Sustainable Pennsylvania

The project has operated since 2013, and in 2016, Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) formally recognized the certification in its funding process. Municipal applicants are asked to indicate their Sustainable PA certification level, and as of 2025, 139 municipalities representing roughly 4.1 million residents have earned a certification. Sustainable Pennsylvania has participated in the Sustainable States Network (SSN), a national association of state-level sustainability programs. SSN claims to represent nearly 2,000 local governments across California, Georgia, Florida, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast that advocate for left-of-center environmental policies. ^{3 4 5}

Sustainable Pennsylvania has received funding from its parent organizations, Sustainable PGH and the PML. According to Sustainable PGH’s 2024 tax filing, Sustainable PGH reported $1.42 million in revenue, $1.30 million in expenses, and $1.40 million in assets. In the PML’s 2023 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filing, the PML reported $4.27 million in revenue, $4.37 million in expenses, and $3.84 million in assets. Rebecca Bykoski is the director of programs for Sustainable PGH and Bailey Rocco is the sustainability coordinator for the PML. ^{6 7 8 9}

Background

Sustainable Pennsylvania is a joint project of Sustainable Pittsburgh (Sustainable PGH) and the Pennsylvania Municipal League (PML). Sustainable PGH is a regional nonprofit focused on advocating environmentalist policies, developing nonprofit networks, and creating designation programs. The PML claims to be a nonpartisan membership association for Pennsylvania cities, boroughs, townships, and home-rule communities while providing an advocacy portfolio for promoting left-of-center policies. ^{10 11 12}

According to its website, the project offers municipalities an online assessment and documentation process culminating in Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum rankings for recognition. ¹³

Activities

Sustainable Pennsylvania provides voluntary certification for local governments to help them promote and implement left-of-center environmental policy and operational practices on land use, transportation, energy, water, operations, waste, and resilience. Municipalities taking part in the online assessment upload evidence and earn recognition at Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum levels based on points and required actions. The program has been jointly administered by the Pennsylvania Municipal League (PML) and Sustainable Pittsburgh (Sustainable PGH) and has been framed as a performance recognition and learning tool. ^{2 14 13}

Sustainable Pennsylvania has listed 139 certified Pennsylvanian municipalities representing over 4.1 million residents in the state. In 2016, Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), a taxpayer-funded state governmental program, began integrating the certification into municipal funding applications, asking applicants to indicate their Sustainable Pennsylvania level. ^{15 16}

The project has supported left-of-center environmental policy implementation through a starter guide, an Action Resources library, and step-by-step platform instructions for staff who manage submissions. Related networks and training from Sustainable Pittsburgh and PML supplement the program with briefings, peer exchanges, and case studies designed to help municipalities adopt and maintain practices highlighted in the certification rubric. ^{13 17 18 19}

Financials

Sustainable Pennsylvania, as a joint project, receives its funding through its parent organizations. On Sustainable Pittsburgh’s (Sustainable PGH) 2024 tax return, it reported $1,419,615 in revenue, $1,299,636 in expenses, and $1,261,360 in net assets, with revenues primarily derived from contributions and grants. On the Pennsylvania Municipal League’s (PML) 2023 tax return, it reported $4,265,874 in revenue, $4,374,469 in expenses, and $3,202,237 in net assets. ^{20 21}

Donors to Sustainable PGH include the Hillman Family Foundations, the Ares Charitable Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Pittsburgh Foundation. It also received $87,500 in government grants. ^{12 22 23}

Leadership

As of 2025, Rebecca Bykoski was the director of programs for Sustainable PGH and Bailey Rocco was the sustainability coordinator for the PML. At that time, Bhavini Patel was executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh, appearing in Sustainable PGH announcements and updates, while John Brenner was executive director of the Pennsylvania Municipal League, overseeing the League’s member-service and advocacy portfolio. Program operations for Sustainable Pennsylvania have run through Sustainable PGH’s program office, while governance and resources have been shared with PML. ^{8 9 24}