Dozens Attend Climate Action Plan Kickoff

From being designated a Green Community over a decade ago through conducting a greenhouse gas inventory and hosting our first town-wide Climate Summit, Andover has a history of working on climate sustainability. The Climate Action and Sustainability Plan is the next step in this work. The first community workshop was held December 12, 2022 to start the process of educating folks on the process for the plan and receiving input from the community.

Joyce Losick-Yang is spearheading this effort and has enlisted Weston and Sampson as climate expert consultants. Over 50 residents and interested individuals came together on Zoom. Members of WECAN, other nonprofits, the Green Advisory Board, Andover schools and faith groups all joined in. Only a few individuals representing Andover businesses attended.

Attendees overwhelmingly recommended adopting the State’s Clean Energy and Climate interim and final emission goals as Andover’s goals in the Climate Action Plan.

In addition, a number of key questions and comments were raised including:

• What actions would have the most impact in Andover

• The need for implementation to include policies, projects and programs

• Consideration of voting on opting in to the new specialized building code

• How will we prioritize actions

• How will we motivate businesses and residents to move toward these goals

• How will the plan incorporate funding for these programs

• What will Andover do with the monies saved from investing in clean energy technology

Final plan development is expected in late Spring, early Summer.