WHAT IS ONE REGION FORWARD?

One Region Forward is a broad-based collaborative effort to promote more sustainable forms of development in Erie and Niagara counties – the Buffalo Niagara Region – in land use, transportation, housing, energy and climate, access to food, and more. It combines research and public engagement with planning and action to help us meet the combined economic, environmental, and social challenges of the 21st century.

One Region Forward was launched through a planning process to craft a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, a federally recognized document that gives our region priority status for funding opportunities today and into the future.

The plan, called A New Way to Plan for Buffalo Niagara serves as a practical roadmap for improving mobility, promoting more efficient land use patterns, strengthening our basic infrastructure, growing a 21st century economy, ensuring broad access to healthy food, protecting housing and neighborhoods, and mounting our region’s response to the challenge of global climate change.

ONE REGION FORWARD IMPLEMENTATION

Through One Region Forward, we learned what we as the Buffalo Niagara region want out of our transportation system in broad terms. GBNRTC’s Moving Forward 2050 Long Range Transportation Plan Update identifies how our transportation systems can help us achieve the region’s goals via specific strategies and targeted transportation projects.

Buffalo Niagara’s draft Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP)

In 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) awarded GBNRTC a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CRPG) to develop a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) for Erie and Niagara Counties. The draft CCAP, entitled “10 Big Actions to Reduce Emission in Buffalo Niagara”, builds off of the Buffalo Niagara Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) developed in 2024 and lays out a suite of strategic moves that the region can pursue over the next 25 years to significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The draft CCAP is the result of more than eighteen months of research, data analysis, and engagement with a broad array of stakeholders and community members across Erie and Niagara Counties. Along with 10 Big Actions themselves, the draft plan includes:

  • A fully updated Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory for all sources of GHG emissions in Buffalo Niagara (2024)

  • GHG Emission Scenario Projections

  • Quantified GHG Reduction Targets

  • Workforce Analysis outlining the benefits, opportunities and challenges associated with CCAP implementation.

  • A toolkit for local governments, businesses, community-based organizations, and individuals/households that identifies steps each sector can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region.

  • An overview of the community and stakeholder engagement that informed the planning process.

The Draft CCAP is available and accessible by clicking the image below.

Help us improve the plan! The public is invited to provide feedback on the draft to ensure that plan’s content is precise, actionable, and relevant for a wide range of readers, while keeping a perspective broad enough to help us plan for the future, recognizing that the landscape of climate action will evolve over time.

Ways that you can provide feedback on the draft:

Provide written comments:

Public comments will be received for 30 days from September 3, 2025 until the close of business (COB) on October 3, 2025. Comments may be submitted to GBNRTC via email at staff@gbnrtc.org, by voicemail at 716-856-2026 x300 or by mail at 438 Main St, Suite 503, Buffalo, NY 14202.

Attend a public meeting:

In-person and virtual public meetings will be held to provide the public with an overview of the 10 Big Climate Actions plan, answer questions, and collect input on how the plan can be improved.

In-Person meeting:

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 5:30 – 7:00 PM

Crosby Hall, Room 116

University at Buffalo South Campus

3435 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14214

  • Getting to Crosby Hall:

    • Public Transit – take NFTA bus or Metro to University Station; take UB Stampede/Shuttle to the Main Circle stop.

    • Parking – visitors may park in any lot. The closest lots are Townsend and Abbott lots, located between Main St. and campus buildings.

    • Crosby Hall faces Main Street and is one of the closest campus buildings to University Station/Main Circle. See Campus Map.

Virtual Meeting:

Thursday, September 18, 2025 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM, via Zoom

Pre-registration required – Click here to register

Thank you in advance for sharing your insights to help us develop a final version of Buffalo Niagara Comprehensive Climate Action plan that will lay a strong foundation for future climate adaptation and mitigation in our region.

Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP)

The Buffalo Niagara PCAP, developed in February 2024, is a narrative report that focuses on near-term, high-priority strategies to reduce GHG pollution from across the economy including transportation, housing, and commercial buildings which comprise 82% of emissions in our region along with other key sectors.

The PCAP is available and accessible by clicking on the image below.