagement, and strategy development and prioritization for DRCOG’s Priority Climate Action Plan. Currently, Lotus is supporting stakeholder engagement and related tasks to develop the regional Comprehensive Climate Action Plan.
To date, Lotus has led and facilitated multiple community and stakeholder engagements, and facilitated an equity subcommittee. Lotus conducted an all-day workshop that brought together representatives from communities across the 12-county region to organize implementation details for the eight PCAP strategies. The stakeholder engagement process that was deployed for the PCAP and will continue for the CCAP, has ensured that a broad constituency of community members from across the DRCOG region are engaged in, and empowered to participate in the resulting PCAP strategy implementation process. The creation and participation of the equity subcommittee as part of the PCAP process helped to ensure that the final implementation details for the PCAP strategies are informed by the communities that will be most impacted by this work.
DRCOG’s Priority Climate Action Plan was submitted to the EPA with the corresponding grant application for CPRG Implementation Funds. DRCOG secured grants funds for the Decarbonize DRCOG Program, the funding mechanism for the program related to this RFP and proposal.