The Healey-Driscoll Administration has certified nine more Massachusetts towns as Climate Leader Communities (CLCs) for their work in clean energy and sustainability. The towns—Aquinnah, Bedford, Harvard, Lincoln, Needham, Stockbridge, West Tisbury, Weston, and Winchester—can now apply for part of $3.7 million in grants to support municipal emission reduction projects.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources release, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said cities and towns are continuing to lead in clean energy.
An additional $3.7 million in Decarbonization Accelerator Grants will go to four other CLCs—Acton, Ashfield, Chelmsford, and Watertown—for larger projects, including a fully decarbonized town hall in Acton and a solar-powered wastewater plant in Ashfield. These projects are expected to save more than $218,000 annually in energy costs.
The grants, funded through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Alternative Compliance Payments, support energy efficiency and local energy generation for municipal buildings. The program is part of the Green Communities Designation and Grant program, which promotes efficiency in buildings and transportation. To qualify as a CLC, towns must adopt a zero-emission-vehicle policy and plan to phase out on-site fossil fuel use in municipal buildings by 2050.
