Village of Rhinebeck Receives Silver Climate Smart Communities Certification

We are excited to announce that the Village has earned Silver certification in NY State’s Climate Smart Communities program! There are only 25 municipalities in New York State with Silver right now. Currently, only two other municipalities have silver in Dutchess County: City of Beacon and the County of Dutchess. 

Mayor Bassett and Trustee Bertozzi (on the left) at a DEC press event with other Silver-certified municipalities

The program provides a framework for municipalities to work on climate change, with over 100 actions ranging from reducing emissions to adapting to severe storms and other climate impacts. Each action is assigned points, and municipalities must provide documentation of completed actions. The Village’s Silver certification was earned through 43 action, for example our municipal composting program, Climate Adaptation Plan, and Climate Action Plan, totaling 311 points. The public can review the Village’s public certification filing. Silver is the highest level in CSC (they still haven't made a Gold level — it's hard enough to get to Silver!).

Besides bragging rights and doing the right thing (completing the actions), achieving Silver will also garner the Village higher scoring on grant applications.

Trustee Bertozzi wants to thank the Climate Smart Task Force volunteers, community partners, Mayor Bassett, and Village officials and staff who have helped the Village of Rhinebeck get to this point. “We've been chipping away at it for 6 years. I'm so proud!” said Bertozzi.

From left to right: Trustee Vanessa Bertozzi with Dazzle Ekblad who runs the Climate Smart Communities program out of the NY Office of Climate Change, with DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton

See the official press release from the DEC HERE