Along with Sustainable Westchester, we recently presented a Gold Certificate recognizing the Town of Bedford in Westchester and Bedford Town Supervisor Chris Burdick for being a leader in greening the town’s municipal fleet of vehicles pursuant to our Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Pledge.
In 2017, NYLCV and Sustainable Westchester developed the ZEV Pledge to engage local governments in Westchester on the environmental and cost benefits of electric vehicles, along with the opportunity to electrify their local fleets and set an example for other municipalities. The Town of Bedford committed to the ZEV Gold Pledge, the highest level, to electrify at least 10% of its light-duty local fleet by 2020, a commitment the town has already exceeded.
The ZEV Pledge is part of our work to promote electric vehicles in Westchester. We also held a public forum in White Plains to identify additional opportunities to green Westchester’s transportation sector. We continue to engage New Yorkers by encouraging residents to test-drive an EV and asking families with more than one vehicle to switch one to electric.
Transportation is now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in New York State. Westchester County has tremendous potential to be a model for other places in the state to reduce transportation emissions. There are 650,000 registered vehicles in the county and enthusiastic local leaders like Supervisor Burdick are setting a positive example for residents and other municipalities to go electric.
We are happy to recognize not only Bedford’s commitment to sustainability but its follow-through with that commitment. We encourage other communities to follow their lead and look forward to continuing to work together to advance our shared priorities for the environment.