U.S. Green Building Council Q&A: Kate Wright, executive director of Climate Mayors

Listen to a conversation with Kate Wright on how Climate Mayors supports cities and communities.

With nearly $700 billion in funds from the Infrastructure and Investment Act and Inflation Reduction Act now moving through a political pipeline that stretches from Washington, D.C., to all 50 states and the nation’s more than 19,000 municipalities, the U.S. is accelerating its strategies to fight climate change. Climate Mayors, a bipartisan organization whose members are dedicated to demonstrating climate leadership through meaningful actions in their communities, is playing a vital, front-line role in this effort.

Providing leadership and strategic direction for the organization’s activities is its executive director, Kate Wright. USGBC recently spoke with her about the organization and the work that lies ahead.

Wright provided insight on several topics, including

• The opportunities in 2024. “We see this year as a pivot point, where we’ve demonstrated leadership for a decade, we have ambitious climate action plans, and now we have deep support from the federal government to move at a scale and a pace that we haven’t been able to.”

• Building up the resilient communities we need. “We have a number of tools and science that backs up the climate impacts that we can expect. We have the information, and so now it’s really about making sure that our social structure and our infrastructure is resilient enough to keep up with those impacts.”

• How Climate Mayors supports members. “We are getting the word out about grant programs. We’re helping our cities navigate that. We’re providing technical assistance. We’re providing peer learning opportunities and best practices and working to ensure that those benefits are being seen in the communities that our mayors serve.”