Massachusetts Climate Change Initiatives

Massachusetts has adopted an aggressive stance toward climate change, a global challenge with potentially significant ramifications for the state's residents, businesses, and natural environments. The state's climate policy initiatives indirectly encourage the development of clean energy to displace greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

The following milestones demonstrate the Commonwealth's leadership in the climate policy arena:

•  2001: Release of the New England Governors/Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Change Action Plan, which established regional greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for Massachusetts, the other New England states, and several Canadian provinces.

•  2001: Adoption of "Emissions Standards for Power Plants" (310 CMR 7.29), making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.

•  2003: Agreement to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a greenhouse gas emissions trading program involving the New England states, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.

•  2004 : Release of the Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan, which details the actions to be taken by the state in order to achieve the emissions reductions.

Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan

The Office for Commonwealth Development (OCD) was created to coordinate policies and programs between the state's energy, environment, housing, and transportation agencies. OCD agencies partnered with other agencies and organizations, including the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), to develop the Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan.

Strategy & Purpose

The Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan is an initial step in a coordinated effort to reduce GHG emissions and to improve energy efficiency in the Commonwealth-two inseparably linked goals. It presents a comprehensive set of near-term actions that will protect the climate, reduce pollution, cut energy demand, and nurture job growth through the development of sustainable energy resources and advanced technologies.

The plan outlines the potentially grave human, environmental, and economic hazards posed by climate change, and it states that Massachusetts must help lead the way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate associated impacts. The plan makes the case that reducing greenhouse gas output and improving energy efficiency are important for many reasons in addition to reducing the likelihood of harmful changes to the climate.

The plan identifies "no regrets" approaches to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and induce economic growth, ease the transition to cleaner and less expensive energy sources, and contribute to Massachusetts ' energy security and independence. The plan emphasizes measures to be taken by public and private institutions. It also includes some elements pertaining to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction in individual homes and small businesses.

The plan is the concrete result of Massachusetts' commitment to a regional climate change plan adopted by the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers in August 2001. In addition to input given by hundreds of citizens, the plan was created based on technical support provided by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, the Center for Clean Air Policy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the MTC's Renewable Energy Trust.

Focal Areas

The plan focuses on existing resources and programs, emphasizing a "Fix it First" approach through which existing facilities and other infrastructure will be modernized and made efficient before new programs and installations are created. It is divided into the 10 focus areas listed below, many of which relate to clean energy technology. The sixth area, which relates most closely to renewable energy, is described in detail below.

•  Tough but Realistic Targets: The plan outlines short-, medium- and long-term goals to serve as benchmarks of progress for Massachusetts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions:

  • Short Term: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010.
  • Medium Term: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020.
  • Long Term: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels estimated to be as much as 75-85% below current emissions that will eliminate the potential for dangerous human interference with the climate system.

The plan notes that achieving the long-term goal will require significant technological and scientific breakthroughs, making it imperative to begin this process now.

•  Assessing and Communicating Emissions Trends: The plan calls for two main steps: (1) development of a statewide inventory, monitoring, and reporting system for greenhouse gas emissions, including modernization and expansion of the state's CO 2 tracking system; and (2) improved public outreach and education about climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, electricity generation, and statewide pollution.

•  State Sustainability-Leadership by Example: The plan calls on state agencies to lead the way for other sectors in Massachusetts by purchasing renewable energy, incorporating sustainable design into their buildings, buying environmentally friendly vehicles, and employing other sustainable practices.

•  Cities and Towns as Climate Protection Partners: The plan promotes local and regional efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating a climate change resource roundtable for local officials, encouraging municipalities to purchase renewable energy and join the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, promoting energy-efficient municipal operations in civic infrastructure and buildings, and encouraging participation in various environmentally friendly plans and initiatives.

•  Business, Industry, and Institutions as Climate Protection Partners: The plan encourages businesses and industry to improve their competitiveness by increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Several concrete methods of doing this are outlined, such as providing technical assistance, networking with other states to create a CO2 registry and an emissions trading program, implementing existing regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by older power plants, and organizing and facilitating discussions between businesses and the government.

•  Clean and Reliable Energy: The plan promotes both increased efficiency and increased reliance on secure, reliable, and non- or low-emitting energy sources. The plan also outlines actions for achieving a goal of reducing "the energy intensity of carbon emitted per unit of power by 20% by 2025."

•  More Efficient Buildings: Reducing Pollution Through Sustainable Design and Construction: The plan encourages increased implementation of green and sustainable design practices and clean energy technologies in built environments through design and construction of high-performance state buildings, collaboration with green building initiatives under the MTC's Renewable Energy Trust, and outreach to and collaboration with the construction industry.

•  Transportation and Sustainable Development: The plan encourages sound investment in existing transportation infrastructure and development and use of mass transit to reduce GHG emissions caused by cars, trucks, buses, and trains, which currently account for 30% of the state's emissions every year.

•  Vehicles: Supporting Clean, Efficient New Technologies: The plan calls for the enactment of stricter fuel efficiency and emissions standards and for the creation of incentives for the use of cleaner technologies, fuels, and transportation modes in order to encourage broader penetration of hybrid vehicles and better overall fuel efficiency.

•  Natural Resource Protection as a Climate Strategy: The plan calls for increased protection of forests, wetlands and other "carbon sinks" that remove CO 2 from the atmosphere. Additionally, it outlines actions to increase the capacity of tourism, agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, wood product, water supply, and other resource-based industries to "adapt to the growing impacts of climate change."

Clean and Reliable Energy

Under this section of the plan, "the state will continue to include requirements and incentives for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and cleaner generation sources as it oversees electricity restructuring to reduce the environmental impacts of energy generation." It identifies 10 specific action areas:

•  Continue to build support and provide incentives for energy efficiency. Energy efficiency measures may be thought of as zero-emissions sources of energy. The Division of Energy Resources (DOER) will:

  • Support the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Partnership (MAEEP), a collaboration involving the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, U.S. Department of Energy, state agencies, gas and electric utilities, and trade associations that provides coordinated delivery of training, technical support, research and development, technology deployment, and implementation programs.
  • Encourage efforts to increase the efficiency of new and renovated buildings and products, including incentives and revamped codes and product standards.

•  Promote renewable energy through the implementation of the statewide Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The state will:

  • Improve consumer awareness about green power purchasing options.
  • Maintain the 0.5%/yr increase in the RPS until 2009 and 1.0%/yr increase thereafter (unless modified by the DOER).
  • Ensure that all retail electricity supplies take active steps to comply with RPS requirements.
  • Work with generators, distributors, and municipalities to reduce barriers to the deployment and use of renewable energy technologies and to the long-term financing of renewable energy projects.

•  Participate in and support the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The state, through the Office of Commonwealth Development (OCD), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the DOER, will:

  • Collaborate with other RGGI participants to establish a regional cap on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in participating states and to create the rules and systems required to inventory and monitor emissions, track reductions, trade emissions credits, and ensure cost-effective compliance.

•  Bring new renewable energy technologies and systems to the market through the MTC's Renewable Energy Trust. The state will continue its aggressive efforts to maximize the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy through ratepayer-funded green power, green buildings, industry support, education, public awareness, and policy initiatives.

•  Reduce barriers to renewable energy development. The Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE), the DOER, and the MTC's Renewable Energy Trust will work together to:

  • Develop financing strategies for renewable energy projects through long-term contracts and other mechanisms required by the investment community.
  • Facilitate low-cost interconnection of renewable resources to the power grid.
  • Develop wind energy projects on appropriate state lands.

•  Launch a partnership between the OCD and the MTC's Renewable Energy Trust to fund climate change initiatives. These organizations will work together to provide financial support for economically viable renewable energy projects that advance the state's climate action plan.

•  Encourage regulatory policies that will make it easier to site small-scale energy efficiency and renewables projects. The DOER and DEP , alongside the DTE and the State Office of Building Standards (SOBS), will:

  • Review existing laws and regulations to identify requirements that "may be inappropriate for today's new clean energy technology".
  • Develop recommendations for new policies and streamlined regulations that facilitate introduction of distributed energy sources, with a focus on interconnection standards, combined heat-and-power facilities, standby rates, air emissions standards, and renewables.

•  Work with utilities to promote residential energy efficiency. The DOER will continue to work with utilities and municipal aggregators to identify and promote incentives and programs addressing appliances, other residential electric equipment, insulation, on-site renewables, and other clean energy technologies.

•  Design an enhanced incentive program to improve the efficiency of residential oil use. The DOER will evaluate education programs and incentive options for encouraging homeowners to properly maintain oil heating systems and to replace old units with new oil-fired systems offering efficiency gains of up to 25%.

•  Implement new appliance energy-efficiency standards. The state will work with other states to promote technological innovation through new state-level standards and federal legislation addressing products such as cable boxes, ceiling fans, torchiere lighting, space conditioning systems, signs, traffic signals, and commercial appliances.

Additional information on climate change and policy options is available from the Trust's Policy Unit.