City Council endorses Malden’s Climate Action Plan

Special to The Advocate

Malden announced it has completed its first ever Climate Action Plan (CAP), with a unanimous endorsement from the Malden City Council. A CAP is a detailed strategic roadmap to reduce emissions, protect neighborhoods from climate impacts and create a sustainable and resilient future for all. Malden’s CAP prioritizes equity and climate justice, and it is driven by five key goals: championing good governance, advancing net-zero status in buildings and energy, accelerating sustainable transportation, mitigating heat and flooding impacts and enhancing community resilience.

“A plan like this is unprecedented in Malden,” says Mayor Gary Christenson. “I am proud of the effort that was put into this CAP, and I look forward to working with residents, City departments, City Councillors, and partner organizations to begin the work of implementation.”

Background

  This CAP planning process was initiated in December 2022 and was facilitated by a resident-led steering committee, with the support of consultants from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Various workshops, focus groups, surveys and public meetings were conducted to solicit community feedback for the plan.

“What sets this Climate Action Plan apart is the robust, innovative, and multi-lingual community engagement that shaped it,” said MAPC Senior Clean Energy & Climate Planner Julia Nassar. “Community involvement ensures our work reflects Maldonians’ priorities while building buy-in and a shared sense of ownership.”

Overview

  The CAP explains the current impacts of climate change that Malden is experiencing now, and then it outlines strategies to address them. To establish a baseline, the City of Malden completed a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory of our emissions using the most complete data from 2017. The inventory is included in the CAP and provides a snapshot of the City’s emissions footprint in the built environment, transportation and waste sectors. By understanding our greatest sources of emissions, we were able to focus the CAP on reducing the primary drivers of climate change.

Malden is already experiencing sea level rise, extreme temperatures and increased frequency and severity of major weather events like heavy rains. As climate change intensifies, these events are expected to become more frequent and severe. The CAP details the current state of flooding and heat in Malden and has strategies to mitigate both.

Featured recommendations

• Adopt a building energy use disclosure policy, consider an emissions performance standard and adopt the Specialized Stretch Energy Code
• Continue accelerated tree planting in high-need neighborhoods and “[u]pdate the local Tree Ordinance and fortify protections for trees”
• Develop a Transportation Demand Management ordinance
• Plan for electrified city buildings and vehicles to lead the way
• Seek SolSmart designation to streamline solar permitting
• Implement routes to make it safer and easier to walk, bike, roll and take the bus to school, libraries, etc.

Environmental justice commitments

  Climate equity and environmental justice have been core principles of Malden’s climate action plan process. This work included appointing representatives of diverse community organizations to the CAP Steering Committee, providing for accessible, broad community engagement at neighborhood events and the Green Malden Fair, partnering with the Malden Teen Center and youth civics clubs for youth involvement and conducting language-based focus groups to reach key constituencies. The executive summaries of the CAP are now translated into Arabic, English, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese. These summaries are available on the City’s Green Malden page.

“I couldn’t be more excited about the equitable, sustainable clean-energy future that our climate action plan lays out for Malden,” said Councillor-at-Large Carey McDonald, who is chair of the Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Commission and a member of the CAP Steering Committee. “The climate crisis is already here – protecting our neighborhoods from the worsening climate and doing our part to protect the planet is essential for the safety and health of our community moving forward. In every part of the city, I witness growing commitment to this work ahead.”

As Mayor Christenson writes in his introduction to the CAP, “This Climate Action Plan is just the beginning and one more step toward transformative climate change in Malden.”

The CAP Steering Committee members who dedicated their time to this planning process are Mamadou Balde, Bob Fitzpatrick, Lipin Ji, Sheila Rachels, Amanda Treat and Sarah Zeiberg.

To read the Climate Action Plan and keep up to date with its progress, visit: cityofmalden.org/greenmalden