Massachusetts’ biggest climate wins and losses of 2021
Boston Globe
In 2022, the most important thing to watch is the ground game. The heart of the matter is the shift from high-level goal-setting to ground-level execution. Time to electrify our cars, trucks, and buses; electrify our homes and businesses; and green the grid.
Local leaders returning from UN climate summit say MA needs local action for clean, green
Wicked Local
Barrett, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Energy, was a key sponsor of the Massachusetts Net Zero climate action legislation, signed into law earlier this year.
Reigning in climate change and keeping the anticipated temperature increase at the targeted, agreed upon 1.5 degrees centigrade, depends on local advocacy. Barrett said the greening of the electrical grid, weaning from fossil fuels in the production of electricity, greening of new construction, both residential and commercial and industrial and the transportation sector, is the state’s challenge.
Thoughts on the Glasgow Climate Summit
Our view: Records should be made public
Gloucester Daily Times
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would unseal all public records after 90 years that were kept on individuals with mental or physical disabilities and who lived in places like the Fernald School and other state institutions. Currently those records are sealed under health privacy laws, or heavily redacted if they are released.
Sen. Michael Barrett, who filed the Senate version of the bill, said there is a need to retain some privacy for individuals, “but there also needs to be research and truth telling,” he told the news service.
Safety bills mix with calls for natural gas transition
WBUR
“Advocates and lawmakers repeatedly pointed Tuesday to the climate law that Gov. Charlie Baker signed in March, which commits Massachusetts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and requires interim emissions reduction goals between now and the middle of the century.
“The state’s new climate law also calls for a municipal opt-in net-zero stretch energy code that addresses the use of gas in new buildings, and by next summer the administration is required to set 2025 emissions sublimits for various sectors, including commercial and residential heating and cooling, and natural gas distribution and service.”
Baker pulls support for regional pact that would address climate change
Boston Globe
This is a serious challenge to our climate planning. Plan B needs to be brought along quickly.
Barrett details plans for UN climate change conference in Scotland
Lexington Wicked Local
Sen. Mike Barrett has made it a priority over the years to focus on the effect of climate change on Massachusetts. Now, he is taking to the international stage in an effort to galvanize Bay State residents and outside parties into taking immediate action on climate change and its impacts.
“This is the rubber-hits-the-road moment for international climate change negotiations,” Barrett said. “This nitty gritty, close-up question of execution is a tough one. What we need to do in Glasgow is to come up with some international standards for state and city actions.”
In the void of national climate legislation, locals lead the way
Boston Globe
Barrett attended the 2017 climate summit in Bonn, shortly after President Donald Trump had pulled the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Four years later, the politics and the stance on climate change at the White House have undergone a sea change, but the challenges of passing binding legislation through Congress remain.
“Our current situation is different, and yet in some respects it’s the same,” said Barrett. “What we’re doing in Massachusetts becomes all the more important as the odds go longer around significant national action.”
In Glasgow, hope and hot air mix at conference to address climate change
Boston Globe
In the coming days of the two-week conference, there will be additional visitors from Massachusetts, including Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides; one of the primary authors of the state’s new climate law, Senator Michael Barrett, a Democrat from Lexington; and Boston’s environment chief, the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond.