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Continued inaction on Gov. Charlie Baker’s housing choice bill and bans on natural gas connections are likely to negatively impact housing production in Massachusetts.
Energy Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said Tuesday that the Baker administration is exploring more aggressive carbon reduction targets for Massachusetts, including what it would take to go net-zero by 2050, but would not commit to lawmakers to speeding up the state’s emission reduction goals.
Theoharides testified before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy to update legislators on the administration’s “deep decarbonization analysis” that began this spring. The administration is working to identify the strategies and policies that will be necessary to meet its current requirement of an 80 percent reduction in emissions below 1990 levels by 2050.
“Our feeling is before we commit to any additional targets, we really have to look at where we’re going and how we’re getting there,” Theoharides said after the hearing. “We are looking at this net-zero emissions for 2050 and we will certainly be looking at the levels of ambitions that are required just to meet the 80 percent target.”
The idea of net-zero emission was first laid out by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that identified the goal as necessary worldwide to avoid catastrophic climate change impacts. The Baker administration’s study is expected to be completed by December 2020, and the secretary said that as part of that process the administration will be setting an interim target for emission reductions by 2030.
The review will examine policies to reduce the state’s emissions from a variety of sectors, including transportation, electric, building and land use, she said.
Massachusetts accounts for just 0.1 percent of emissions globally and 2 percent nationwide, Theoharides noted, meaning the state can have more of an impact in modeling policy and advancing new technologies than slowing climate change on its own.
“I would just encourage you, given the leadership goals you have, to be bold,” said Rep. Joan Meschino, a Hull Democrat and member of the committee who asked Theorharides about updating the carbon reduction target.
Sen. Michael Barrett, the co-chair of the committee, said at one point that there are a lot of bills proposing to update carbon emission reduction goals that are “light on actual execution.”
Woodcock told Barrett that the administration shares his belief that the building sector must be a key component in the state’s strategy to reduce carbon.
The building sector was also a major focus during the early part of the hearing when municipal leaders and environmental advocates urged the legislature to update the state’s “stretch” building codes to allow cities and towns to set stricter energy efficiency standards.
“We will be unable to meet our legislated climate goal if we don’t change the way we build our homes and office buildings,” said Carol Oldham, executive director of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network.
Chris Cook, the chief of environment, energy and open space for the city of Boston, and Lexington Select Board member Mark Sandeen said municipalities need the state’s approval to exceed the standards in the existing stretch code.
Sandeen said Lexington is already building two net-zero emission, all-electric schools and has plans to build six net-zero homes for low-income resident.
“We are proving that net-zero homes can be built affordably in Lexington,” he said.
Paul Dale of the Sierra Club said 252 Massachusetts towns have already adopted the stretch code, but can’t go further without the legislature’s intervention.
“The science is clear. We should not be building any more buildings that we need to retrofit later. We are literally out of time,” Dale said.
