Tuesday, December 14, 20201

Chairman Barrett, Chairman Roy, and Members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy:  

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the political director for Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide multi-issue advocacy group focused on fighting for a more equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world must reach net zero emissions by 2050 in order to contain runaway climate change. The Next-Generation Roadmap bill passed earlier this year committed Massachusetts to the goal of net zero by 2050. But here’s the catch: if we are to reach that goal, we must do far more than we are currently doing, and as one of the most affluent states in the most affluent country in the world, we should be setting higher goals than those for the world as a whole.

That is why we urge you to give a favorable report to S.2170/H.3372: An act investing in a prosperous, clean commonwealth by 2030.

The bill is essential both for the higher goals that it sets (net zero by 2030 and 100% renewable electricity by 2030) and for the concrete steps that it proposes to achieve the decarbonization of our energy and transportation systems.

The bill mandates the procurement of new offshore wind and solar capacity, while increasing the accessibility of solar to low-income and environmental justice communities. It requires electric vehicle charging infrastructure for new residential and commercial construction and sets strong goals for the electrification of the MBTA, RTAs, and fleets used for a public purpose. It establishes a mandatory net zero building code for new constructionwhile harmonizing building efficiency standards across the commonwealth, and retrofits all publicly assisted housing by 2030.

The bill centers equity, both in the ways outlined above and in how it protects workers from fossil fuel industries, allowing them to choose to retrain or to collect a pension early while guaranteeing that jobs created as a result of the energy transition are union jobs with wage and benefit parity.

The fact that we just had a humid, 60-degree Saturday in the middle of December while tornadoes wrecked other states shows that the erratic weather patterns that climate change foretells are already here, and they will get worse, with impacts to

agriculture, infrastructure, and human health. Our efforts must match the scale of the problem.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn                                  

Political Director

Progressive Massachusetts