On May 28, a joint meeting of the Zoning and Public Facilities committees discussed details for the updated 2026-2030 Climate Action Plan. Work on the update began in April, when City Department Heads conversed with Caroline Weiss, the City’s Climate Action Coordinator, on ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The City’s previous Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2019, set a goal to reach Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050. Continuing these efforts, the updated Climate Action Plan aims to modify consumption and disposal services by providing curbside collection services with the ability to track and minimize missed pickups, maximizing material diversion from the trash stream, and decreasing recycling contamination. In addition to these inclusions, strengthening the tree canopy will be worked into the updated Climate Action Plan to reduce exposure to heat islands and floods, and will also include assisting vulnerable populations with air conditioning
The updated Climate Action Plan is the result of efforts by Newton Citizens Commission on Energy, Green Newton, The Village Bank, and the City of Newton’s Public Works Department to spread awareness on sustainability efforts.
Weiss, who recently joined the City of Newton’s Climate and Sustainability Team, said she had learned from speaking with department heads and other City staff that implementation of the plan has gone well overall. She hopes that as the Climate Action Plan becomes fully implemented, there will be further coordination with different department heads and community members. This collaboration is crucial for creating concise goals that are implemented throughout Newton. “[The Climate and Sustainability Team] will continue to work with department heads by having bi-annual meetings to make sure that we are supporting each other on the implementation.” Along with the cooperation of City department heads, Weiss worked closely with the several environmental advocacy groups in Newton, including Green Newton and Mothers Out Front, to ensure that there would be progress in the plan.
One of the challenges Weiss faced with the previous plan was working with the residential side to meet net-zero carbon goals by 2050. “People’s personal decisions and their homes are out of our control. The best we can do is to educate and encourage.”
Weiss is confident Newton will eventually minimize the miles traveled by petroleum-powered vehicles. One way to do this is by motivating residents to take public transportation and to use the Blue Bike system, once lane-expansion projects have made more room on the road for cyclists. The City has also partnered with the MBTA to install more bus stops around Newton.
By the end of this year, Weiss plans to release a dashboard for the public to view progress along with the new plan for 2026-2030.
Chloe Yu is Fig City News student reporter.
