Massachusetts positioned for steep global warming gas reductions

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

The finding, environmentalists said, bucks the idea that greenhouse gas reductions are too financially burdensome to do. Since 2007, the administration of Governor Deval Patrick has put in place ambitious energy efficiency programs, renewable energy goals, and smart growth policies among other initiatives. Those recent efforts represent about two-thirds of the expected emission reductions by 2020, state officials said. Federal and pre-existing state efforts comprise much of the rest.

"This analysis shows that, under Governor Patrick, Massachusetts is making great strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles. "It also shows measures that save money and create clean energy jobs, like energy efficiency and renewables, have a big environmental payoff."

Under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, the Commonwealth is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 10 to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. By the end of this year, Bowles will set legally-binding target within that range -- and the report served as an indicator he may set a deeply ambitious one.

The report, produced for the state by Eastern Research Group, Inc. of Lexington, projected that emissions would be relatively flat between 1990 and 2020 without changes in government policies, and could be lower with the stalled economy. But when factoring in policies the Patrick Administration has enacted along with federal efforts and some pre-existing state policies, the report estimated that emissions would drop 18.6 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
  
There are some caveats: Some of the assumptions about greenhouse gas reductions are based on programs not yet in place, although ones the Patrick administration supports, such as bringing a large amount of renewable power from Canada on new transmission lines.

Still, many environmentalists praised the state's efforts, noting it is doing all it can -- even in difficult economic times -- to position the state for steep reductions of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from power plants, cars, and factories contributing to global warming, when the economy rebounds. At the same time, they said, state officials are drawing in more green jobs.

“The report indicates how seriously the administration is taking the emission reduction goals the state is required to achieve,” said Derek Murrow, energy and climate policy director for Environment Northeast, a research and advocacy group. He said improvements to energy efficiency in transportation, buildings, and industry is by far the “biggest contributor” to the overall reductions.
        
Some legislators also praised the findings.
 
"These figures are very encouraging, "said Senator Michael W. Morrissey, chairman of the Telecommunication, Utilities & Energy Committee  in a statement. "It is important that we continue to move towards our shared goals of economic energy efficiency and job-creating alternative and renewable energy development in the Commonwealth."
 
Patrick has put in place an ambitious goal for how much electricity the state has to get from renewable sources such as wind -- 15 percent of by 2020. The governor established a wildly popular program called Commonwealth Solar that provided financial incentives for businesses and homeowners to use solar panels, and a statewide energy efficiency building code. Early on he joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a compact of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to lower global warming emissions from power plants.

Still, there were voices of caution. An official at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, an industry group, said that with the weak economy, businesses could suffer from aggressive efforts to reduce emissions that would drive up their costs.
 
“It’s a serious competition issue," said Andre Mayer, senior vice president for research at AIM. “It doesn’t matter if we are leaders in the country. … if it damages the economy, no one is going to want to follow us.”