Five years after Worcester adopted an ambitious roadmap to become one of the country’s most sustainable and climate-resilient mid-sized cities, officials say the groundwork is increasingly giving way to action.
The city released its 2025 Green Worcester Plan Annual Report last week, detailing progress over the past year on initiatives ranging from waste reduction and tree planting to flood mitigation, water quality and household energy efficiency.
The five-year report also offers a more sobering assessment of the road ahead. Worcester has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 9.5% since 2009 even as its population grew by more than 20,000 residents, according to the report. But some of the city’s most ambitious renewable-energy targets may now be out of reach without greater federal support…