Local officials touted progress on dozens of projects to fight climate change, saying that local governments like Montgomery County are making strides even as federal support withers.

“This is the time when we remind people that local communities are actually the ones who are leading,” said County Council President Natali Fani-González.

She spoke at a press conference on the county’s Climate Action Plan, enacted in 2021 to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2027 and eliminate them by 2035.

Officials held the event at the National Capital Trolley Museum in Cloverly, which provided an opportunity to highlight the county’s third and newest mesonet station — a roughly 30-foot tall solar-powered structure that captures real-time local weather information for emergency management staff.

After the press conference ended, officials and others in attendance boarded one of the museum’s trolleys to visit the mesonet station on the museum’s grounds. Officials said they rely on the real-time weather data from these stations as the frequency and severity of climate disasters increase.

Leaders said the county had completed or made substantial progress on 63 of the 84 goals outlined in the plan, as of June 30.

Among them:

• The county stopped charging for Ride On buses to encourage people to use public transit.
• Local government and the school system purchased more than 160 electric vehicles, including school buses, to lower emissions.
• The county finished building its first police station microgrid at the 6th District facility in Gaithersburg to keep the station running during extended power outages.
• Montgomery County Public Schools began construction on the first school building in the district that will produce all the energy it needs to operate. The net-zero Burtonsville Elementary School is set to open for the 2026-27 school year.

But sharply diminished federal support to combat climate change may make future progress more difficult.

Montgomery County has in the past relied heavily on federal funding to support its climate actions. But the Trump administration has redirected resources away from climate science and clean energy projects.

State grant programs have bolstered county projects, but lawmakers in Annapolis are staring down a roughly $1.4 billion deficit that could prompt them to curtail funding for county governments.

The 90-day legislative session begins Jan. 14.

“This legislative session is definitely important for our Climate Action Plan,” said Sarah Kogel-Smucker, the county’s climate change officer.