The Boston Climate Action Network is thrilled to celebrate another step forward in our ongoing efforts toward green, healthy, and affordable homes. Affordable housing building owners can now apply for up to $10,000 grants supporting deep energy retrofits and decarbonization… Continue reading →

Last week, the Boston Climate Action Network held a series of focus groups to gather input from community members across the city to inform regulations on carbon emissions from buildings, as a part of our work on the Building Emissions… Continue reading →

The City of Boston has taken a significant step towards reducing its carbon footprint by opting-in to the stretch code. This decision was made after the Boston City Council voted in favor of adopting the new climate-friendly state building code,… Continue reading →

On March 3, 2023, Boston Common was the site of a powerful demonstration in support of action on climate change. Thousands of activists from across the city and beyond joined together to make their voices heard on this pressing issue.… Continue reading →

Written by Stefan Geller Over 100 climate activists gathered in front of the State House on Friday to take part in the “People, Not Profit” climate strike with Fridays For Future Massachusetts, demanding Gov. Charlie Baker and the Boston City… Continue reading →

March 23, 2022 Activists of Boston and beyond will come together this Friday to demand urgent action needed to combat the intersecting crises of racism, economic and energy injustice, housing, and climate change. The strike will be on March 25,… Continue reading →

Written by Loie Hayes In honor of Black History Month, BCAN wants to share a posthumous tribute to one of Boston’s most active Black climate organizers in the early 2000s: Owen Toney. Owen was an organizer with the local chapter… Continue reading →

Written by Paula Georges From the 1970s until her death in 2011, Hazel Johnson empowered residents to seek redress from the pollutants that threatened their health. From the South Side of Chicago, she fought for clean air and water for… Continue reading →

Written by Paula Georges Boston’s large buildings, including office, commercial and residential buildings, account for over half of the city’s carbon footprint. To reduce pollutants from Boston’s dirtiest buildings and meet Boston emissions reduction goals, the City has drafted an… Continue reading →

Written by Paula Georges In January 2021, a group of researchers at the Institute for Environment and Society at Brown University, led by Professor J. Timmons Roberts, published a report, Who’s Delaying Climate Change in Massachusetts? The report documents how… Continue reading →

Written by Paula Georges Three recent opinion pieces published on the Boston Globe’s opinion page on Monday, May 31, 2021, suggest three ways to address the impact of climate change on Boston and the other communities along Massachusetts’ vulnerable coastline… Continue reading →

Written by Loie Hayes This old adage – you can’t manage what you don’t measure – goes to the heart of why BCAN fought for the first version of Boston’s Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) back in 2013.… Continue reading →

Written by Paula Georges The Boston Globe reports that as sea levels rise and storms become more powerful, the risk of flooding in the City is increasing, bringing with it potentially devastating financial impacts.  Citing a recent study from the… Continue reading →

As the City of Boston rolls out Community Choice Electricity (CCE), we hear or read occasional criticism of the program’s “opt-out” nature. To some, switching customers into the program unless they object feels like overreach, and non-transparent. We firmly disagree… Continue reading →

You know the facts of climate change. You want to “fight like hell for the living,” as Mother Jones has told us. Boston Climate Action Network is leading the effort for city-level urgent and ambitious action on climate. Here are… Continue reading →

BCAN continues to document the increasing frequency of flooding in Boston due to sea level rise. This is especially noticeable at “king tide” events, the next of which is upcoming on Sunday November 15th. And this is only just the… Continue reading →

BCAN’s campaign efforts usually do not include electoral issues and government appointments. However, the uncertainty of the presidential election warrants BCAN to use its influence to encourage a fair and democratic outcome.  On October 30, 2020, BCAN submitted the following letter… Continue reading →

On Saturday 10/17, members of BCAN joined forces for the King Tide Rising Seas Rally. King Tides are especially high tides that occur during new or full moons, and pose an added danger to coastal cities such as Boston when… Continue reading →

Watch our new video on greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of the Coronavirus shutdown!

On Earth Day 2020, we launched a petition drive as part of our “Green Buildings, Not Greenhouse Gases” campaign. The petition is aimed at accelerating the pace of energy retrofits of large, existing buildings citywide. Because the current applicable city… Continue reading →

Researchers at Harvard University have found a link between long-term exposure to air pollution and death from COVID-19. According to The Boston Globe, these experts compared different neighborhoods in the United States and found that those with higher concentrations of… Continue reading →

An overflow crowd of climate activists, City officials, and others filled the Boston office of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) on Tuesday, August 20, for a public hearing on the City of Boston’s municipal aggregation plan. The hearing… Continue reading →

BostonCAN recently announced its new campaign to promote deep energy retrofits of Boston’s existing buildings. What do these retrofits entail, and what are the challenges associated with them? On May 9, we hosted “A Discussion of Deep Energy Retrofits” in… Continue reading →

As the City of Boston works to implement Community Choice Energy, BCAN has been striving to define our next campaign. On Saturday, January 26, we held a productive retreat to determine how best to support and push Boston to achieve… Continue reading →

Thanks to guest blogger Andrea Nyamekye, of Neighbor to Neighbor, for co-authoring this post. The Massachusetts legislature just concluded its 2-year law-making cycle. While it did succeed in making some progress on climate change policy, the state legislature severely missed the… Continue reading →

The City of Boston is considering a proposal to require all new buildings to produce as much energy as they consume. With thick insulation, controlled ventilation, and solar panels, these types of buildings are called “Net Zero” since they have… Continue reading →

The City of Boston has committed to become a carbon neutral city in a little over 30 years.  Getting there will require changes large and small across many sectors of the city.  Where to begin?  The City, Green Ribbon Commission… Continue reading →

Low- and moderate-income people make up 40 percent of the country’s population, but account for less than 5 percent of all solar customers. And “An equitable and complete transition to renewable energy cannot occur without the full participation of low-… Continue reading →

Bostonians want Community Choice Energy – a sensible energy policy approach toward aggressively combating climate change. There is a City Council Hearing on October 3rd at 2pm at City Hall to discuss Community Choice Energy. We need to pack the… Continue reading →