MAPC
Smart Growth & Regional Collaboration
Net Zero Communities 101
Local Energy & Climate Planning
Climate and energy action plans, including net-zero and energy reduction plans, detail specific steps for a city, town, or region to use to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change. These projects support MAPC's MetroFuture goals of creating healthy environments and decreasing consumption of energy. These projects also advance MAPC’s strategic objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the physical, environmental, and social impacts of climate change across the region.
Planners will look over a community's specific resources, energy use, emissions, geography, demographics, health indicators, and more to make program and policy suggestions and lay out implementation steps.
Jump To
Learn More About Our Work
Local energy & climate planning
Technical assistance
- Energy Storage and Resiliency
- Green Communities Support
- Green Municipal Aggregation
- Peak Demand Management
- Shared Energy Staffing Services
Collective Procurement
- Clean Vehicle Technologies
- Clean Heating and Cooling
- LED Streetlight Retrofits
- Solar Contracting & Best Practices
- Residential Energy Efficiency Outreach
Legislation & policy
MAPC can provide technical assistance to plan for and launch innovative and financially sustainable projects that reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the municipal, residential, and commercial sectors.
MAPC works with municipal officials and local community stakeholders, such as sustainability committee members, residents, businesses, chambers of commerce, and housing authorities, to establish energy reduction goals and to identify strategies for reaching these goals. Additionally, MAPC works to build relationships and collaborations between local and municipal stakeholders and leaders in the clean energy sector.
Energy strategies and projects initiated through this program vary based on the extent to which each community has previously engaged in clean energy work. Download MAPC's Municipal Energy Opportunities checklist for examples of the energy action strategies covered through LEAP.
Local Energy Action Plan
MAPC can provide technical assistance to communities to create an inventory of municipal and community-wide energy use and expenditures and past energy activities. Local Energy Action Plans contain short- and long-term goals, strategies to reach those goals, and a plan to implement selected measures. Learn more.
Net Zero Action Plan
MAPC can provide technical assistance to communities to create and implement a local net zero action plan. Net Zero Action Plans include an inventory of municipal and community-wide emissions, short- and long-term goals, strategies to reach those goals, and a plan to implement selected measures. Learn more.
Greenhouse Gas Inventories
MAPC can provide technical assistance to communities interested in establishing a community-wide baseline for greenhouse gas emissions. MAPC released an original step-by-step guide and tool to support cities and towns in developing greenhouse gas inventories during Spring 2020. Learn more.
Participating cities and towns
Boxborough | Chelsea | Everett | Framingham | Marlborough | Medford | Medway | Melrose | Saugus | Somerville | Stoughton | The towns served by the Reading Municipal Light Department: Lynnfield, North Reading, Reading, and Wilmington
Energy-Use Baselines and Greenhouse Gas Inventories
MAPC can help towns and cities build an energy-use and/or emissions profile of their communities as a whole, including the municipal, residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Because residential, commercial, and industrial data is currently not available at the municipal level from utilities, MAPC can help build a more granular profile based on census data, labor statistics, and building energy survey analyses.
Knowledge Sharing, Awareness Building, and Education
Throughout the planning or implementation process to advance clean energy goals, MAPC can provide assistance with engagement, best practices and analysis, and informational workshops. We help plan and execute forums; develop, distribute, and analyze research; and use various forms of media to keep stakeholders informed about clean energy innovation and programs.