Climate action is a priority for the Town of Marblehead. To address this urgent need, the Board of Selectmen created the Green Marblehead Committee to work with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) to create this sustainability visioning document and plan.

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This visioning document and action plan will help guide the Town’s efforts to become a greener community and advance its intent to become a more sustainable and resilient community. The Committee’s work and this report will help the Town and Board of Selectmen to plan and prioritize sustainability initiatives based on the public feedback and most urgent issues identified, and goals and vision that are set forth as a result of this process. The work of the Green Marblehead Committee was focused on creating energy baseline data for all municipal buildings, learning from other communities’ efforts and initiatives, and seeking public input from residents through a survey and visioning session.

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Climate Vision

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Through the survey and climate visioning session, we heard Marblehead residents express their support for bold climate action in Marblehead. Based on input from the community and best practices gathered from other communities throughout Massachusetts and beyond, the Green Marblehead Committee has identified a list of core strategies that the Town of Marblehead and its residents should adopt to reduce GHG emissions and start its path to a carbon-free future.

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These key strategies include:

• Significantly increase the energy efficiency of buildings

• Electrify heating, transportation, and other end uses

• Transition to 100% carbon-free electricity in the MMLD portfolio

• Adopt other strategies, including encouraging walking and biking as alternatives to car travel, carbon sequestration from planting more trees, and waste reduction

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Next Steps

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While the creation of the Marblehead Climate Vision is an important step in the community’s process to address climate change at the local level, it is only one step. The Town of Marblehead is committed to playing a leadership role in mitigating climate change and adapting to its effects in the years to come.

 

The next steps in this process will include:

• Setting a GHG emissions target of net zero emissions by 2040

• Developing a net zero action plan

• Hiring sustainability staff and/or incorporating climate action efforts into job descriptions of existing staff

• Continuing the Green Marblehead Committee

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To read the full report, click here.