Massachusetts state climate chief lays out plan for big reforms, including changes to Mass Save

In a sweeping report issued on Wednesday, Melissa Hoffer, the state’s climate chief, presented a blueprint to move the state from planning to action. Her recommendations call for changes across state government, including reforming Mass Save, the state’s program to make homes and businesses more energy efficient.

The 87-page report includes 39 recommendations to meet the state’s ambitious targets laid out in its 2021 climate law, which calls for halving emissions below 1990 levels by the end of the decade and reaching net-zero emissions, contributing no additional planet-warming pollution to the atmosphere, by 2050.

Proposals include developing a plan with Massport to reduce the availability of certain short-hop flights, such as from Boston to New York, when rail options are available — an idea that will surely be a tough sell to airlines in a highly competitive market.

“I believe this is the most direct call we have seen from this administration that our current framework is falling short and that extensive reforms to the Commonwealth’s primary decarbonization engine are needed,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for the clean energy advocacy group Acadia Center.

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.