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City of Duluth Sustainability Officer Mindy Granley Receives MN Climate Adaptation Partnership Award

[DULUTH, MN] At an event at the Bell Museum in St. Paul on Saturday, January 28, City of Duluth Sustainability Officer Mindy Granley was honored at the 2023 Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership Awards with the Individual Adaptation Award. The Individual Adaptation Award honors someone who has offered significant leadership, provided education, developed or implemented strategies, conducted research, or otherwise made an impact in the field of climate adaptation in Minnesota. The MCAP recognized Granley for her work at the City of Duluth, where she is responsible for improvement of City policies, programs, and initiatives in support of local environmental, economic, and social systems.

“I’m grateful for this acknowledgement from the MN Climate Adaptation Partnership,” said Granley on receiving the honor. “To me, the award says ‘Great work, now keep going.’  I spend a lot of time listening to my colleagues from across different Departments, and helping them include climate change in our decision-making. As a City, we’re just starting to understand how our infrastructure and operations need to adapt to climate change; there is a lot more to do!”

Since 2020, Granley’s work has contributed to securing $32 million dollars in grant money for City and community initiatives related to the climate adaptation space, including transportation, utility, and renewable energy infrastructure, the Love Your Block blight remediation program, and more. Granley led the creation of the City of Duluth’s first-ever Climate Action Work Plan. She has pushed for adoption of new performance standards for City facilities, established an interdepartmental Sustainability Advisory Team, and established multiple community partnerships for climate sustainability improvements.

“We’re thrilled to hear of Mindy being honored by the MCAP, and so happy for her, but we are not a bit surprised about it,” said Mayor Emily Larson of the award. “Mindy continues to gain momentum in her work, not just at the level of the City as a municipality, but also across her community partnerships in the region. She’s a major player in the Climate Sustainability world and an absolute rock star whose work product continually outperforms, and the City of Duluth is lucky to have her with us.”

“I’m pleased to see the impact having a Sustainability Officer has accelerating the City’s conservation efforts, energy efficiencies, and reducing emissions from City operations,” says Granley about the ongoing work she does in the City. “To have measurable and meaningful outcomes, which we’ll be releasing soon in our Climate Action Work Plan progress report, is super encouraging and really lights the fire for us to continue the work into the community. We’re really kicking our work into high gear to help strengthen community resilience, too, and I am truly excited every day I get to do this work.”

Information about the Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership and the awards can be found at https://climate.umn.edu/climate-adaptation-awards.

Information about the City of Duluth’s Sustainability Office is on our website at duluthmn.gov/sustain.

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