Climate Action Planning Committee

Created by the Select Board in 2023, the Committee's charge is to "review and evaluate Town bylaws, regulations, and policies and make recommendations for strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate climate risks, and expand energy efficiency opportunities for the Town." The Committee seeks input from residents, stakeholders, and experts to produce a Climate Action Plan for Milton.

Draft Climate Action Plan Feedback Requested

The Climate Action Planning Committee is pleased to share this draft of Milton's Climate Action Plan for residents' review and feedback.

  Milton Climate Action Plan- Draft 2025-03-25

It was prepared over the past year by a dedicated group of Milton citizens with backgrounds in climate and environmental science as well as clean energy technologies and practical steps to support their adoption. It provides a series of goals, strategies, and actions the town can pursue to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and lessen climate change’s damaging effects. It is based on plans and goals developed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and many cities and towns in Massachusetts, which build on established science and in-market technologies to chart a course to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining energy abundance and reliability.

We are seeking your partnership to refine the plan.  We understand there are many urgent, competing, short-term priorities the town is facing, such as zoning changes, maintaining our school buildings while addressing overcrowding, and putting the budget on a more solid foundation.  It is our perspective that all these urgent issues have sustainability and climate dimensions that should be incorporated in our town’s problem solving.  We hope this plan will be a valuable resource as you tackle the urgent priorities of Milton residents.

We have organized the committee into working groups focused on key sources of greenhouse gas emissions and key climate risks.

These working groups work independently between full committee meetings to develop the section of the Climate Action Plan covering their topic and are recruiting concerned residents and experts from within and without the town of Milton to actively participate. Because the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program has previously focused on a subset of climate risks and emissions reduction goals are unique to our charge, the committee is prioritizing work on the emissions reduction plans.  However, we believe that the CAP should eventually be expanded to include robust plans to mitigate climate risks.

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas are available prior to the meetings. Minutes are available following approval.

View Most Recent Agendas & Minutes

Overview

For an overview of our work, review our September report to the select board (slides, video).  We also recommend this useful website from Sustainable Milton to learn about the highest impact climate actions they advocate for residents.  Visit the town's Climate Action Planning page for more detail on what the town is doing and how you can influence it and get involved.

Members

* A vacancy has opened up on this committee. We are currently accepting applications from Milton residents to fill this position. Please email Alexander Hasha ahasha@sustainablemilton.org if you would like to apply or have any questions regarding the committee's work. *

• Arthur Doyle (2025)
• Dr. Alexander Hasha (2025)
• Reagan Gilmartin (2025) 
• Ron Israel (2025)
• S. Kyle Johnson (2025)
• Maggie Oldfield (2025)
• R. Eric Miller (2025) 
• Matt Panucci (2025)
• Dr. Stephen Popkin (2025)
• Lisa Troy (2025)
• Fiona Jevon (Associate Member 2025)
• Kim Johnson (Associate Member 2025) 
• Anna Morgan-Barsamian (Associate Member 2025) 
• Vacant (Milton Chamber of Commerce Designee) 

Associate Members

• Dr. Fiona Jevon
• Anna Morgan-Barsamian
• Kim Gullage-Johnson

Appointing Authority: Select Board
Members: 11
Term: 1 year terms, concurrent with the Town's fiscal year
Charge: Climate Action Planning Committee Charge (PDF)

Meetings and Recordings

The committee generally meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6pm. Meetings are public and a zoom link is provided.

Meeting recordings are posted to a Milton Access TV playlist