Mayor Harris to sign Green Fleet executive order to clean up emission outputs in Shelby Co.

SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. (WMC) - Shelby County Government is working to clean up emission outputs in the community making a big change to its fleet of vehicles.

Wednesday an executive order will put in motion a major shift for the county to start adding electric vehicles to its fleet.

Shelby County Government says vehicles in the community are the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions.

The executive order set to be signed by Mayor Lee Harris will put forth a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from county vehicles by 45% by 2035. To do that the county says it will start to add more hybrid electric vehicles to its fleet as well as replace existing vehicles with EVs when it’s time for their replacements.

The county recently added its first fully electric vehicle to its fleet and the Shelby County Commission has approved the purchase of a full electric medium-duty dump truck.

A county climate action plan showed the three sectors with the most emissions are energy use, waste and transportation.

“Transportation accounts for roughly 40% of our emissions county-wide. The movement toward electric vehicles account for a pretty significant share of how we reach goals of emissions,” said John Zeanah, director of Memphis and Shelby Co Division of Planning and Development.

Environmental activists young and old have worked with the administration on a green initiative and many will be at the signing.

This executive order is very powerful it changing that paradigm. We’re moving away from the old style of tailpipes to no tailpipes and that’s why we like that,” said Joe Ozegovich, executive committee member of Sierra Club’s Chickasaw Group.

There’s a big focus on electric vehicles on the national level too.

This week President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act which includes tax credits for individuals and companies investing in electric vehicles.

Harris will sign the Shelby County Green Fleet executive order at 11 a.m. Monday.

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