About the City of Boston
Boston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. As a major cultural and financial hub, it plays a central role in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. Boston is renowned for its rich history, being one of the oldest cities in the country and a pivotal location in American history.
Why They Are a 2024 Climate Leader
The City of Boston’s pioneering environmental strategies and strong communication initiatives have elevated it to a position of national prominence in sustainability. With the 2007 Climate Action Executive Order, Boston has risen to its position as a national sustainability leader, advancing efforts in energy efficiency, leveraging green power, and aggressively confronting climate change.
Most recently, the city has undertaken a comprehensive program to improve energy efficiency and resilience upgrades in the City’s buildings. Renew Boston Trust (RBT) launched in 2017 as a city program dedicated to energy assessments and efficiency upgrades for municipal properties. By 2022, it broadened its efforts to include energy evaluations for all City-owned outdoor lighting. This program plays a crucial role in the City’s commitment to carbon neutrality and its Green New Deal Goals. In Phase I, energy-efficient upgrades were installed at 14 municipal buildings resulting in an impressive 15,700 MMBtu per year energy savings. In Phase 2, Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) were installed in dozens of facilities, some of which included retro-commissioning, resulting in savings of over 10,700 MMBtu per year. Phase 3, the most ambitious phase yet, included measures such as building envelope upgrades, building management system initiatives, and upgraded lighting for an estimated savings of over 1,000,000 kWh per year.
The City of Boston’s commitment to improving energy access is evident in the energy savings they have worked to help the Mass Save Sponsors deliver to the City’s vibrant, diverse small business community. Substantial energy savings have translated into real impacts for Boston’s business owners, reducing their operating costs while removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. In 2022, Boston became a Mass Save Community First Partner, a fruitful partnership that has provided invaluable local resources, insight, and guidance as the energy efficiency space transitions from lighting-heavy programs to building electrification and weatherization.
In our joint efforts to deliver energy savings to small businesses equitably, The City of Boston’s approach to language access has also informed our program delivery to customers who speak languages other than English. Through the Boston Green New Deal, the city aspires to ensure that all residents benefit from secure climate resilient neighborhoods in its implementation of ambitious climate policies.
