CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (January 24, 2020)—The Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee introduced yesterday a comprehensive climate legislation package that would commit Massachusetts to require net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This science-based threshold would update the existing target of 80 percent emission reductions by midcentury, established in the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA).
The legislation establishes much-needed interim targets that ensure steady progress in meeting the GWSA targets and the climate commitment outlined by Governor Baker and would make clean electricity a cornerstone of Massachusetts’s climate-ready future, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Below is a statement by Paula García, bilingual energy analyst at UCS.
“The Massachusetts Legislature is sending an important signal that there is much more that the Commonwealth can and should do now to address the climate crisis while strengthening our power grid, our state infrastructure and our communities.
“I am pleased to see the bill takes efforts to reduce air pollution in disadvantaged communities who are often burdened with the highest exposure to emissions and other pollutants. The bill would also establish necessary, over-due support for deploying solar power in lower income neighborhoods and seeks to electrify public buses by 2040, among other objectives.
“Decisionmakers should continue working together to pass comprehensive, equitable climate policies for Massachusetts before the end of the legislative session. For instance, Senate Bill 2477 and House Bill 3997 are powerful, complementary and necessary policies that together would create stricter emission standards and bolster our resilience to climate change.
“Massachusetts has been a long-time leader on climate solutions, yet there are still many strides to be made to reduce carbon emissions from the transportation, electricity and industrial sectors. This bill makes it clear that Massachusetts decisionmakers are recognizing the threat of inaction and the necessity of working in unity, and the Legislature should work to pass it into law.”