A2ZERO Celebrates Five Years of Impact

June 02, 2025

A2ZERO, Ann Arbor’s aggressive climate and sustainability plan and framework, just rounded out its fifth year. The city is now celebrating this milestone with A2ZERO week, a weeklong series of events, and the release of an annual report outlining major activities and accomplishments achieved in the first five years of the plan. The five-year report highlights the work of the Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovations (OSI), collaborating city departments and dozens of community collaborators July 2024–May 2025, such as:

Continuing to expand solar at city facilities with 700 kW of new solar systems installed on city properties this year, bringing total generating capacity on city properties above 1 MW
On Nov. 5, 2024, Ann Arbor voters authorized the creation of the Ann Arbor Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) with a historic 79% of the vote. The SEU will provide clean, 100% renewable, opt-in, supplemental power to residents of the city of Ann Arbor. Work immediately began to launch the SEU, expected 24 months after the November vote. Learn more and join the waitlist at www.a2gov.org/a2seu.
Ann Arbor’s Home Energy Rebates launched, helping Ann Arbor residents make improvements to their homes and invest in cleaner transportation options to reduce carbon emissions and lower energy usage.
The A2ZERO Heat Pump Concierge launched, providing Ann Arbor residents an easy platform to obtain design and pricing estimates for replacing old furnaces with new heat pumps, including all applicable rebates, and contractor and installation oversight.
The city purchased two more electric refuse trucks, bringing the total on order to four. The first electric refuse truck started providing service this spring.
On Earth Day, April 22, Ann Arbor and DTE signed the first heating franchise in the country to include climate commitments and dedicated resources to help address the climate crisis.
The A2ZERO Home Energy Advisor launched and has helped over 300 Ann Arbor residents obtain free home energy assessments with customized home decarbonization plans and connection to resources to help make improvements in their homes.
In collaboration with Human Electric Hybrids and Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw, the city launched the Borrow a Cargo Bike A2 program. Check out the program and sign up to take a cargo bike for a spin.
Years earlier than planned, the city achieved its goal of planting 10,000 trees.
As a new service offering, Comprenew and OSI hosted three electronics collection events this last year. At each event, over 6,000 pounds of electronics were collected to be recycled or refurbished. Given the success of the events, even more are planned for future years.
OSI officially trained the 100th A2ZERO ambassador with the graduation of its sixth cohort, bringing the total number of A2ZERO ambassadors trained to 118.

“Despite setbacks and challenges during year five of A2ZERO, we pivoted everywhere we could, and cleared every hurdle possible. We’ve accomplished and grown a lot, and year six promises to be another great year for climate and sustainability action in A2,” said Dr. Missy Stults, sustainability and innovations director for the City. “This past year, we have been amazed to see how collaborators and the community have come together to bring us closer to our goal, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together in year six.”

For more information about A2ZERO, activities underway, or ways to get involved, see www.a2gov.org/sustainability or email sustainability@a2gov.org . To view the year one, two three or four reports on A2ZERO activities, please see: a2zero.org.

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Media Contact:

Dr. Missy Stults, Director of Sustainability and Innovations, mstults@a2gov.org