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Climate Initiatives Program Receives Clean Air Award

September 19, 2012
MTC's Climate Initiatives Program, aimed at reducing the Bay Area's carbon footprint, received a 2012 Clean Air Excellence award from the Environmental Protection Agency on September 19 in Washington, DC. The Climate Initiatives Program was also honored as Sustainable Transportation Study or Program of the Year by the California Transportation Foundation at their 2010 Transportation Awards program in June 2011.

Launched in 2010, the Climate Initiatives Program includes an innovative grant program, public education and outreach activities, a regional Safe Routes to School program and program evaluation. The program's inaugural effort, the distribution of $33 million to 17 Innovative Grants, served to test transportation-related, greenhouse gas emission reduction projects throughout the Bay Area. The grant activities include support of electric vehicle fleets, dynamic ride-sharing and parking pricing, creation of the Bay Area's first bicycle sharing program, and installation of signals at intersections to detect and count bicycles, among other activities. Additional efforts currently underway include smart driving pilots, which will test driver behavior and vehicle maintenance and their effect on a vehicle's gas mileage, creation of an electric vehicle promotional campaign, a regional school and youth program to support new and existing transportation alternatives for youth and their families and a regional Safe Routes to School program.

Congratulations to Brenda Dix, Craig Goldblatt, Ellen Griffin, Ashley Nguyen and Ursula Vogler, MTC staffers, for their work in developing and implementing this award-winning program.

For more information about MTC’s efforts to fight climate change, and its Climate Initiatives funding program, see:

• Climate Change: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally