I read that Wallace Broeker, “the grandfather of climate science”, died on February 18th at the age of 87. He coined the phrase “global warming” in 1975 and warned us then of its dangerous implications. The IPCC report published last fall is a belated official wake up call for world governments to consider the gravity of the climate situation predicted by Broeker 43 years ago. I also read that Alexandria Villasenor, a 7th grade student in New York City, has taken up the international youth call by protesting climate inaction in front of the United Nations headquarters. Teenagers around the world are rising up in anger at the absence of adult alarm about climate change. They are resolved to take over where adults have feared to tread. Got urgency yet?
Boston is one of a growing number of cities that are responding to the undeniable evidence of climate change in the form of Boston Harbor flooding streets, houses, and T stops; increased incidence of asthma; ferocious storms and baking temperatures. On January 29th the City of Boston Green Ribbon Commission and BU Institute for Sustainable Energy issued the Carbon-Free Boston report. It’s a carefully researched and quite technical picture of Boston’s current GHG emissions and a roadmap of implementation strategies for the City to fight global warming by achieving close to 100% reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050. The City has presented this technical report to serve as an advance component of the Greenovate Boston 2019 Climate Action Plan Update, due to be published later this year. (You may want to take a look at the 2014 Climate Action Plan for more in-depth information on the impact of climate change on people and neighborhoods of Boston and on the necessary preparations for responding to these impacts equitably.)
I’m writing this blog post to give a summary of the 120-page Carbon-Free Boston report as an encouragement to any who haven’t read it to give it a look. It’s not as long as 120 pages would suggest; It’s readable, thorough, and gives us practical goals that we can all work toward as well as outcomes along the way to measure our progress. Hopefully the teenagers of the city will read it and alert us that whatever we do to mitigate climate change, it needs to happen way more quickly and with far greater urgency than the report proposes (see Bill McKibben, “A World at War”).
The basic message of the Carbon-Free Boston Report is of course that the consumption of fossil fuel needs to be eliminated. The path to this is mainly through electrification of the building and transportation sectors of the city. All private and public vehicles as well as all building and home heating systems need to be powered solely by electricity. To achieve carbon neutrality through electrification, the sources of the city’s energy supply must become 100% renewable: sun, wind, hydro and bio-fuel.
Our assessment points to the fact that full implementation of the strategies will not just reduce GHG emissions—they will also further other economic, social and environmental goals of Boston. Increased public transit, walking, and biking improve public health, reduce congestion, improve public safety and strengthen social connectivity. Energy efficient buildings save people money, improve indoor air quality, and increase the value of buildings. Waste reduction, recycling and reuse create jobs and reduce pollution and resource depletion. Most strategies will require new investment that when summed together will create an enormous economic opportunity for Boston over the next few decades. The attainment of carbon neutrality requires strong, long-term term commitment and leadership from City Hall that will support action and coordination across all city agencies. Action needs to be bold and it needs to start immediately across multiple fronts: the decarbonization of all municipal activity, the reduction of waste sent to combustion, the construction of new bike lanes and sidewalks, demand management and pricing strategies to significantly reduce vehicle traffic, new performance standards for all buildings, and the procurement of GHG-free electricity. An essential element of early action includes active, intentional engagement with the private sector, which owns and operates the vast majority of buildings and vehicles. It also necessitates engagement with state decisionmakers. (p. 108)Even though we need to take action far more quickly than the report suggests, it at least gives us a platform to stop wringing our hands and start acting (now!) on strategic initiatives that reduce our carbon footprint. Who knows, maybe as we become more involved we’ll begin to act with more appropriately urgent intention. It most definitely requires a collective effort: the city government needs to lead us (businesses, residents, commuters), and we need to push the city government. In the words of the report:
Carbon neutrality… requires an electricity grid that is powered by renewable sources of energy and a large-scale reduction in the use of oil and natural gas for transportation, space heating, and hot water. It requires immediate and dramatic efforts to make buildings more energy efficient. It entails replacing travel in personal vehicles with greater use of public transportation, cycling and walking, while eliminating the use of internal combustion engines for remaining vehicles. And it necessitates sending zero-waste to landfills and incinerators. These necessary achievements will require innovation and transformation in our city’s core systems. And we will need to make these changes in a way that is cost effective, that equitably distributes benefits and burdens, and that does not unduly disrupt ongoing operations. (p. 3)The bold and italic emphasis is mine. We may have different ideas about cost effectiveness and disruption (pay now/pay later?; disrupt now/disrupted later?) but the report is clear in its attention to benefits and burdens:
Carbon neutrality is not merely about tracking GHG emission to meet a numerical goal; it is a public health, economic, and social equity imperative. Climate change affects everyone. The projected impacts of climate change are intrinsically linked to health and economic outcomes, and they will likely fall disproportionately on the City’s most-vulnerable populations. The strategies to reduce GHG emissions (“decarbonize”) offers opportunities to address historic disadvantages and create positive outcomes for all. (p. 10)A bit later in the report, the authors are more specific about issues of social equity as it relates to health and climate mitigation strategies:
We define "socially vulnerable populations" as those communities that are more likely to suffer disproportionately because of their existing social circumstances, such as those associated with age, gender, race, medical illness, disability, literacy, and English proficiency. All neighborhoods contain some residents from each of these groups; Figure 8 shows the distribution of socially vulnerable populations in Boston. (p.22)The report includes an “Equity Scorecard” for its proposed initiatives (retrofit and electrify existing buildings; invest and improve public transit;…), a good indication of its balanced approach. The scoring categories and questions:
Positive health outcomes from better air quality and thermal comfort are consistently strongest among vulnerable groups, including children, the elderly, and those with pre- existing Illnesses. (p. 45)
Is it Green?
- is it GHG-free?
- is it environmentally sustainable?
- does it promote smart behavior?
Is it Fair?
- is it accessible?
- is it affordable?
- are workforce opportunities just?
Who Gets to Decide?
- is it inclusive?
- are values considered?
- is it measurable?
The report identifies three overarching strategies and four major sectors in Boston’s carbon-free goals:
Strategies (p. 17)
- Improve the energy efficiency of all activities
- Electrify activities to the fullest extent feasible
- Purchase 100 percent GHG-free electricity and sustainably sourced fuels
- Buildings - energy conservation, electrification
- Transportation - electric cars, ride sharing, electrify public fleet (MBTA, City)
- Energy Source - GHG-free electrification (solar, wind, etc.)
- Waste - reduce and divert organics, glass, plastics, etc. from combustion to other processes; emissions from wastewater treatment Deer Island
My takeaway is that we should pay close attention to the Carbon-Free Boston report and companion climate-related documents produced by the City such as the Climate Action Plan Update. Along with an impressive collection of statistics, graphs, and projections, the Carbon-Free Boston report may give you the sense that in all of the climate madness and myopia, there may just be a method for all of us in Boston to rise to the occasion.
At the individual and collective level, the report gives a roadmap for addressing climate change in ways that can equitably lift and provide justice and health to everyone who calls Boston home. Maybe in your reading you’ll find an area that piques your interest. Want to
- choose a 100% renewable source for your home?
- find out about deep retrofitting your house
- learn about proposals for free public transit?
- know about carbon-free initiatives in the neighborhood?
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