Sustainable Westborough offers nonbinding decarbonization roadmap; town could seek Climate Leader grants

Sustainable Westborough and the town sustainability coordinator presented a decarbonization roadmap that maps potential municipal and school-building electrification and energy-efficiency projects over the next 25 years. The plan follows a 'zero overtime' approach that aligns equipment replacement and renovations with natural capital cycles so the town does not prematurely replace functioning systems unless there is clear cost-effectiveness or a trigger event (failure or scheduled replacement).

The presentation highlighted a baseline fiscal-year-2022 emissions inventory (total on-site emissions 2,733 metric tons CO2e) and noted school buildings contribute the majority of on-site emissions. The presenters framed the roadmap as nonbinding guidance that preserves existing fiscal and committee authorities while helping the town identify grant-ready, cost-effective projects.

Adoption would enable the town to submit a Climate Leader community application. Once designated, the town would be eligible to apply for (a) a technical support grant — recommended first to fund feasibility and engineering studies (up to about $150,000) — and (b) a Decarbonization Accelerator grant (up to $1,000,000 with a required roughly 10% local match) to pursue larger electrification projects such as heat-pump conversions, battery storage, campus-level HVAC upgrades and potentially solar-plus-storage for schools. Presenters also noted that existing green-community and MSBA funding streams could be stacked with Climate Leader awards to cover larger projects.

Committee members said they support the strategic approach but asked for more joint work with facilities and the school committee’s capital planning process before committing to specific grant applications; the sustainability coordinator said staff will continue coordination with facilities and present the roadmap to the select board as well, and that a vote is expected at a future meeting after members have had a chance to ask follow-up questions.