The Virginia Municipal League recently recognized the City of Staunton as a certified “Green Government.” The certification resulted from the city’s participation in the 2013 VML Green Government Challenge.
The Green Government Challenge, part of VML’s larger Go Green Virginia environmental initiative, is a friendly competition among local governments in Virginia to encourage the implementation of specific environmental policies and practical actions that reduce carbon emissions.
Participating local governments earned “green points” by implementing or adopting up to 30 policies and actions divided into 11 categories ranging from energy efficiency and green buildings to land-use and innovation. Amassing between 100 and 124 “green points” out of a possible 200 earned certification as a “Green Government.”
Twenty cities, towns and counties participated in the 2013 Green Government Challenge. Awards were presented to certified localities at the VML Annual Conference in Arlington on October 15.
VML is a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan association of city, town and county governments established in 1905 to improve and assist local governments through legislative advocacy, research, education and other services.