Building a Greener Future Together: Introducing the Sustainable States Network
Lola Schoenrich, Coordinator, Sustainable States Network
Phoebe Ward, City of Little Falls
The Sustainable States Network (SSN) consists of 14 state-level programs that support local government action on sustainability, climate, and/or clean energy. As of 2020, they engage over 2,200 municipalities and counties, with a combined population of over 65 million people. These numbers have grown each year since the Network’s founding in 2015 as increasing numbers of local governments seek support to be cleaner, greener, and more equitable. The Network fosters shared learning, collaboration on resources and best practices, and multi-state collaborations that deliver action at scale across the United States.
Key takeaways:
State-level sustainability, climate, and clean energy programs scale impact across many cities in the US.
The combination of actions, recognition, information, and curated tools and state-level partnerships provides the capacity and context to deliver action at scale.
Together, the SSN member programs promote local sustainability initiatives in municipalities, counties, and schools with best practices, resources, and technical and peer support that builds local capacity.
Many of the SSN member programs also collaborate to explicitly incorporate social and racial equity, both as a discrete best practice and by re-evaluating existing best practices and actions. The Network is in the process of developing shared definitions and metrics for the successful implementation of equity-based actions that will inform all of the member programs.
What is a State-Level Program?
Most member programs address sustainability in relation to both municipal operations and a wide range of community-based issues, including climate mitigation and resilience, clean energy, water and waste management, transportation, land use, green space, and economic development. Several programs focus exclusively on climate and clean energy.
The Sustainable States Network member programs share common features:
Statewide—support local governments throughout a single state
Voluntary—go beyond compliance programs
Comprehensive—broadly address sustainability and/or climate mitigation and resilience
Provide direction—develop guidance and set standards that incorporate national and state tools, best practices, resources, and campaigns
Build local capacity—offer a range of resources such as training, hands-on technical assistance, peer-learning opportunities, and/or financial support
Celebrate accomplishments—offer certification and/or recognition to measure, reward, and track local government progress
How State-Level Programs Scale Local Action
State-level programs support local success by providing best practices designed to provide local government participants with options for specific actions while also encouraging community-level innovation. Tools and resources, often including grants, are provided for each best practice and are pre-vetted to be relevant to local conditions and easy for participants to use. The programs also share examples of successes in similar communities. Networking and learning between and among communities are supported with regular workshops, trainings, networking meetings, learning cohorts, and one-on-one expert technical assistance.
Programs typically track each municipality’s accomplishments and several also track environmental metrics, usually via a public webpage or one open to all program participants. This tracking allows programs to measure their progress and provides fellow participants with a basic understanding of what their cohort members are accomplishing in sustainability and economic development.
The combination of diverse options for both environmental and economic action, workable information on tactics and resources, curated decision-making tools, mechanisms for recognizing the achievements of individual communities, and interstate collaboration and communication provides these programs with the capacity to deliver results at scale.
How State-Level Programs Are Structured
Typically, a municipality, county or school registers for the state-level program, identifies a set of actions, earns points for completing the actions or best practices, and, after review of their submissions, the program awards certification. Several are recognition programs, which have the same basic structure, but simply track and recognize completed actions rather than awarding points. Most programs also include information-sharing, with the California program focusing exclusively on this aspect of cohort-based sustainability work.
The table below provides further detail on individual program structure, including program type, administering entities, and strategic focus for each.
Sustainable States Network members’ state-level program structure
For more information, contact Lola Schoenrich, SSN coordinator and Great Plains Institute (GPI) vice president at lschoenrich@gpisd.net. Phoebe Ward is with the City of Little Falls, Minnesota, and was a Minnesota GreenCorps member serving at GPI when she authored this blog. The Network is managed by GPI, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with a mission to transform the energy system to benefit the economy and environment.