Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA does not have broad authority to regulate emissions from power plants. While the Supreme Court works to set our country back, our Commonwealth is moving forward.
Today I’m writing to share some news on the Commonwealth’s updated Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2025 and 2030, which just came out yesterday. These 5-year plans track the state’s progress in reducing carbon emissions, as well as outline the state’s plan for reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
An amendment I filed to the Next Generation Climate Act, which passed into law last year, requires the state to track carbon sequestration from natural and working lands in these 5-year plans. Seeing the implementation of that amendment when reading through the updated Clean Energy and Climate Plan this morning was very moving. (Screenshots below.) I’ve highlighted that this was the first time the state is accounting for carbon sequestration from natural and working lands.
Earlier this week, the state also released a draft of a new net-zero energy building code, also the result of legislation my team and I filed.
Both our sequestration efforts and our net-zero efforts have been inspired, informed, and propelled by folks like you. Thank you for your stellar advocacy.
We are continuing to advocate with the conference committee that is currently negotiating another clean energy and climate bill – more about that bill here. The Senate version of the bill includes:
- A bill I filed to address the Single Parcel Rule which would make solar more accessible to non-homeowners
- An amendment I secured to incentivize pollinator-friendly solar installations
- An amendment I secured, based off a bill I filed, to assess the energy efficiency and environmental health of our K-12 school buildings and to develop green and healthy schools standards
- An amendment I secured to ensure the state’s next solar incentive program improves upon the current SMART solar program (I say it’s the even smarter SMART), by aligning with climate roadmapping and emissions reduction goals, giving priority to solar projects on the built environment, supporting towns in grappling with solar expansion and local land use regulations, and avoiding and minimizing negative impacts on natural and working lands
- An amendment I filed to help the successful Green Communities program keep pace with inflation
And the House version of the bill includes important provisions to modernize our electricity grid, based on a bill I filed with Rep. Natalie Blais and the Acadia Center.
I wanted to share these updates and I welcome your feedback on the updated Clean Energy and Climate Plan and other climate policy. I know that we are in a climate emergency and I am working with the urgency that this moment, and our planet, demand. You and I both know we have no time to waste.
