The Office of Climate and Sustainability may live on after the expiration of its Covid-era funding source, if alders approve the mayor’s budget proposal to integrate that department into the city’s general fund. In an interview with the Independent, city Climate and Sustainability Director S teve Winter pitched his climate-change-mitigation work as deeply intertwined with promoting affordability for residents, cost-savings for the city, and healthier living conditions — from cleaner air to food access — throughout New Haven. “Climate change is this huge, seemingly intractable thing,” said Winter, “but there are real things we can do here in New Haven” to make sizable impacts on the city’s carbon footprint, all while bringing other immediate and tangible benefits to the city. The city created the Climate and Sustainability Office in 2022 using federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Board of Alders approved a mayoral proposal to allocate $1 million toward funding personnel for the department through the end of 2026, the deadline by which ARPA funds must be spent. Winter, a former Newhallville/Dixwell/Prospect Hill alder, became the city’s first Director of Climate and Sustainability in December 2022. Since the start of 2025, he’s also served as a state representative for the 94th district, covering parts of New Haven and Hamden. “It’s been both challenging and rewarding” to do both jobs, said Winter. “I do spend a lot of time working on the weekends.” He said that the two jobs often intersect with and inform one another, including his work on the state legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee. The city climate office now also comprises a deputy director, HannahZoe Chua-Reyes, as well as a recycling educator, Rose Richi. While Richi’s job will continue to be funded by taxes on miniature alcohol bottles (a.k.a. nips), Winter and Chua-Reyes’ positions are currently funded by ARPA dollars. In his proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, Mayor Justin Elicker is proposing that their jobs be moved to the general fund, budgeting $91,177 for the position of director and $80,000 for the position of deputy director. According to Winter, his office has brought the city cost-savings from energy efficiency as well as revenue from new clean energy systems that so far nearly offset his and Chua-Reyes’ salaries, with more cost-saving and revenue-generating projects already in the works. For instance, the first phase of an initiative to build a solar farm at the 260 Middletown Ave. landfill has just been completed, according to Winter. The solar company Greenskies is paying the city $6,000 per month (or $72,000 per year) to rent the space, while contributing the solar energy to the broader electric grid for a fixed rate. According to Winter, the electricity generated from the farm is enough to power 200 homes. Meanwhile, the city has installed a total of 1,000 solar panels in the form of parking canopies at the Beecher School and Hill Central School parking lots. The solar power generated from those panels are projected to save the city $65,000 per year in energy costs at those schools, according to Winter. Winter said that additional solar projects in progress will provide the city with over $200,000 in revenue by leasing space to Greenskies at Bowen Field, East Shore Park, Career High School, Clemente School, Wilbur Cross High School, and another portion of the landfill. Other climate initiatives in the works are anticipated to save costs for the city in the long-term. The office is helping schools transition to more energy-efficient LED lighting systems. It’s continuing to lead the shift in city vehicles and equipment to electricity-powered models; in addition to reducing the city’s carbon footprint, electrification will reduce air pollution, save the city in fuel costs, and potentially lead to longer-lasting equipment. Meanwhile, the office has been building out New Haven’s compost infrastructure, from curbside bins available to the public to school-wide composting programs. Winter’s team is working on a citywide waste diversion program that will enable residents to have bags of compost picked up by the city along with their trash. And the office has helped the local food-rescue organization Haven’s Harvest expand its operations and partner with New Haven Public Schools to reduce food waste altogether. In total, these programs reduce the city’s trash processing costs, which currently amount to $122 per ton of trash. Winter’s team has also sought to minimize residents’ energy bills, covering co-payments for the state’s Energize CT program to enable residents to afford energy efficiency assessments and improvements in their homes. The office has additionally spearheaded an initiative to build a geothermal energy system by Elm City Communities’ forthcoming Union Square development where the Church Street South apartments once stood. The project is expected to provide renewable energy to the train station and to the anticipated mixed-income development, lowering residents’ electric bills while serving as “a model for neighborhood-level decarbonization” that the city could replicate. The project “shows how New Haven is trying to be a leader for sustainability and affordability for people,” said Chua-Reyes. Finally, the department has sought out ways to reduce the city’s carbon footprint as a whole by making cleaner transit options more accessible to residents. It has worked with the city’s Department of Transportation, Traffic Parking to pilot “micro-mobility” options such as e-scooters, while teaming up with New Haven Coalition for Active Transportation to build a universal bike education program for second graders in New Haven Public Schools. “Being able to catalyze positive activity with other city departments here in the city is literally and figuratively energizing,” Winter said. “We’re doing our part here in New Haven, regardless of what the Trump administration might say about climate change. It is real, it is happening, and we need to take action to invest in resiliency, reduce our admissions, and provide services to those [who] are most vulnerable. We’re excited to be part of that.” The post Budget Spotlight: Climate Office Seeks Continued Funding appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less