23 New Certified Climate Smart Communities

Certified Climate Smart Municipalities Are Models for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Building Local Climate Resilience

Local Actions Support Nation-Leading Targets of New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act

Governor Hochul announced the latest round of communities to achieve certification as part of New York State's Climate Smart Communities program. It signifies meaningful steps taken by 23 local governments that met the criteria to be recognized as leaders in local climate action during the program's third quarter review round. This achievement marks the largest number of certified communities from any one round of review in the program’s history.

To achieve Climate Smart Communities certification, communities accumulate points for planning and implementation actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve community resilience to the worsening impacts of climate change. Of these 23 communities, 21 successfully met the criteria to be recognized as leaders at the bronze level. Notably, two communities – Tompkins County and the village of Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, demonstrated their continued commitment to climate action by becoming recertified at the silver level, the highest level of achievement currently available.

Silver Certified Climate Smart Communities

• Tompkins County (recertified)
• Village of Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County (recertified)

Bronze Certified Climate Smart Communities

Capital Region

• Village of Catskill
• Hudson Valley
• Town of Mamaroneck (recertified)
• City of New Rochelle
• Town of Olive
• City of Peekskill
• Town of Rhinebeck
• Town of Rosendale
• Town of Shandaken
• Village of Tarrytown

Long Island

• Town of Babylon
• Town of North Hempstead

Finger Lakes

• Town of Irondequoit
• Town of Lodi

North Country

• City of Plattsburgh
• Lewis County

Southern Tier

• City of Binghamton
• Town of Hector
• Village of Montour Falls (recertified)

Western New York

• Town of Aurora
• Village of Hamburg
• Village of Williamsville

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

Read more on this announcement in the Governor's press release.

Established in 2009, the interagency Climate Smart Communities program provides guidance and technical support to local governments to take locally-driven climate action. The first step in becoming a Climate Smart Community is to register by pledging to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. To date, 392 local governments representing more than 9.5 million New Yorkers have adopted the Climate Smart Communities pledge. A certification program was launched in 2014 to document and celebrate the accomplishments of communities taking climate action. The addition of these new communities brings New York's total number of certified Climate Smart Communities to 137, with 10 being silver and the remaining 127 bronze.

Climate Smart Communities Coordinators provide free technical support to municipalities across the state and assist local governments in taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change through outreach, planning, education, and capacity building.

See a full list of current certified Climate Smart Communities.

Climate Smart Communities Funding Programs

Last May, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that $14 million is available through the Climate Smart Communities Grant program. Thirteen of the communities certified today received funding through the DEC Climate Smart Communities Grant program – Catskill, Hamburg, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irondequoit, Lodi, Mamaroneck, Montour Falls, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Rhinebeck, Rosendale, Tompkins County, and Williamsville. Established in 2016, this 50/50 matching grant program supports municipalities in completing certification actions and implementing projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to extreme weather.

Visit DEC's website for more information on the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program.