Local Climate Action Program
The DEP Energy Programs Office offered the first Local Climate Action Program (LCAP) July 2019 – June 2020, helping 20 municipalities across Pennsylvania that wanted to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Currently, 21 additional local governments are participating in LCAP 2020-2021. Having state and local governments lead by example on climate action in practices and assets is one of the 19 strategies recommended in the
Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan.
Though the current 2020-2021 cohort is at full capacity, additional local governments may still participate via a free ICLEI subscription. Please see below for how the program works via a subscription. If your community is interested in the subscription option, please contact Heidi Kunka at
hkunka@pa.gov or 717-214-4243.
LCAP is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program (SEP).
"Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: State and Local Government Resources and Best Practices" Online Forum
DEP hosted an online forum for LCAP participants on Wednesday, December 2. Thirty-five participants joined in a lively discussion of challenges and successes in climate action planning in their communities. They heard from DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell and staff at DEP, the Pennsylvania GreenGov Council, and the Departments of General Services and Conservation and Natural Resources on state resources that can help local climate efforts. For information and inspiration to help your climate action planning, view the recording.
How the Local Climate Action Program Works
Formal Cohort
Local governments are matched with college students across the state and trained by a DEP contractor,
ICLEI USA, to develop GHG inventories and climate action plans. Via a series of live training webinars and one-on-one technical assistance, ICLEI guides the student/local government teams in creating GHG inventories and climate action plans.
Teams are provided access to
ICLEI’s ClearPath inventory tool to create local GHG inventories in the fall. They undertake the climate action planning process in the spring. This includes community engagement via in-person workshops, virtual meetings, or online surveys.
ICLEI Subscription
Recognizing that local governments engage in climate action under varying time frames and thus may not be able to participate in the new cohort or would like to work at their own pace, DEP, via SEP funding, will also provide access to the ICLEI technical staff and ClearPath inventory tool via a special subscription. Utilizing the following LCAP resources, those communities can develop GHG inventories and climate action plans at their own pace. Please note that there are two restrictions on the subscription: communities with a population of 500,000 or more are ineligible, as are communities that have had an active ICLEI membership since June 1, 2017.
LCAP Resources
Accordion [1]
Expand AllClick here for a more accessible version
Data request templates – These templates should be completed by your municipality to request necessary data for your greenhouse gas inventory. The data requests are explained in webinars 2-4 below. Please be aware that your utilities may take a considerable amount of time to respond to these data requests.
Solid waste data request template
Wastewater and water treatment data request template
Electricity and natural gas data request template
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data request template
Master Data Workbook – This
workbook should be used for data collection as you go through the inventory process. It is also a great tool to keep track of data sources to ensure future inventories follow the same process and use the same data sources.
Webinar recordings – Watch each of the following training webinars to go step-by-step through the greenhouse gas inventory process.
QAQC checklist - With this
spreadsheet, you can cross check your data with what was entered into ClearPath to assure the data was entered correctly.
Local Climate Action Plan Template - Fill in this template as you go through the various training webinars below.
Webinar recordings - Watch each of the following training webinars to go step-by-step through the climate action planning process.
LCAP Participants
July 2019 - June 2020
Climate Action Plans
Congratulations to the following local governments, who have finalized their Climate Action Plans! A plan is considered final when the draft has been presented to and approved by the local governing body. The next step is implementation.
Accordion [2]
Expand AllClick here for a more accessible version- Etna, Forest Hills, Millvale, Munhall, Sharpsburg, and West Homestead Boroughs and Elizabeth Township in Allegheny County
- City of Reading in Berks County
- Bellefonte Borough and Centre Region Council of Governments in Centre County
- Caln Township in Chester County
- Chester County
- Carlisle Borough in Cumberland County
- Derry Township in Dauphin County
- Erie County
- Indiana Borough in Indiana County
- Jermyn Borough in Lackawanna County
- Armstrong Township in Lycoming County
- Narberth Borough in Montgomery County
- City of York in York County
- Allegheny College
- Dickinson College
- Drexel University
- Lebanon Valley College
- Millersville University
- Muhlenberg College
- Penn State University
- Shippensburg University
- Susquehanna University
- Temple University
- University of Pittsburgh
- Wilkes University
July 2020 - June 2021
Accordion [3]
Expand AllClick here for a more accessible version- Ben Avon Borough and CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities) in Allegheny County
- Borough of Monaca, City of Beaver Falls, and City of Aliquippa in Beaver County
- Middletown Township in Bucks County
- City of Meadville in Crawford County
- Cumberland County
- City of Harrisburg and Susquehanna Township in Dauphin County
- Havertown, Upper Darby Township, and Chadds Ford Township in Delaware County
- City of Lancaster and Warwick Township (Lititz) in Lancaster County
- Allentown in Lehigh County
- Abington Township in Montgomery County
- Montgomery County Consortium of Communities
- City of Easton in Northampton County
- City of Shamokin in Northumberland County
- Monessen City in Westmoreland County
- Allegheny College
- Bucknell University
- Dickinson College
- Drexel University
- Harrisburg University
- Muhlenberg College
- Penn State University
- Shippensburg University
- Susquehanna University
- Temple University
- University of Pittsburgh
- Wilkes University