Today, after more than two years of concerted advocacy and months of negotiation and collaboration between the legislature and the administration, Governor Baker signed the Next Generation Roadmap climate bill into law. This new climate law:
- Creates a 2050 climate roadmap plan,
- Codifies strong environmental justice protections,
- Increases offshore wind resources,
- Enhances appliance energy efficiency standards,
- Improves gas safety provisions and enforcement,
- Provides low-income and business solar initiatives,
- Expands opt-in municipal net-zero stretch code,
- Increases renewable energy mandates, and
- Supports equitable green workforce development. Massachusetts demonstrated to the nation that monumental, bipartisan climate legislation can be enacted. Now, we have a strategic and data-driven roadmap to reduce our emissions at the pace science demands, environmental justice protections for our most overburdened communities, and significant scaling up of our state’s greatest renewable energy resource in offshore wind. This law will set the Commonwealth on a course for a cleaner, more equitable, and more prosperous future. Thank you to the thousands of you who took action, contacting your state legislators and Governor Baker, throughout the course of this significant bill's passage. You were heard and your voice made a difference. We are proud of our policymakers for enacting a law that will improve the environment, public health, and economy of the Commonwealth. We look forward to building on this progress with our agenda for the 2021-2022 legislative session. |
