The Boston Municipal Research Bureau, which provides impartial research and policy analysis for the benefit of the City of Boston, recently hosted a discussion at Goulston & Storrs featuring Brian Swett, recently appointed by Mayor Wu as Boston’s first-ever Chief Climate Officer. 

Chief Swett described the key pillars of Boston’s climate strategy, each implemented through the lens of climate justice— using climate action as an opportunity to address environmental justice communities by disproportionately investing in those communities to rectify persistent past injustices. 

The first pillar, decarbonization, refers to the City’s efforts to eliminate carbon emissions, particularly from buildings, which represent 70% of carbon emissions in the city. 2025 is the first “compliance year” for buildings regulated by the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), which will face fines if they do not meet emission targets. While most remaining carbon emissions come from transportation, Chief Swett also noted that more efficient food waste management could reduce carbon emissions from this surprisingly significant source.

Energy transformation, the second pillar, refers to the massive changes required in Boston’s energy systems from increased electricity use in buildings, decarbonized energy production and a shift in peak electricity usage from summer to winter as more buildings shift to electric heat pumps for heating needs and more vehicles shift to EVs. The state’s recently passed climate bill, An Act Promoting a Clean Energy Grid, Advancing Equity, and Protecting Ratepayers, will streamline the siting process for energy infrastructure projects like substations. Chief Swett meets frequently with Eversource to ensure that the planning process for these projects meets the needs of the communities where they will be sited.

The third pillar, climate resilience, addresses coastal flooding from rising sea levels, inland flooding from heavier rain events, and extreme heat. The City’s responses include increasing tree cover and constructing coastal barriers at key flood portals. The scale of these projects, which Chief Swett compared to the Boston Harbor cleanup that transformed Boston Harbor into one of the cleanest in the country, will require innovative new funding sources. As a start, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission has begun charging parking lots that don’t have water meters for the storm drainage capacity they utilize.

The wide-ranging conversation also addressed why Boston’s national leadership on climate mitigation makes it favorable for bond investments, training the city’s future workforce for the new jobs available in a green economy, and securing federal grants and maintaining a harmonious local political climate in light of the incoming Trump administration.