With environmental crises overlooming, the Village of Pelham, along with seven other participating villages and cities, has chosen to join the new Climate Action Planning Institute.

The program has been granted $100,000 to pursue meaningful choices regarding sustainability. According to Mayor Chance Mullen, the program is focusing specifically on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how strategies can be crafted to best reduce them in each municipality.

The grant was awarded by the New York State Regional Economic Development Council, according to a release from the Office of the County Executive.

According to the same release, Pelham will join the cities of White Plains and Peekskill, the Town of Ossining, and the villages of Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington, Ossining, and Tarrytown.

The program shares similarities with Dutchess County’s sustainability program known as Climate Smart Communities, which was also motivated to understand the factors behind greenhouse gasses in their community. The Dutchess program earned Bronze-level certification from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the New York State-Certified Climate Smart Community program in 2019.

With Dutchess County’s program making great strides towards cleaner and more sustainable energy solutions, Pelham’s Climate Action Planning Institute hopes to achieve similarly positive results. At the end of the 16 month program, the municipalities aspire to create a clear plan on how to best combat the depreciation of our local environment.