BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Over the past year, the Lehigh Valley has seen a sharp uptick in the number of projects aimed at making the region more sustainable.
For the first time, all three of the Valley’s major cities — Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton — have a sustainability manager or coordinator, a role dedicated to sustainability initiatives and fighting the worsening impacts of climate change.
While focused on overseeing environmental projects and bolstering community engagement, the role also deals with saving money by reducing energy costs, as well as finding and applying for grants to benefit the cities and their residents.
LehighValleyNews.com spoke to the sustainability officials in each of the Valley’s cities about some of their major achievements and initiatives over the past year, as well as what they’re looking forward to in 2026.
Allentown
This year started off with a second round of funding for Allentown’s Youth Climate Action Fund.
The city got $100,000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies for the program, which focuses on supporting youth-led initiatives to combat climate change and promote sustainability.
“It's a good opportunity for the 15- to 24-year-olds to engage with government, engage with nonprofits,” Veronika Vostinak, Allentown’s sustainability coordinator, said this month.
“Get some experience doing a project, be responsible for spending grant funds and everything that goes with that. So there have been a lot of students that I've seen start to engage on other topics.
“They start to feel more comfortable reaching out to, maybe it's their school administrators, maybe it's city staff, but, I'm noticing a difference in their ability to experience what it's like to really drive a project that they want to see.”
Projects, led and implemented by groups of three, included: a native sapling distribution, a pollinator garden, a park clean-up and tree planting, a bike repair event, and recycled-material art installations, among others.
“It was really cool to watch all of those projects come through,” Vostinak said. “Last year we funded eight. This year we funded 18. So a significant increase in the number of projects.”
And she said she’s hopeful funding will come through to continue the program next year, and maybe even 2027.
“If we were to be successful in applying for a round in 2026, that puts us in kind of a non-competitive ability for 2027,” she said.
“So if we were awarded, we would receive $50,000 to administer round three, and then, assuming we do round three successfully, then we would get funding for round four.
"So I'm kind of applying for the next two years, potentially.”
The city also got a $60,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection for electric vehicle charging, building on a grant for the same amount awarded in 2024 for electric vehicles.
Chargers are set to be installed at the city’s Public Works building early next year, Vostinak said.
“I think next year, we'll mostly be looking at how these vehicles are performing, and, if they're performing well, and it makes sense, how does it make sense to use them throughout the city more widely,” she said.
“We don't invest too much before we really understand how well they work, who they're good for, [and] what does our cost saving actually look like compared to what we are projecting it to look like?”
Another ongoing project is nearing a significant checkpoint — the city’s street tree inventory.
The city in 2024 was awarded nearly $1 million from American Forests, a funding partner for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, for the project.
While the release of funding was uncertain because of federal funding freezes, a large chunk was approved to start the inventory this year.
“We're expecting them to be done with the inventory by the end of the year, early next year,” Vostinak said.
“We're planning on having a public meeting, either the end of January or the beginning of February to go over the results of that street tree inventory and then talk about the next step.”
Some of the remaining funding is earmarked for an urban forestry master plan and a species selection plan, looking at how officials can improve the urban tree canopy and helping landowners determine what trees make sense in what types of environments.
Officials recently launched a community survey, aiming to collect residents’ opinions on the urban forest master plan.
The bulk of the grant, however, will go to planting up to 600 street trees in the city, she said, as well as removing hazardous trees and stump-grinding.
Looking at next year, one of the major projects will be developing the city’s first-ever Climate Action Plan. In October, City Council approved a $200,000 contract to develop it.
“I'm excited to get out there, get in the community with the greenhouse gas inventory, and just talk a little bit about what will the sustainability department look like going forward,” she said.
“What do people really want to see? What are the things that the community cares about? I'm really excited to go out there and start some of that outreach and start to form that plan.”
Bethlehem
The city marked a significant climate action milestone this year, surpassing its municipal emissions reductions goal.
“It's one of the most significant quantifiable achievements, I would say, for 2025,” Bethlehem Sustainability Manager Sarah DeGrendel said.
“I think it is a huge achievement, and just shows early on that we've already made progress from 2005 which is the baseline.”
Under the city’s Climate Action Plan, goals include a 67% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations by 2025 and net zero by 2030, relative to the 2005 baseline.
During a CAP update in November, DeGrendel announced a 70% reduction in emissions from municipal operations, exceeding 2025’s goal.
“It's been a long time since 2005, but the fact that we were able to report on these and actually get a quantifiable, like how much we've actually achieved, I think, really relates to our success,” she said.
“And for communities and residents, that's something that they can actually see tangibly with a number, percentage-wise.”
The bulk of the reduction comes from the city buying 100% renewable electricity for municipal operations, but there also are ongoing energy efficient projects, she said.
Those include installing high-efficiency chillers and boilers and pursuing low-emission city vehicles.
This year, city officials also upgraded the iconic Bethlehem Star to all-LED lights, netting 75% in electricity-saving.
“It also proves that climate action can lead to immediate, tangible savings,” she said.
Many of the grant-funded projects on which DeGrendel has worked include other city departments, such as Better Blocks for Bethlehem, the Monocacy Way Trail Phase II improvements, the Complete Streets initiative and the 40-in-10: Every Park in 10 Years plan.
Also, grants through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for improvements to the Rose Garden and Friendship Park, as well as an outdoor recreation initiatives.
It was also the first year the city was awarded funding through TreePennsylvania's Bare Root Tree Grant Program.
“That was a really great experience,” she said. “So we were able to plant 10 bare root trees in an [environmental justice] area at Bayard Park.
“And we're hoping in 2026 to apply for that again and increase our number of trees.”
The 40-in-10 and Complete Streets plans “are really going to push the city ahead and make us a more complete, holistic city,” DeGrendel said.
“Looking at both the green spaces and then also our transportation impact — those have really big crossover with a lot of the goals that we've outlined in the CAP,” she said.
“And so, I just urge participation from our communities in those projects, because that does really make a big difference in how we look at the plan and what goes into those and what outcomes we want to see.
It "really comes down to what citizens and community members want,” she said.
The 40-in-10 plan is slated to be completed by Dec. 31; Complete Streets still is in the planning phases.
Residents can submit comments and ideas on either plan through Bethlehem’s website.
Easton
Brandon Sullivan, Easton’s first sustainability coordinator, said this year has been about “setting foundational principles and setting foundational understandings” about what sustainability can look like in the city.
“Easton is much smaller than the other cities, and with smaller size, I think, comes increased malleability," Sullivan said.
“So there's more opportunity to move quicker or be more agile and be a little bit more out in the public than in the other cities, solely just because of the size difference.”
In his first year in the role, priorities included reviewing the city’s comprehensive and Climate Action plans, as well as investigating municipal solar and EVs.
“The idea of chargers are well-received in the city of Easton, but really we're at the point where the utility will be the decider of where the capacity is,” he said.
“And solar, I'm at a point now where I've kind of gotten the grasp of the landscape here and better understand what I need to do moving forward to get a real offer for municipal and solar.
"In my head, solar should be a priority for the upcoming year as well. It saves the city a lot of money.”
Earlier in the year, Sullivan completed the city’s Sustainable Pennsylvania recertification. The city was downgraded from platinum to gold, only because of a guideline change, he said.
“Every municipality that's reapplied to the transformed version of a Sustainable Pa. certification has been downgraded,” he said.
“As far as I'm aware, no municipality since the change has received platinum. So we're definitely one of the leaders in the state still, but in my head, I want to do better. I do want to see that be a platinum.”
Sullivan also was invited to speak at a Sustainable Pennsylvania workshop in Reading.
“That was a really neat and amazing opportunity, just in my first two or three months, to be able to go in front of these regional leaders and become my thoughts about sustainability and where the field should go and what direction it should start heading in, as well as sustainability initiatives and Easton,” he said.
Sullivan also completed CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, reporting. Through that program, the city achieved an A- for sustainability and climate action planning.
He’s also learning about forestry with city Conservation Manager Robert Christopher.
“I go out with him in the warmer months and help do tree inspections,” he said. “I've gone with him to water some trees, do oddity cleanups at the micro-forest and help share the info in the micro-forest.”
In October, the pair led a tree giveaway for city residents, targeting those in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Other initiatives include two Sustainability Movie Nights, one at Historic Easton Cemetery and another at The Neighborhood Center.
Carrying over into next year includes a project to tamp down on light pollution. Sullivan has been working with the city’s Environmental Advisory Council on a DarkSkies ordinance.
“It's almost deceptive, because DarkSky almost implies there's no lighting, when that's not the case,” he said.
“DarkSky is really about employing strategic, intelligent and thoughtful lighting across the city and across urban areas — that way you can still see the sky at its fullest.”
