The largest city in Massachusetts is not on pace to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030, according to Northeastern University researchers, who describe Boston’s goal as “likely out of reach” in a new report.
The Boston Foundation’s Inaugural Boston Climate Progress Report says an “immediate pivot” is needed to get the city back on track and to achieve the goal of making Boston a “carbon-neutral city” by 2050.
Calling for “more systemic changes,” researchers found the city has “only achieved incremental improvement” through a cleaner grid, more energy efficient buildings, oil-to-gas heating system conversions, and improvements in vehicle efficiency.
“A decade of inaction by everyone locked Boston into a pathway that will result in it missing its 2030 goals and places its 2050 net-zero goal at risk,” Michael Walsh, a decarbonization researcher, consultant and one of the report’s authors, said at a webinar Thursday morning.
