Langley’s newest citizen-led committee will be holding its first meeting this week.

The ad-hoc Climate Action Committee will be convening at 3 p.m. on Sept. 16 via Zoom.

The citizen board dedicated to combating climate change was formed at the request of high school students, who also encouraged the city council to declare a climate emergency.

Two teenagers from that group of students — known as United Student Leaders — have been invited to join the new committee as members.

At a city council meeting last week, Councilmember Peter Morton announced that 10 applicants had indicated their interest in being members of the committee. There is no residency requirement, so people outside of the city limits on South Whidbey have applied and were approved by the council. The majority of members have a history of climate action advocacy or expertise in the area.

Morton intends to serve as the liaison for the committee for the duration of his term on the city council.

Mayor Scott Chaplin pointed out that one of the members helped co-author a report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and another helped put together the solar panel project at Greenbank Farm.

“It’s very exciting and it’s going to be, I think, a very busy committee,” he said.

During the upcoming committee meeting, members will discuss distributing the climate change resolution approved by city council to other jurisdictions, the successfulness of a past city climate action plan and potential training for board members. A name change for the committee has already been proposed, from Langley Climate Action Committee to Langley Climate Crisis Committee.

The meeting is open to the public. For the meeting’s Zoom link, visit the city website langleywa.org or contact Darlene Baldwin, Langley’s assistant city clerk, at dbaldwin@langleywa.org.