14th Annual Climate Protection Awards Recognize Mayors for Climate Action

Pittsburgh And West Hartford Mayors Win Top Honors

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Dec 18, 2020, 07:57 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayors across the United States are being recognized today for their local climate efforts as part of the 14^th Annual Climate Protection Awards, an initiative sponsored by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Walmart.

Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto and West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor have won top honors for 2020, joining 10 other mayoral awardees. The award program demonstrates how cities of all sizes are dealing with the effects of climate change and the impact mayors are having on protecting the environment for future generations.

Starting at 12 noon ET today there will be two Zoom events featuring these award-winning mayors and their initiatives. The events are open to media. The first session at 12 noon ET will feature the large city winners (cites of 100,000+ population). To register, see here. The small city winners (cities below 100,000 population) will be featured at 2 pm ET. To register, see here.

"Mayors Peduto and Cantor show us how local leadership is delivering cost-effective solutions to the growing climate challenges before our cities, our nation and the world," said USCM President Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. "The innovation and creativity of these mayors and the other award winners will hopefully inspire other mayors, as well as all our federal partners, to join us in taking climate action."

"The really exciting part of the Western Pennsylvania Energy Consortium is that it has brought together a critical mass of energy users to reshape our region's energy future," said Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto. "This broad partnership saves money for our taxpayers, creates local clean energy jobs and reduces our carbon use, today and into the future."

"In West Hartford, we strive to employ forward thinking and best practices to improve the quality of life for our residents; this includes accelerating the development of locally-based clean, renewable energy," said West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor. "When we started, 'Virtual Net Metering' was a new concept to us, but we learned quickly about its many benefits and we embraced it. We are saving money, cutting carbon emissions, and hopefully providing a 'best practice' for others in supporting their local climate action."

"We commend these mayors and all of the awardees for sustaining their climate efforts and commitments during this most challenging year," said Amy Hill, Senior Director for Walmart. "Amidst this pandemic and all of its disruption and varied impacts, the successful efforts of these mayors are even more impressive given the many challenges before their cities, including climate protection."

"President-elect Biden has rightly pledged to make climate protection a top priority of his new Administration, and mayors stand ready to join with him to meet the climate challenges before all of us," said Tom Cochran, USCM CEO and Executive Director. "Mayors have a record of success in taking climate action at the local level and have urged greater federal engagement and commitments on climate protection to bolster and expand upon what mayors are already doing."

LARGE CITY HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley – Cincinnati Clean Energy Program; Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin – Energy Justice; Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego – Green and Sustainability Bond Program; Rochester (MN) Mayor Kim Norton – Vision for Rochester; and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero – Santa Cruz River Heritage Project.

SMALL CITY HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan – Street Light Replacement Program; Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer – Efficient Framingham; Manhattan Beach Mayor Richard Montgomery – Climate Ready Manhattan Beach; San Leandro Mayor Pauline Cutter -- Solar and Energy Efficiency in Wastewater Operations; and San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon – Clean Energy Choice Program for New Buildings.

Full descriptions of the 2020 Mayors' Climate Protection Award winning programs can be found here.

About The United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Mayors