It’s official—Claremont is California’s coolest city, at least when it comes to conserving energy.

The City of Trees won the statewide Cool California Challenge, Energy Upgrade California announced on Thursday. The city won in a landslide, handily beating second-place Long Beach by over one million points.

The Cool California Challenge placed cities against each other to motivate their residents to reduce their carbon footprint. Residents were encouraged to sign up online and track their energy usage, gaining points along the way.

In all, 514 Claremonters signed up, garnering the city a whopping total of 2,444,920 points.

“On behalf of the residents of Claremont, I am proud to accept the title of Coolest California City,” Mayor Sam Pedroza said in a statement. “This honor speaks volumes to the dedication and initiative that Claremont residents showed throughout the Challenge to reduce our city’s greenhouse gas emissions. By working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions all year, residents are continuing the hard work needed to help California stay golden.”

Sustainable Claremont, who spearheaded the campaign, praised the hard work by residents that went into the city’s winning campaign.

“Thank you to everyone who saved energy (and money) and participated in our community effort to promote a healthy environment,” Sustainable Claremont Chair Steve Sabicer said in a release.

The city won $51,663 of the available $150,000 prize. The money will go toward sustainability projects.

Overall, 22 cities participated in the challenge, which ran from October 1 to March 30.

As part of the challenge, then-Mayor Corey Calaycay taped a humorous video to motivate Claremonters into saving energy. The video—in which Mr. Calaycay suggest residents shower with each other to reduce water usage—has been watched more than 1,200 times.

The top three cities—Claremont, Long Beach and Burlingame—will be honored at the Green California Summit on April 21.

Sustainable Claremont will be celebrating the victory at their Earth Day celebration on April 23, which will take place in the Village along Second Street from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

—Matthew Bramlett

news@claremont-courier.com