Putnam Town Certified As Climate Smart Community

PHILIPSTOWN, NY — The town of Philipstown is one of three local governments that recently earned certification as part of New York's Climate Smart Communities program, which supports municipal efforts to build resilience to extreme weather and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The set of actions that helped the town achieve certification included a community greenhouse gas inventory; municipal fleet inventory; complete streets policy; heat emergency plan; and a natural resources inventory.

State officials said Philipstown's community greenhouse gas inventory is one of the most comprehensive and innovative reports completed by a local jurisdiction in New York. In the report, Philipstown moved beyond traditional approaches by including considerations for forests and land use along with household consumption patterns, they said.

"Collectively as a community, we are committing to lowering our greenhouse gas emissions," Town Supervisor Richard Shea said in 2020 about the Sink, Store, Reduce, Offset report. "In order to do that, we need to know where we are now."

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos announced the new certifications Thursday. The three communities — Philipstown, the town of New Lebanon and the village of Irvington—all achieved bronze-level certification.

"These newly certified Climate Smart Communities are models for municipalities across the state in terms of local climate leadership, meaningful actions to reduce pollution, and efforts to protect community assets from flooding and severe weather driven by climate change," Seggos said in the announcement.

Started in 2009, the Climate Smart Communities program provides guidance and technical support to local governments taking action to meet the economic, social, and environmental challenges posed by climate change.

The first step is to register. To date, the Climate Smart Communities pledge has been adopted by 322 local governments representing more than 9.2 million New Yorkers, state officials said.

In Putnam County, the county, Putnam Valley and Kent have also joined the program, but only Philipstown has earned certification.

State officials launched the certification part of the program in 2014 to document and celebrate the accomplishments of leading communities. There are now 65 certified Climate Smart Communities in New York.

To be certified, communities must show that they have an active task force that includes residents and municipal representatives. They can earn points by taking actions such as installing electric vehicle charging stations and putting solar panels on municipal buildings. Most certified communities also complete greenhouse gas inventories that calculate emissions at the local level and help local leaders identify how best to help New York State meet the aggressive greenhouse gas limits laid out in its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Online reports describe the specific actions that each community took.

Philipstown completed 16 actions to achieve certification, including the greenhouse gas inventory and a community choice aggregation program. Philipstown also established an open space conservation overlay district that helps to conserve natural areas within the town.

All three of the newly awarded communities also participate in NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program that assists local governments to implement clean energy actions, save energy costs, and improve the environment. Philipstown and New Lebanon are designated as Clean Energy Communities.

Philipstown received two grants through DEC’s Climate Smart Communities Grant program. Established in 2016, the 50/50 matching grant program supports municipalities implementing projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to extreme weather.

All three of the communities certified this week have in prior years received awards under DEC’s Municipal Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program. Both New Lebanon and Philipstown received grants to install electric-vehicle charging stations for public use. The village of Irvington received a $5,000 rebate on the purchase of an electric vehicle for its municipal fleet.

Since 2016, DEC has awarded more than $39 million in Climate Smart Communities grants and over $4.8 million in ZEV rebates and grants for ZEV infrastructure projects. For more information, visit DEC’s website.

The Climate Smart Communities program is jointly sponsored by seven state agencies: DEC, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, New York Power Authority, Department of State, Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Public Service.

New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

New York's climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieving its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy-wide carbon neutrality. It builds on New York's unprecedented ramp-up of clean energy including over $4 billion invested in 91 large-scale renewable projects across the state, supporting more than 150,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector in 2019, a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035, and 1,800 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011. New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments benefit disadvantaged communities and advancing progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.