Town of North Salem achieves ‘Climate Smart Community’ designation from New York State

The Town of North Salem is one of just four Hudson Valley communities to achieve a Climate Smart Community certification from New York State. In an announcement Monday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul praised the 100+ New York communities that have achieved the certification for their efforts to meet the economic, social, and environmental challenges posed by climate change.

To achieve Climate Smart Community certification, North Salem, along with fellow Hudson Valley communities of Bronxville, Pelham and Pleasant Valley, accumulated points for planning and implementing actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve community resilience to the worsening impacts of climate change.

“When the Town Board set out to form a Climate Smart Community Leadership team for North Salem, we could not have imagined the level of interest, talent and commitment we received from the community,” said North Salem Town Council member Katherine Daniels. “Within the space of one year, we completed our municipal greenhouse gas inventory, launched several community educational programs and issued our Climate Action Plan. It has been such an honor to lead these efforts and to achieve bronze certification from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.”

Actions taken by the Town of North Salem:

• Forming a Climate Smart Community Leadership Committee
• Issuing a Climate Action Plan
• Conducting a Municipal Greenhouse Gas inventory
• Passing NYStretch - 2020 legislation
• Establishing Community Choice Aggregation Program
• Replacing Street Lights with LEDS
• Replacing interior building lights with LEDS
• Embarking on two community campaigns – one for community solar and one for clean heating and cooling
• Establishing a Unified Solar Permit
• Building inspectors receive energy code enforcement

"This Climate Week, we're celebrating New York's remarkable progress toward creating sustainable homes and building climate-smart communities statewide," Gov. Hochul said. "Thanks to initiatives like the Climate Smart Communities program and our Climate Friendly Homes Fund, communities across New York are taking action to protect the environment and tackling the climate crisis in their own backyards.”

New York State has one of the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiatives in the nation. The state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandated a goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and economy-wide carbon neutrality.