Baker-Polito Administration Releases Roadmap to Achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2050
Reports Lays Out Strategies to Achieve Net Zero
Equitably and Affordably
BOSTON — Building on its ambitious commitment to
achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Commonwealth by 2050,
the Baker-Polito Administration today released two reports - the Massachusetts
2050 Decarbonization Roadmap Report and an interim 2030
Clean Energy and Climate Plan (CECP) – that detail policies and
strategies to equitably and cost-effectively reduce emissions and combat
climate change. To maximize the Commonwealth’s ability to meet its 2050 target,
Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides set an interim
2030 statewide emissions limit
of 45% below 1990 levels.
“The people of
Massachusetts are experiencing record droughts, increased risk of wildfire,
severe weather, and flooding in our coastal communities. The costly
impacts of climate change are on display in the Commonwealth, making it
critical that we take action,” said
Governor Charlie Baker. “I was proud to commit the Commonwealth to achieving Net
Zero emissions, and the reports released today move the Commonwealth toward
that goal equitably and affordably.”
“The release of the 2050 Roadmap and Clean Energy and
Climate Plan for 2030 marks an important step forward in the Commonwealth’s
strategy to reduce emissions and take meaningful action against climate
change,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito. “Our ambitious Net Zero
target offers us a great opportunity to build a healthier, more resilient
Commonwealth, delivering significant benefits to our communities including
clean, reliable energy, improved air quality, and new pathways for job creation
and economic growth.”
The first-in-the-nation
2050 Roadmap outlines eight potential pathways to Net Zero emissions, including
an analysis of potential energy resources, projected energy demand, and the
energy supply necessary to meet the demand in all sectors of the economy while
meeting the 2050 emissions limit established by the Commonwealth in April 2020.
The Roadmap includes a summary report and six technical appendices, each
detailing analysis and conclusions for specific sectors: Energy Supply;
Transportation; Buildings; Land Use; Non-energy; and Economic and Health
Impacts.
The 2050 Roadmap finds
that, with careful attention to the strategies it selects, the Commonwealth can
achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050 affordably while maintaining a thriving
economy. Based on its analysis of a range of potential pathways, the Roadmap
finds that the most cost-effective, low-risk pathways to Net Zero share core
elements, including a balanced clean energy portfolio anchored by a significant
offshore wind resource, more interstate transmission, widespread
electrification of transportation and building heat, and reducing costs by
taking action at the point of replacement for energy infrastructure.
The Roadmap also finds that
achieving Net Zero emissions will deliver significant benefits to residents
across the Commonwealth, including a precipitous drop in air pollution,
particularly in environmental justice communities currently overburdened with
poor air quality; savings in health costs of up to $100 million per year by
2030; and the creation of thousands of high-quality local jobs.
“We know that achieving Net
Zero emissions by 2050 will require hard work and collaboration across all
sectors of the economy in the Commonwealth,” said Energy and Environmental
Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides. “The 2050 Roadmap establishes a
blueprint that will help us achieve our climate goals in a way that is
cost-effective and delivers significant benefits to residents across the
Commonwealth, especially those in our most vulnerable communities. The steps the
Commonwealth takes in the next decade will help to advance the decarbonization
of our buildings, transportation, and electricity sectors, and be central to
meeting our 2030 emissions limit.”
The 2030 CECP will help the
Commonwealth meet its 2030 emissions limit of 45% below 1990 levels, which will
require a reduction in statewide emissions about 19 million metric tons below
current levels.
In the electricity sector,
the plan finds that the Administration’s landmark, nation-leading clean energy
and clean transmission procurements including offshore wind, hydropower, and
the SMART solar program will be essential to achieving the 2030 limit, while
the Commonwealth will work to add an additional 2,000 Megawatts of clean
energy.
The transportation sector
highlights a renewed focus on the deployment of electric vehicles with new,
nation-leading state and regional programs including the Transportation and
Climate Initiative Program. Building on that progress, Massachusetts will join
California in requiring that by 2035, 100% of new light-duty vehicles sold in
the Commonwealth are zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) support the continued
build-out of statewide charging infrastructure, including additional consumer
incentives for residential EV charging systems.
To decarbonize the
Commonwealth’s buildings sector, the report highlights the development of
energy efficient solutions for homes and businesses. In order to better align Mass Save® with the state’s GHG emissions
reduction targets, DOER will work with the Commonwealth’s Energy
Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC) and Mass Save® program administrators to
ensure that incentives for fossil-fuel heating systems are limited during the
program’s next 3-year cycle (2022-24) and all available program resources are
directed to clean heating systems no later than the end of 2024. Additionally,
Mass Save® will develop increased air source and ground source heat pump
incentives, as well as consumer education resources. The Commonwealth will also
develop a proposal for a new high-efficiency energy code for new residential
and commercial buildings as an option for Massachusetts’ Green Communities, and
a new Governor’s Commission and Task Force on Clean Heat.
The 2030 CECP is being
released for public comment, and the Administration is seeking feedback from
stakeholders and members of the public. Public comments on the plan will be
accepted through February 2021, and the Administration plans to publish a finalized
2030 CECP in March 2021.
The first CECP, published in 2010, detailed the
Commonwealth’s plan for achieving its initial interim 2020 emissions limit - a
25% reduction below 1990 levels. In October 2020, the Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Protection updated its Greenhouse
Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory, showing that in 2018, emissions in
Massachusetts were 22.2% below emissions in 1990, putting the Commonwealth on
track to achieve its 2020 emission reduction limit.
The Baker-Polito
Administration is committed to ensuring the transition to a new low-carbon
economy helps to close the health and economic disparities experienced in
Environmental Justice communities. Participation by residents of Environmental
Justice communities in both the decision-making process and the implementation
of emissions reduction programs is both beneficial and necessary to meet the
2030 and 2050 emissions limits, while fulfilling the commitments of EEA’s Environmental
Justice Policy.
“This roadmap provides
comprehensive, flexible and realistic strategies for achieving climate goals,” said
Robert Rio, Senior Vice President & Counsel of the Associated Industries of
Massachusetts. “We look forward to working with the administration to
achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.”
“We congratulate the
Administration on a rigorous, clear-eyed analysis of the pathways to a net-zero
economy by 2050. The report makes it plain that with smart policy and
good planning, we can unlock tremendous potential benefits for climate, economy
and human health,” said Elizabeth Henry, President of the Environmental
League of Massachusetts. “ELM is pleased that responsibly-developed
offshore wind is rightfully centered as a critical, low-cost workhorse in this
clean energy transition. We also appreciate needed attention to the
building sector and the complex but necessary drawdown of natural gas.”
“In 2010, Massachusetts led
the nation with the most ambitious legally binding greenhouse gas reduction
target (25% below 1990 levels by 2020). Today Massachusetts again leads
with a proposed 45% reduction by 2030, which is at the top of all states, and
many countries, in its level of ambition,” said Ken Kimmell, former
Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and
President of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “I look forward to
seeing more details on the plan of how we reach that target, but the overall
focus of running both the transportation and heating sectors on clean
electricity from renewable resources is the right approach, and will yield
significant public health benefits, particularly for our most vulnerable
populations, and job growth in this fast growing clean energy sector.”
In April 2020, the Baker-Polito Administration officially
established Net Zero GHG emissions as the Commonwealth’s new legal
emissions limit for 2050.
In October 2020, in order to
meet its emissions goals, the Commonwealth joined
with its neighboring states to call upon the regional electrical grid
operator to build a more transparent, modern, and cost-effective power system.
The statement calls for reform of the regional electricity market design,
transmission planning process, and the governance of ISO-New England, the
independent system operator for the New England power system.
This announcement builds on the Baker-Polito
Administration’s leadership on climate change. Last week, Governor Charlie Baker joined Connecticut Governor Ned
Lamont, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel
Bowser in launching
a groundbreaking multi-state program that will reduce motor vehicle
pollution by at least 26 percent and generate over $1.8 billion in
Massachusetts by 2032. The bipartisan Transportation and Climate Initiative
Program (TCI-P) will allow participating jurisdictions to invest in equitable,
cleaner transportation options, and create significant new employment
opportunities while substantially improving public health across the
Commonwealth and New England.
Massachusetts continues to
lead the nation in climate action, including through the first-in-nation Clean
Peak Standard, the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program,
participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), clean energy
procurements, nation-leading energy efficiency programs, electric vehicle and
charging infrastructure incentive programs, and its Clean Energy Standard
(CES).
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