2025 GreenerGov Awards Honor State Government Leadership in Sustainability Efforts

Press Releases

07/31/2025

2025 GreenerGov Awards Honor State Government Leadership in Sustainability Efforts

Celebrating State Agencies Driving Efficiency, Cost Savings, and Environmental Innovation

(HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) hosted the annual GreenerGov Awards Ceremony on Thursday, July 31 at the State Capitol. The event celebrates the exceptional efforts of State Agency staff and agency Senior Sustainability Officers (SSOs) in reducing state government environmental impact and advancing Connecticut’s climate and sustainability goals.

The GreenerGov initiative builds on the state’s Lead By Example program. Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 1, signed in 2019, called on state agencies to recommit to – and expand – the state’s Lead by Example program to reduce energy use, water, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions while lowering operating costs in state government facilities and operations. The governor’s sweeping climate Executive Order No. 21-3 set eight sub-targets for state agencies to meet regarding clean electricity procurement, organics and food waste diversion, electric vehicle deployment, and more.

The ceremony honored the contributions of all those dedicated to promoting a greener state government, saving taxpayer dollars, and ensuring a healthier and more sustainable future for all residents in Connecticut. GreenerGov is already delivering progress on our sustainability targets. Executive Branch emissions have decreased by over 14% since FY2019, including an 8% reduction in annual building emissions. Water use has also been reduced, and solar and electric vehicle leases have increased, along with the number of facilities with contracted composting services.

“This progress has positioned the state to achieve many of our targets, including lowering government operational costs, reducing state emissions, and improving state facility resilience,” DEEP Commissioner and GreenerGov Co-Chair Katie Dykes said.

“Each agency’s efforts is crucial not only to meeting state mandates but also to contributing to the larger mission of creating a sustainable future for Connecticut communities,” DAS Commissioner and GreenerGov Co-Chair Michelle Gilman said.

”State government’s work to lead by example is helping to catalyze market transformations such as solar installations and green building construction that will benefit all of Connecticut’s current and future residents,” OPM Secretary and GreenerGov Co-Chair Jeffrey Beckham said.

This year, GreenerGov recognized four award categories based on Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) projects and achievements. The awards categories and awardees were:

Sustainability Achievement Award:

Recognizes projects that made significant, measurable contributions toward GreenerGov executive order targets (Executive Order 1 & Executive Order 21-3).

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Reductions: Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) was awarded as the agency with the most GHG reductions between FY23-FY24, with a 3.3% reduction!
Food Waste: Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) was awarded for reducing food waste through a composting initiative that donates the compost produced to a community garden.
Electric Vehicles (EV): University of Connecticut (UCONN) & Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) were awarded as the agencies with the most EV chargers installed to-date with 58 and 56 chargers installed respectively.
Solar Capacity:

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) was awarded as the agency with the best ratio of solar capacity installed in FY24 to electricity usage for its new Western District Headquarters.
Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) was awarded as the agency with the best ratio of total solar capacity installed to date compared to Fiscal Year 2024 annual electricity usage. To date, CSCU has installed 8400 kW of direct current solar.

Reduced Water Consumption: Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) was awarded for having the project with the most reduction in water consumption in FY24, achieving an estimated annual reduction of 348,568 gallons of water.

Environmental and Fiscal Steward Award:

Recognizes agencies that achieved significant, measurable utility savings in FY24. Reductions are calculated and compared as a percentage of an agency’s annual utility bills.

Cost Savings:

Department of Labor (DOL) was awarded as the agency with the greatest utility cost reductions between FY23 and FY24, saving $184,890 in utility costs. These include reductions across the agency’s utility costs, such as electricity, natural gas, water, sewer and oil.
Department of Insurance (DOI) was awarded for completing a FY24 project that involved decommissioning three energy-intensive servers within its IT Department, achieving the greatest expected cost savings as a percent of their annual utility costs.

Energy Efficiency Award:

Recognizes agencies that have displayed the most significant improvements in energy efficiency.

All Fuels: Department of Agriculture (DoAg) was awarded as the agency with the greatest percent reduction (4%) in energy use, waste disposal, and water consumption (including electricity, oil, propane, natural gas, diesel fuel, gasoline, fire protection, water, sewer, hot water, chilled water, and waste) between FY23 and FY24.

Electricity:

Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) was awarded as the agency with the greatest percent reduction (15%) in electricity use between FY23 and FY24.
Department of Transportation (DOT) was awarded for a project with the greatest percent annual electricity savings (4%) completed in FY24.

Natural Gas:

Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) was awarded as the agency with the greatest percent reduction in natural gas use (11%) between FY23 and FY24.
Department of Correction (DOC) was awarded for a project with the greatest percent annual natural gas savings completed in FY24. The project is an HVAC upgrade that includes an Energy Management system for the Osborn Correctional facility which is expected to save about 1.4% of their annual natural gas usage.

Trailblazer Award:

Recognizes agencies leading the way in utilizing new and innovative technologies or approaches for sustainability projects.

University of Connecticut (UCONN) Health for having significantly reduced or eliminated the use of volatile anesthesia gases which are extremely harmful greenhouse gases.

Eco Champion:

Recognizes individuals who have made significant efforts in implementing behavioral changes at their agencies to conserve energy, water, and/or waste.

University of Connecticut: Katie Milardo, Stanley Nolan, Patrick McKee, Mark Bolduc, Brian McKeon, Anna Parker and Betsy Mortensen for coordinating the EcoMadness competition among 27 campus residence halls that encouraged energy and water use reduction and proper recycling habits. In October 2024, EcoMadness winners in each category were: Electricity- Gange/Hicks with a 30.76% reduction, Water- Allen/Kingston with a 29.29% reduction, and Recycling- Mcconaughy with 92.5% compliance.

GreenerGov CT is a collaborative effort led by co-chaired by OPM, DAS, and DEEP, with SSOs in each executive branch agency leading sustainability initiatives within their departments. For more information on the GreenerGov Initiative, visit Connecticut GreenerGov, or email DEEP LeadByExample at leadbyexample@ct.gov.

GreenerGov Awards 2025 Group Photo