Climate Smart Communities 2025 Grant Program Round 9

The Climate Smart Communities Grant Program provides competitive grants to municipalities to conduct climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, engineering feasibility studies regarding flood mitigation and conversion of HVAC/R systems to natural refrigerants, and planning projects that are a subset of actions in the Climate Smart Communities certification program.

Funding Available. At least $21 million is available for grants of between $50,000 and $2,000,000 for implementation projects related to the following topics, among others:

• Reducing vehicle miles travelled (VMT)
• Reducing food waste in landfills
• Reducing hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions from refrigeration and cooling equipment
• Increasing natural resiliency through restoration or preservation of natural features
• Reducing future flood-risk, including by relocating or retrofitting critical infrastructure
• Preparing for extreme heat and extreme weather events
• Renewable energy projects in municipal facilities
• Engineering feasibility studies for flood risk reduction and refrigerant management.

In addition, up to $1,000,000 is available for grants of between $10,000 and $200,000 for planning, inventory, and assessment projects that are aligned with certain Climate Smart Communities Certification actions in the areas of greenhouse gas mitigation, transportation, climate adaptation, and land use.

Eligible Applicants. Any county, city, town, or village of the State of New York is eligible to apply. A municipality need not be a registered or certified Climate Smart Community to be eligible for a grant.

Request for Applications. Visit https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/climate-change/resources-for-local-governments/grants-for-climate-action to view the complete request for applications (RFA) for the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program. Potential applicants must read the entire RFA for complete details on the program.

Applying. Apply for the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application (CFA), which is available online: https://apps.cio.ny.gov/apps/cfa/

Hand-delivered, facsimile, mailed, or e-mailed applications will NOT be accepted. In addition to the application portal, information on other State grant opportunities and instructions for applicants are available at the CFA website.

Applications are due by 4:00 pm on Thursday July 31, 2025. Applications will NOT be accepted after this date and time.

Questions? Email the Office of Climate Change: cscgrants@dec.ny.gov

For ENB: Contact: Myra Fedyniak, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of Climate Change, 625 Broadway, Albany NY 12233. Phone: 518-402-8444, Email cscgrants@dec.ny.gov .