Mayor Michelle Wu is pushing for Massachusetts to include Boston in a pilot program allowing a small number of cities and towns to limit or ban fossil fuels in new construction projects.
Wu announced a plan Tuesday that would create fossil fuel-free standards for any new developments and major renovations. Wu said she is submitting a home rule petition to the state.
Gov. Charlie Baker signed a clean energy bill last week — despite its inclusion of a policy he said caused him stress — allowing 10 municipalities to restrict or prohibit use of fossil fuels in new projects.
"That part of the bill gives me agita," Baker said last Tuesday.
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In Boston's immediate vicinity, the communities of Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge and Newton are included in the pilot program, according to The State House News Service. The other municipalities affected are Acton, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, and the Martha's Vineyard towns of Aquinnah and West Tisbury.
"Boston must lead by taking every possible step for climate action," Wu said in a statement Tuesday. "We are eager to carry out the intent of this state legislation and maximize its benefit by including the Commonwealth's largest city — Boston's participation will help deliver healthy, energy efficient spaces that save our residents and businesses on utilities costs and create local green jobs that will fuel our economy for decades."
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"The climate crisis requires us to abandon the fossil fuels that are choking the planet and polluting our communities," Mariama White-Hammond, chief of Boston's Office of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, said in a statement. "It is essential that the fossil-free standards center the needs of environmental justice communities and impacted workers. The Environment Department looks forward to the launch of this community process to create a just transition to an economically thriving, equitable, and Green New Deal Boston."
In the announcement, the mayor's office said Boston would "launch a community and stakeholder engagement process to define fossil fuel-free building standards, determine applicability, and set the multi-year timeline for phasing out fossil fuels."
The city said it hopes to join New York, Seattle and Washington as environmental leaders in North America. In December, New York City banned new construction from using natural gas.
NBC10 Boston has reached out to the governor's office, but did not immediately hear back.
Information from State House News Service was used in this report
