At the heart of the bill is the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2050 and the legislation trains the state's attention on the work of getting there.
Among the changes the state plans over the next decade: retrofitting 1 million homes to use electricity for heating instead of gas and oil, cutting commuters’ driving miles by 15 percent, and dramatically increasing offshore wind power generation.
Traffic was very minimal midday on Tuesday, April 7 in Boston. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Massachusetts is already committed to eliminating its net carbon emissions by 2050 but that s a long way off. So as 2020 draws to a close, state officials are proposing an interim goal: to shrink the state s carbon footprint down to at least 45% of its 1990 level in the next decade.
The state s old habits of transportation, home construction and energy generation would have to change some profoundly to meet even that target by 2030.
But officials say it can be done with help from businesses and neighboring states, and without putting too much strain on an economy still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
BOSTON Though only Massachusetts and three of the 13 state and city governments that had been part of discussions around creating a regional effort to staunch vehicle emissions along the East Coast agreed Monday to be part of the program from the get-go, Gov. Charlie Baker said it is a pretty good place to start.
Twelve states and Washington, D.C. began the process more than two years ago of developing a regional cap-and-invest program to reduce carbon pollution from cars and trucks and generate the resources needed to expand clean transit options and improve public health. On Monday, the leaders of four jurisdictions Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. signed on to be the program s initial members.