About Certification

:"Climate Smart Communities (CSC) is a New York State program that helps local governments take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. The program offers free technical assistance, grants, and rebates for electric vehicles. Registered communities have made a commitment to act by passing the CSC pledge. Certified communities are the foremost leaders in the state; they have gone beyond the CSC pledge by completing and documenting a suite of actions that mitigate and adapt to climate change at the local level." - Climate Smart NY Home Page (Click here to be learn more)

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The City of Rensselaer made the Climate Smart Communities pledge in 2009 and began taking strides towards certification in 2018 with the creation and adoption of a Complete Streets Policy. Efforts continued in 2020, when the Planning Department began working collaboratively with the Cornell Cooperative Extension through the NYSDEC, the Rensselaer Land Trust, and Hudson River Estuary Program to complete a Natural Resources Inventory as well as completing a Climate Resiliency Planning Report. Links to these programs are below.

 

 

 

 

Click on the images below to learn more about the work that the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Hudson River Estuary Fund, and the Rensselaer Land Trust do to make our communities healthier, more sustainable, and more resilient to the impacts of Climate Change.