Massachusetts

33% by 2025 | 50% by 2030 | 75% by 2040 | net-zero and at least 85% by 2050

Relative to 1990 levels

2025 and 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan

2050 Clean Energy and Climate Plan

The 1990-2022 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory was published in March 2023.

Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience

Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) Implementation Advisory Committee

The Massachusetts Constitution states:

"The people shall have the right to clean air and water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic qualities of their environment; and the protection of the people in their right to the conservation, development and utilization of the agricultural, mineral, forest, water, air and other natural resources is hereby declared to be a public purpose.

The general court shall have the power to enact legislation necessary or expedient to protect such rights.

In the furtherance of the foregoing powers, the general court shall have the power to provide for the taking, upon payment of just compensation therefor, or for the acquisition by purchase or otherwise, of lands and easements or such other interests therein as may be deemed necessary to accomplish these purposes.

Lands and easements taken or acquired for such purposes shall not be used for other purposes or otherwise disposed of except by laws enacted by a two thirds vote, taken by yeas and nays, of each branch of the general court.”

"Environmental justice populations" are neighborhoods where the median household income is 65% or less of the statewide median, minorities comprise 40% or more of the population, 25% or more of households lack English proficiency, or minorities comprise 25% of the population and the median household income does not exceed 150%.

Massachusetts EJ Populations

Massachusetts Office of Environmental Justice and Equity

EEA – Environmental Justice Task Force, with staff that serve as EJ points of contact representing each EEA agency and office

EEA – Undersecretary of Environmental Justice & Equity

EEA – Director and Deputy Director of Environmental Justice

DEP – Director of Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice Council

Requires certain facilities seeking air emissions permits in or near communities with EJ populations to conduct a cumulative impact analysis that includes meaningful public involvement of EJ populations. S.2067 requires a cumulative impact analysis for all large renewable and clean energy projects.

The Commission on Fossil Fuel Workforce must submit a report on ways to increase fossil fuel workers' access to employment, training, and workforce opportunities in clean energy industries by December 31, 2025

Office of Energy Transformation within the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

Energy Transformation Advisory Board and the Commission of Fossil Fuel Workforce

Massachusetts Community Climate Bank

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) covers the electricity sector.

The Department of Public Utilities must consider the social cost of carbon when assessing the cost effectiveness of energy efficiency and demand-reduction programs, and when issuing funding for energy efficiency programs.

40% renewable energy by 2030

53% reduction by 2025 | 70% by 2030 | 93% by 2050, relative to 1990 levels

Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2025 and 2030

The Energy Facilities Siting Board oversees siting and permitting processes for large clean energy projects, and must issue or reject a permit within 15 months. For smaller projects, municipalities retain control over the permitting process, but permits must be issued or rejected within 12 months. For both small and large projects, applications will get automatic approval if these deadlines aren’t met.

Massachusetts received a C grade from Freeing the Grid.

The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board must determine whether sufficient consideration was given to the use of advanced transmission technologies (ATTs) when reviewing proposals for transmission infrastructure, and the Department of Public Utilities must study the use, costs and benefits, and impediments to ATT deployment.

Utilities must also conduct analyses related to the deployment of ATTs and grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), and they enabled to propose rate incentives to encourage the deployment of such technologies. Utilities must make a filing with the legislature and grid operator every five years on the deployment of ATTs.

The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled.

The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled.

Massachusetts has an active community choice aggregation program.

The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled.

200 megawatts (MW) of storage capacity by 2020, 1,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) by 2025, and 5,000 MWh by 2030

In 2014, the owner of the last coal plant in Massachusetts, Brayton Point, informed ISO-NE of its decision to retire the plant's four units by June 1, 2017.

The statewide energy code for residential construction is 2021 IECC.

The statewide energy code for commercial building construction is 2021 IECC.

The Stretch Energy Code is 2021 IECC with Massachusetts amendments, and the Specialized Code is a municipal opt-in code that is designed to ensure new construction is consistent with the state's target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The Appliance Efficiency Standards apply to 15 products.

Massachusetts will receive $3M to develop and adopt a building performance standard through the federal Inflation Reduction Act's Support for Building Energy Codes and Innovative Codes.

MassDEP is developing CHS regulations based on the CHS framework released in November 2023.

Electric utilities are required to reduce cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 625,000 metric tons for 2022-2024.

Gas utilities are required to reduce cumulative GHG emissions by 341,000 metric tons for 2022-2024.

Plans for 2025-2027 are under development

Massachusetts has enacted commercial PACE-enabling legislation and has active programs.

The State Policy Opportunity Tracker (SPOT) breaks clean energy policies down into “components”, which are binary questions to evaluate policy quality. Higher quality policies have more of their SPOT components fulfilled.

Gas utilities are allowed to pilot networked geothermal projects, and can sell and distribute non-emitting thermal energy. TENs pilots can be paid for with funds from the state’s pipe replacement program, known as the Gas System Enhancement Plan

Gas utilities are able to provide non-combusting thermal energy to customers instead of natural gas.

Massachusetts LEV Program

Model Year (MY) 2026: 35% of new passenger vehicle sales are ZEVs | MY 2030: 68% of new sales are ZEVs | MY 2035: 100% of new sales are ZEVs, with up to 20% being hybrid or hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The state will delay penalty enforcement against manufacturers that fail to meet ZEV sale requirements for model years 2027 and 2028, unless certain conditions are met.

The Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) Program offers rebates for new and used electric vehicles (EVs): up to $3,500 for new or used battery and fuel cell EVs, and an additional $1,500 rebate for income-qualifying applicants.

The program is funded through 2027.

The Low NOx Omnibus Rule applies to Model Year 2026 onwards.

By 2035: 55% of Class 2b-3 truck sales are zero-emissions | 75% of Class 4-8 straight truck sales are zero-emissions | 40% of Class 7-8 tractor sales are zero-emissions.

The Department of Environmental Protection delayed enforcement of electric truck sales requirements under ACT for Model Years 2025 and 2026.

The Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles (MOR-EV) Program provides rebates of up to $7,500 for new battery or fuel-cell electric pickup trucks and other Class 2b vehicles, with additional rebates for income qualifying drivers. Rebates between $15,000 and $90,000 are offered for medium- and heavy-duty battery electric and fuel cell Class 3-8 vehicles, depending on vehicle class.

5% of the state fleet are ZEVs by 2025 | 20% are ZEVS by 2030 | 75% are ZEVs by 2040 | 100% are ZEVs by 2050

100% of transit bus purchases by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) are zero-emission by 2030 | 100% of MBTA's transit bus fleet are zero-emission by 2040

Requires at least one EV supply equipment (EVSE) charging port in new or fully reconstructed parking areas with up to 25 spaces and two ports in parking areas greater than 25 spaces; also requires at least 20% of parking spaces to be EV Ready in parking areas with 10+ spaces.

18% by 2025 | 34% by 2030 | 86% by 2050

Relative to 1990 levels

Massachusetts is ranked 2nd out of 50 in the 2024 Bicycle Friendly State rankings by the League of American Bicyclists.

The Embodied Carbon Intergovernmental Coordinating Council must prepare an “embodied carbon reduction plan,” including strategies to measure, monitor and reduce embodied carbon, by January 1, 2026.

The state prohibits the use of certain HFCs in refrigeration equipment, air conditioning chillers, aerosol propellants, and foams that are manufactured or used in Massachusetts.

The state sets a maximum annual SF6 leak rate of 1%, and requires owners to maintain their equipment in accordance with industry standards to reduce leakage of SF6.

Natural gas operators must meet annual declining methane emission limits.

Food waste ban – The state requires businesses and institutions that generate more than 0.5 tons of food waste per week to dispose of organic material via composting or anaerobic digestion.

The Massachusetts Healthy Soils Program supports produce and dairy farmers in implementing soil health practices.

The Healthy Soils Farmer Consultant Program provides farmers who are newly adopting healthy soils practices with access to farmers who are experts in specific healthy soils practices, while compensating experienced farmers fairly for their time.