Overview

• The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative released a 17‑strategy, 76‑action plan to build a water‑centered economic corridor leveraging a system that holds 84% of North America’s surface freshwater.
• Targets include attracting 500,000 sustainability‑committed businesses and creating 18 million jobs across the binational region by 2035.
• Environmental benchmarks call for no rise in consumptive water loss, improving water quality from fair to good, and cutting emissions by 300 million metric tons.
• Cleveland highlighted a $5 billion waterfront effort that includes a $4 billion Bedrock investment as an example of the plan moving into early implementation.
• Pillars span waterfront revitalization, cleaner industry and circularity, maritime trade and waterborne transit, and clean energy, supported by programs such as future‑ready cities, coastal initiatives and water infrastructure modernization.