Massachusetts Regulations: Conservation

 Greenhouse Gasses

This Act amends the state's Global Warming Solutions Act and directs state agencies to set interim economy-wide greenhouse gas emission limits for certain sectors every five years. It codifies the state's long-term emissions limit of net-zero emissions by 2050 and directs the adoption of 2030 and 2040 emissions limits of at least 50% and 75%, respectively, below 1990 levels. The Act also increases Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements, directs the creation of a municipal opt-in energy building code, addresses environmental justice protections, and directs the procurement of an additional 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind by 2027.

 Increase Public Open Space in the Commonwealth

The Conservation Land Tax Credit is an important tool for creating public open space and expanding access to land that was once privately held. Increasing the annual cap is an enormous opportunity to conserve ecologically and economically valuable lands, as well as to advance our climate change goals.

 Protecting Old Growth Forests

Now is our chance to save what remains of Massachusetts's old growth forests. A bill to protect these ancient woodlands on state lands is on the move in our state legislature. Please contact your state senator and urge her/him to call for a favorable finding on bill S.485 by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

 Slow, Stop, and Reverse the Loss of Natural and Working Lands Carbon

Massachusetts's natural and workings lands (NWL) are currently absorbing more carbon than they emit, and their protection from permanent conversion to non-NWL uses is crucial to the administration's climate strategy. Massachusetts is losing several thousand acres of NWL, particularly forests, each year, threatening the essential role of these lands as a net carbon sink and provider of key ecosystem services.