Locally-Driven Actions Continue to Support Nation-Leading Directives in New York’s Climate Act

The newest New York State communities to achieve certification in the Climate Smart Communities Certification (CSC) program were announced earlier this week at a Climate Week event in White Plains.

By taking meaningful actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change, eleven local governments successfully met the criteria to be recognized as leaders and become certified in the 2022 third-quarter round of the CSC Certification program. Congratulations to New York’s newest certified Climate Smart Communities:

New Bronze Certified Climate Smart Communities: 

Mid-Hudson
Village of Bronxville (Westchester County)
Town of North Salem (Westchester County)
Village of Pelham (Westchester County)
Town of Pleasant Valley (Dutchess County)

Southern Tier
Chemung County

Mohawk Valley
Town of New Lisbon (Otsego County)

North Country
Village of Lake Placid (Essex County)

Finger Lakes
Town of Geneva (Ontario County)
Town of Pittsford (Monroe County)

Western New York
Village of Lancaster (Erie County)
City of North Tonawanda (Niagara County)

In addition to the 11 new certified communities, four local governments continued their commitment to community climate action and were re-certified bronze by completing additional actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change: the city of Buffalo (first certified in 2019), Madison County (first certified in 2017), the town of Mamaroneck (first certified in 2016), and the town of Roseboom (first certified in March 2022).

Click on the link for each community to see all of the actions that each community took to achieve certification. Read more about Adirondack efforts to get certified.

Over 100 Certified Climate Smart Communities in New York

There are now 105 certified Climate Smart Communities (PDF) in New York State, nine silver and 96 bronze. This significant milestone of the Climate Smart Communities program demonstrates the commitment of New York’s local governments to enhancing the resilience of their communities and reducing risk and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

The actions completed by certified Climate Smart Communities provide local benefits for the community and help New York State meet its directives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Certified Climate Smart Communities are also more successful at receiving grant funding awards and other financial support opportunities.

Many certified Climate Smart Communities have completed actions to reduce emissions such as greenhouse gas inventories, municipal building energy benchmarking, LED streetlighting upgrades, installing electric vehicle charging stations for public use, and making investments in improving walking and biking infrastructure.

In addition, many certified communities, aware of the real and present threat of climate change, have taken steps to adapt and improve resilience to worsening impacts by completing climate vulnerability assessments and hazard mitigation plans, and evaluating local policies for climate resilience.

See a full list of actions completed by all certified Climate Smart Communities.

Photo: Village of Lake Placid plug-in hybrid vehicle.