A regional effort in central Kentucky is challenging common assumptions about who supports climate action in the United States, as rural and urban communities collaborate on a shared plan to cut emissions and prepare for worsening climate impacts. Spanning six counties and more than half a million residents, a new climate action framework is fostering cooperation across political, economic and geographic lines in a state often stereotyped as resistant to environmental policy.

Two persistent narratives have long shaped outside perceptions of Kentucky. One portrays the state as a “climate haven,” relatively sheltered from the worst effects of global warming. The other casts its residents as broadly hostile to climate action. Local officials, researchers and sustainability staff involved in the regional initiative say both ideas oversimplify a far more complex reality on the ground.

Data increasingly contradict the notion of Kentucky as insulated from climate risk. A recent assessment by a major Texas university and a national environmental nonprofit ranked Kentucky as the sixth most climate-vulnerable state in the country. Between 2020 and 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded 27 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters affecting the state. These included destructive tornadoes in western Kentucky that killed more than 50 people and severe flash floods in the east that claimed 39 lives.

Even so, Kentucky’s political identity and rural character often lead outsiders to assume limited public support for climate initiatives. State leaders have recently backed policies seen as supportive of fossil fuels and have rolled back certain groundwater and wetland protections. Yet local conversations about climate resilience frequently unfold in pragmatic, community-focused terms rather than partisan ones.

That dynamic is visible in the draft Central Kentucky Climate Action Plan, a six-county strategy developed with support from a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The plan brings together Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine, Scott and Woodford counties, along with their municipal governments, to pursue shared emissions-reduction and resilience goals.

Under current targets, the region aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 23 percent by 2035 and 40 percent by 2050 compared to 2021 levels. Local leaders frame the plan around a three-part focus on environmental protection, community well-being and economic strength. The idea is that climate action can deliver co-benefits such as cleaner air, lower energy costs, better public health and new job opportunities.

The regional approach partly grew out of practical funding considerations. When officials in the Lexington area began searching for implementation grants, they found that broader, metropolitan-scale proposals could unlock more resources. Expanding the scope to include the entire metropolitan statistical area allowed smaller counties and towns to participate in planning that might otherwise be beyond their budgets.

Climate risks and capacities vary widely across the six counties. One county in the region ranks around the middle nationally for climate vulnerability, facing fewer extreme events but struggling with land-use pressures and pollution. Nearby counties rank far higher in vulnerability due to weaker infrastructure and health disparities among residents. The regional plan attempts to account for these differences by tailoring strategies while maintaining shared goals.

The climate action framework is divided into two main documents. A Priority Climate Action Plan outlines near-term, high-impact steps. These include studying where electric vehicle charging stations are most needed, expanding the urban tree canopy to reduce heat, and building on a local bulk-purchase solar program that helps homeowners install rooftop panels at discounted rates.

A more detailed Comprehensive Climate Action Plan focuses on long-term transformation. Recommendations include scaling up residential solar programs across all six counties, exploring a “smart agriculture” coalition to advise farmers on fertilizer use and climate-friendly practices, transitioning public transit fleets toward electric buses, and developing sustained public education campaigns.

Public engagement has been a central component. Organizers have held focus groups, gathered community feedback and recruited local ambassadors to explain proposals. Some meetings have drawn unexpectedly large crowds, suggesting a level of interest that contradicts stereotypes about apathy. While skepticism about human-caused climate change does appear in some discussions, it often coexists with openness to practical steps that improve local quality of life.

Survey data reinforce this nuanced picture. A nationwide research program based at a U.S. university reports that about 63 percent of Kentuckians believe global warming is happening. In the Lexington metropolitan area, roughly 58 percent of residents say they are worried about climate change. While these figures sit below the national average, they are far from the low levels many assume. Majorities in every county surveyed believe global warming is real.

Local officials emphasize that concern exists on a spectrum. Many residents may not identify as climate activists yet still support measures that save money, reduce pollution or protect communities from floods and heat. Framing policies around local benefits rather than global ideology has helped broaden support.

In smaller cities and rural areas, climate action often looks different from big-city initiatives. Some communities focus on farmland preservation, stormwater management and school-based environmental programs. One local priority is reducing food waste, which makes up about 30 percent of the waste stream. Proposed composting efforts in schools and communities could collectively cut hundreds of thousands of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.

Education remains part of the strategy, with shared materials on recycling, emissions and climate science distributed across local government websites. Still, some local practitioners express frustration that awareness does not always translate into behavior change. Encouraging residents to alter daily habits such as waste disposal and vehicle use can be more challenging than providing information.

Despite these hurdles, the six-county collaboration stands as an example of how climate planning can bridge divides. Rather than framing climate change as a rural-versus-urban issue, the plan treats it as a shared regional risk requiring flexible, locally relevant solutions. Communities may differ in methods, but many are moving in a similar direction.

As extreme weather events continue to affect Kentucky, the regional partnership reflects a growing recognition that climate impacts are not abstract future threats but present-day concerns. By linking environmental goals with economic and social priorities, central Kentucky’s counties are testing whether climate action can find common ground in a politically diverse landscape — and whether cooperation can replace caricature in the conversation about who cares about climate change.