The N.C. League of Municipalities has named the City of Durham one of two inaugural winners of the Susan M. Burgess Sustainability Award.

The award was presented at the NCLM Annual Conference in Winston-Salem. Durham won for municipalities with a population of 10,000 and above. The City of Archdale won in the category of those municipalities under 10,000.

Durham was honored for its numerous sustainability efforts, including its greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan; its public-private partnership to produce electricity from landfill methane gas; its recycling, water conservation and education programs; and city-funded affordable housing built to energy efficiency standards.

"I was very honored to accept this award on behalf of Durham," Mayor Bill Bell said. "Over the past few years, the city has made a deliberate effort to promote sustainability in everything we do, not just for current Durham residents, but also for our future."

The Susan M. Burgess Sustainability Awards are named in honor of the late Burgess, a Charlotte council member and former NCLM president who created the NCLM Green Challenge several years ago to honor municipalities that conserve energy and natural resources at the local level. Burgess died in 2010 from cancer.