Committee presses county for a sustained greenhouse-gas inventory and public tracking

Erica Pierce pressed for clarity on whether Westchester will maintain an ongoing greenhouse-gas (GHG) inventory and how the county will track progress toward 2030 and 2050 climate goals. Peter McCart said a GHG inventory is a project that requires budgeted staff time and that some prior inventories were funded by state sources such as DEC; he recommended seeking data from NYSERDA and coordinating with the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) to obtain state-level data access if direct funding is not available.

Pierce and McCart discussed options for public tracking: Pierce said a dashboard or periodic report would help legislators know where county investments are succeeding or lagging, while McCart said staff could provide a bullet-by-bullet status update for committee review if an online dashboard is not feasible immediately. McCart emphasized the need to budget both time and money to keep inventories current.