Meeting Recap: February 6th Energy & Environment Advisory Committee Meeting
February 18, 2025
Thank you to many of you who were able to join us for our Energy & Environment (E&E) Advisory Committee meeting last Thursday, February 6th. Attached you will find the meeting’s presentation, draft 2025-2026 policy agenda, and 2024 accomplishments. Please send any suggested edits or comments to the draft policy agenda by Tuesday 02/18.
We review and update the E&E policy agenda at the start of every two-year legislative session. The 2025-2026 E&E policy agenda has 4 major goals: 1. Mitigate the Progression of Climate Change & Scale Up Decarbonization of the Built Environment; 2. Adapt to the Effects Of Climate Change & Promote Critical Infrastructure and community Resilience; 3. Promote the Decarbonization, Reliability, And Resilience Of Our Energy Supply; and 4.Support the Development and Expansion of Equitable Climate Funding And Financing Opportunities. The over-arching goals remain the same as the previous policy agenda but the content within each goal has changed.
Below is a summary of some of the comments we received in the meeting:
- Goal 1: Mitigate the Progression of Climate Change & Scale Up Decarbonization of the Built Environment
- Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs): Joint PPAs are a massive undertaking, and it might be difficult to make work with many different owners and agencies at play. A member mentioned that a PPA project they originally thought would be BERDO-compliant was not, as the guidance regarding PPAs was “murky” in practice.
- Climatetech: A potential role for ABC is to serve as a connector between members and climatetech companies, and to help keep members updated on what is happening in Massachusetts. A suggestion was made to have a member event to take the pulse of climatetech and understand how members are already working with climatetech companies.
- Goal 2: Adapt to the Effects Of Climate Change & Promote Critical Infrastructure and Community Resilience
- Focus on changing regulations. There are resilient projects like those proposed by the Wharf District Council’s conceptual plan that cannot currently move forward due to limitations in Chapter 91 and other regulations; there is a disconnect between agencies, regulations, and purviews and expectations of these agencies. It would also be helpful for ABC to advocate for a state Commission on Resilient Permitting, parallel to the Clean Energy Siting and Permitting Commission.
- Goal 3: Promote the Decarbonization, Reliability, And Resilience Of Our Energy Supply
- Energy innovation: It would be helpful to set up forums for knowledge sharing for energy decarbonization that can put members in touch with relevant groups to explore opportunities for hard to decarbonize sectors and building types. It is helpful to consider smart grid technology as well. Most engineers would say that the future of energy use reductions is in controls and heat recovery technologies, which is also an aspect of climatetech. Siemens is doing a great job on research in this area.
- Smart Grid Technology: In 2020, ASHRAE released a smart grid application guide
- Goal 4. Support the Development and Expansion of Equitable Climate Funding And Financing Opportunities
- Convening a Statewide Financing Climate Change Task Force: The Transportation Finance Task Force was so successful; it would be great to replicate this model to look at what it would take to fund and finance climate work in Massachusetts. City of Boston representatives have said we will need $3.5B over 10 years for Boston’s climate work, but that was reliant on federal funding; we need to know the current funding and financing gaps for the state, as well as Boston. Someone needs to look at a comprehensive financing plan for climate.
