Town Board Adopts 2030 Climate Action Plan

Thanks to incredible community wide participation and leadership by Bedford 2020 and others, the town of Bedford surpassed its initial goal of reducing community wide emissions by 20% by 2020 — ultimately achieving a 44% reduction over the 2004 baseline by 2017.

After meeting these initial goals, Bedford 2020 recognized that the climate crisis still demands action and set out to formulate a new set of ambitious greenhouse gas reduction measures to tackle over the next decade. The result is the Climate Action Plan 2030, or CAP2030, which sets forth the 10 year plan for the entire community and has been officially adopted by the Bedford Town Board.

CAP2030 seeks to drive action and organize the Bedford community to achieve further emissions reductions, aiming for an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and ultimately net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. 

Along with the creation of CAP2030, Bedford 2020 has changed its name to Bedford 2030, to reflect its new goals and relaunch, reinvigorate, and reinspire the entire community to get involved.

To formulate CAP2030, members of Bedford 2030 met with town departments and local organizations to gain a better understanding of the challenge and to gather the most do-able and most impactful solutions from various stakeholders. 

CAP2030 envisions that over the next 10 years everyone in our community will be involved in these actions. Many homeowners will install a heat pump to get off fossil fuels for their heating and cooling, many others will buy electric cars, the electric grid will be cleaner with more renewable energy, some school districts may purchase electric school busses, and policies will be passed that mandate stricter energy efficiency.

Not only does CAP2030 suggest strategies for the municipality and individual residents to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint, but it also proposes projects and policies to influence collective action. 

A community wide commitment to greenhouse gas reduction will bring social, health and economic benefits and will provide a model for other communities to follow to ensure a broader impact.