How can we accelerate progress toward decarbonizing our economy to address climate change and create new economic opportunity? What will that mean for us? How will it affect the way we and our families live? And how do we get there?
Representative Denise Garlick, Vice Chair of the Massachusetts House Ways & Means Committee, invited me to join her and Representative Joan Meschino to answer those questions and discuss Rep. Meschino’s bill, A 2050 Roadmap to a Clean and Thriving Commonwealth (H.3983). Our conversation was recorded for an episode of Rep. Garlick’s new cable TV program, “From Home to Dome” that focuses on energy and the environment.
Decarbonizing the economy is not just about addressing the risks of climate change. Decarbonization is also about opportunity. Decarbonizing will transform our economy – creating new jobs and industries – and improve our health and quality of life. We discuss the importance of addressing both risks and opportunities in this conversation. That’s our starting point for a discussion of Rep. Meschino’s Roadmap bill and how it will accelerate this essential transformation.
The Roadmap takes our current goals under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act up a notch – from an 80% reduction in GHG emissions to net zero emissions by 2050. We discuss the importance of a well-thought out plan – the Roadmap bill requires current and future administrations to craft a detailed plan, with well-defined targets and milestones. It’s essential to ensure that the benefits of this transformation are widely shared throughout the Commonwealth, so we discuss ways to achieve that and what that will mean in our lives.
The Roadmap bill has strong support within the legislature and from a wide range of stakeholders in the Commonwealth. It is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee. Representative Garlick, who is also a co-sponsor of the legislation, is the Vice-Chair of Ways and Means.