EASTON, Pa. — The city has achieved Sustainable Pennsylvania’s Gold certification, a designation aimed at recognizing officials’ work toward sustainability goals.
“It's this awesome feedback loop, where we are getting feedback on what we're doing here in the city — if it's good for the residents, if it's good for our city,” city Sustainability Coordinator Brandon Sullivan said.
“And then, the higher we achieve in those goals, the more likely we are to get more funding for opportunities for our residents and for our city.”
A project of the Pennsylvania Municipal League and Sustainable Pittsburgh, Sustainable Pennsylvania is a voluntary program focused on helping municipalities improve sustainability to save money, conserve resources and improve residents’ lives.
“Sustainability is important to the future of Easton and our world because we only have one environment, and it needs to be protected."Mayor Sal Panto
Recertification is required every three years. The city in 2022 rated platinum, the highest of the four-tiered designations. Below that is gold, then silver and, finally, bronze.
“I am proud of our city’s achievement of the gold sustainability status, but we won’t stop until we achieve the platinum status,” Easton Mayor Sal Panto said in a news release.
“Sustainability is important to the future of Easton and our world because we only have one environment, and it needs to be protected.
"Our city Climate Action Plan will help us get there and, as long [as] the elected officials understand that we have a responsibility to our residents and the environment, they need to live and strive to achieve the goals listed in the plan.”
‘Ethical and sustainable decisions’
Sullivan said one of his primary goals after he was hired this year as the city’s first sustainability coordinator was to recertify with Sustainable Pennsylvania.
However, “the actual questionnaire has gone through a massive revamp,” he said.
“It's a way to kind of hold companies accountable for their ability to make ethical and sustainable decisions in regard to their practices.”Easton Sustainability Coordinator Brandon Sullivan
Through the program, a municipality earns points based on assessment criteria in 10 categories, including water, energy, economic development and revitalization, municipal operations, land use and housing, among others.
Each category has 10 to 23 questions where points are earned. Depending on points accrued, a municipality receives a certification level.
“It's gone from much more of a pure sustainability focus in the more traditional sense — whether you're looking at green spaces and forestry, your stereotypical sustainable items,” Sullivan said.
“Now, it's geared toward ESG, otherwise known as Environmental, Social and Governance. ESG has become a standard in private industry, where ESG is a measure of a company's investment in environmental issues, social issues and corporate governance.
“It's a way to kind of hold companies accountable for their ability to make ethical and sustainable decisions in regard to their practices.”
‘Everyone has fallen’
While ESG is becoming more common, especially with municipalities, it’s often most seen on the West Coast of the United States, he said.
However, because of the change, the city’s rating went down, from platinum to gold — but it isn’t the only one.
“As far as I am aware, every single municipality that had platinum prior that’s gone through the certification since the redesign has not retained platinum,” Sullivan said.
“Everyone has fallen to gold or worse.”
"Those DCED grants are used for everything from housing opportunities to improving the city. Those are grants that we can directly use to improve the welfare of our citizens.”Easton Sustainability Coordinator Brandon Sullivan
Regardless of the level of certification, city officials will “continue to strive as a leader in sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance practices,” Sullivan said.
“So long as we do this, Easton will be a place where all can thrive regardless of their background or socioeconomic status while continuing our path toward platinum,” he said.
“Easton has achieved the gold standard, and we still have plenty more to achieve.”
One of the benefits of having the certification is that it opens up the city to grant opportunities, Sullivan said.
“This is actually a verified program by the DCED, the Department of Community Economic Development, here in the state of Pennsylvania,” he said.
“And as we fill in any DCED application, they actually do ask us what our Sustainable PA certification level is. So the higher the certification level, usually the more increased chance of us getting the grant.
"And those DCED grants are used for everything from housing opportunities to improving the city. Those are grants that we can directly use to improve the welfare of our citizens.”
‘It's a great program’
In the Lehigh Valley, there is only one other municipality that is certified through Sustainable Pennsylvania — Palmer Township.
Township officials in 2024 applied for the certification and achieved silver.
Palmer last year also was the top-scorer out of 50 participating municipalities across the commonwealth in Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Carbon Reduction Sprint.
“It gives us a slate of recommendations that our community can use to potentially become even more sustainable and improve our operations and our overall goals and policies for the future.”Palmer Township Planning Director Craig Beavers
“Overall, we've enjoyed going through this process and with Sustainable PA,” township Planning Director Craig Beavers said.
“We think it's a great program that allows us to see where we rank compared to some standard sustainability topics such as environmental protection, land use ordinances, economic development.
"And it gives us a slate of recommendations that our community can use to potentially become even more sustainable and improve our operations and our overall goals and policies for the future.”
Once officials complete the township’s first greenway master plan, they plan to re-submit their assessment in the hopes of achieving gold.
‘What we're doing and what we're not doing’
While recertification is once a three-year cycle, municipalities can submit assessments during that time to improve their certification.
“It really encourages communities to continually evolve and re-evaluate, rather than kind of wait every few years to check their progress."Craig Beavers, Palmer Township planning director
“It really encourages communities to continually evolve and re-evaluate, rather than kind of wait every few years to check their progress,” Beavers said.
“It's great that it's continually evolving to kind of help where communities want to end up being.”
Asked whether he'd recommend other municipalities participate, he said, “Absolutely.”
Similarly, Sullivan said more municipalities in the Valley should pursue certification.
“It's something that's really helped me, especially being the first in the role here, to better understand the municipality, its functions — what we're doing and what we're not doing,” he said.
“So I can't give it more of a recommendation for anyone or any municipality that wants to kind of also understand what the standard for sustainability looks like — it's changing rapidly.
"It's a growing field, a changing field, and this application does a wonderful job of introducing each of those changes in these standards.”
