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Mayor Details Portland's Plans To Battle Climate Change Following Vatican Trip

By OPB Staff (OPB)
Portland, Oregon July 28, 2015 10:59 p.m.
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Portland Mayor Charlie Hales joined more than 60 mayors from around the world in The Vatican for a two-day summit on how cities can work together to battle the effects of climate change and human trafficking.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales joined more than 60 mayors from around the world in The Vatican for a two-day summit on how cities can work together to battle the effects of climate change and human trafficking.

Photo courtesy of Charlie Hales

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales last week joined more than 60 mayors from around the world on a trip to The Vatican to meet with Pope Francis about climate change.
 
The group also discussed ways to address human trafficking during the two-day summit.

On Tuesday, Hales spoke with Think Out Loud host Conrad Wilson about the city's plans for curbing the effects of climate change following his trip.

"We've just actually looked at the idea for something called 'green bonds' where you can finance environmentally-responsible investments with a bond issue which is then sold in the marketplace at reasonable rates. We think Portland is going to be an early adopter and world leader in using green bonds to finance things," Hales said.

Hales also spoke about the city's reliance on fossil fuels.

"TriMet brags about biodiesel on our buses. That's great, but they're only using 5 percent biodiesel on our buses. Let's see if we can take up a notch, or two, or three or four notches and really get serious about traveling around the city using less fossil fuel."
 
The mayor also spoke about adding more solar panels to buildings and increasing the scale of the city's green initiatives.

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