Cambridge Green New Deal Passes!

On Monday, June 26th, the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council passed the final piece of the Green New Deal for Cambridge — an ambitious set of policies dedicated to reducing emissions in an effort to curb climate change.

“It’s been a couple years in the making… at least,” Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan reflected following the policy’s final adoption. Zondervan was the driving force behind Cambridge's progressive policy package to address the climate crisis while creating jobs for economically disadvantaged residents. Immigrating from Suriname as a teenager and later graduating from MIT with a master’s in computer science, Zondervan previously served as President and Board Chair of Green Cambridge, co-founded the Climate Action Business Association in Boston (now ClimateXChange), and co-authored the City’s Net Zero Action Plan. He was first elected to the Cambridge City Council in 2017 and reelected in 2019 and 2021.

Both Zondervan and the City of Cambridge have a long history of activism on social and environmental issues, and emission reductions is no exception. The city adopted a series of plans over the past decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It made headlines in 2015 with the Net Zero Action Plan, and then again in 2018 with the Cambridge Climate Action Plan, which committed to carbon neutrality by the year 2050. These declarations of climate action, however, seem largely aspirational in comparison to the Cambridge Green New Deal — a concrete set of policies requiring major changes by some of the most powerful economic interests in New England, entities such as Harvard, MIT, and Biogen.

Inspired by the Sunrise Movement and the federal Green New Deal introduced by representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ed Markey (D-M.A.), the Cambridge Green New Deal aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by the city’s built environment while reducing social inequity.

Elements of the Cambridge Green New Deal long preceded the federal level initiatives. “It goes back to at least 2013, when myself and Mike Connolly filed a zoning petition that would require new buildings to be net zero, because even back in 2013 we understood that most of the emissions in Cambridge were from buildings,” describes Councillor Zondervan, “and yet we were rebuffed and told it was impossible.” That original petition did, however, create the Net Zero Task Force, whose first recommendation to the City Council was to adopt the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance, or BEUDO, which they did in 2014. BEUDO stipulated that if emission reductions were not observed in buildings by 2018, the ordinance would be looked at again to determine if requiring emission reductions was needed. “So when, unsurprisingly, the data did not show emission reductions… the city staff began having conversations with building owners about how to require emission reductions” Zondervan continues. This language paved the way for the multi-part Cambridge Green New Deal in 2021.

The package consists of three policy changes. The first, the Emissions Accounting Zoning Amendment, requires proper accounting and disclosure of emissions generated from any and all new commercial buildings in Cambridge. It takes into account “a whole building life cycle analysis” of the estimated emissions generated by the construction activities and building materials used in new commercial developments.

The second component of the Green New Deal for Cambridge is the Green Jobs Ordinance, which provides job training support for eligible Cambridge residents in any sector that advances sustainability or climate action. The policy takes inspiration from PowerCorps Boston, which launched in July of 2022, offering career readiness training in green jobs for young adults from marginalized communities. Cambridge’s adaptation will ensure that training and support is free of cost for low income residents, not limited to young adults, and accessible to a diverse community.

“The key to making the Green New Deal work is that it's really trying to address two pieces — addressing the climate crisis of course — and then also addressing the economic injustice in our economy that is disenfranchising people, particularly people of color and low income community members who don’t have access to a lot of the economic opportunities,” describes Councilor Zondervan. The City Council unanimously adopted the Green Jobs Ordinance on March 20th of this year, with plans to review and assess its effectiveness every year.

The third and final policy piece of the Green New Deal for Cambridge — which passed last month — is a requirement that both new and existing buildings reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. Inspired by Boston’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), which requires all buildings to achieve net zero by 2050, the Cambridge Building Energy Use Disclosure and Emissions Reductions Ordinance (BEUDERO) goes a step further. Cambridge’s BEUDERO requires all large commercial buildings greater than 100,000 square feet to reduce their emissions to zero by 2035; smaller commercial buildings, 25,000 to 100,000 square feet, have until 2050.

“The hope is these policies work in tandem, so as the buildings are required to reduce their emissions, that stimulates green jobs creation. As our residents are trained to participate in that economy, they are able to take advantage of those opportunities” says Councilor Zondervan.

Buildings that do not meet the requirements set by BEUDERO can pay a fee of “Alternative Compliance Payments” to the City to remain compliant. The fee is set at $234 per metric ton of greenhouse gas emitted — comparable to similar compliance fees set in Boston and New York City. “80% of our emissions are from buildings, and most of those emissions are from commercial buildings, and most of those emissions are from laboratories,” describes Councilor Zondervan, “the Green New Deal says that those emissions need to be reduced, but while they continue to happen, we should receive financial compensation for them. Then we can use those funds to create Green Jobs Training programs, and prepare for actually removing those emissions.”

Passing the amendments to BEUDO — turning it into BEUDERO — was a multi-year effort led by Councilors Zondervan, Patricia Nolan, Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, and dozens of engaged residents. After final negotiations and amendments, the Council and Mayor adopted BEUDERO by a vote of 8-0 at 9:15pm on June 26th.

“This happened because students, parents, workers, renters, economic justice advocates, climate advocates, and others came together and organized for it. We came out time and time again to make our voices heard, and we are so happy that we now have concrete policy in place to make our community more affordable and more sustainable,” said Sanjana Paul, a lead organizer of the Cambridge Green New Deal coalition and a climate researcher at MIT. Sanjana Paul was joined by members of the Cambridge community in public forums and rallies time and time again over the past year, advocating for adoption of these policies.

It wasn’t just local climate groups that got involved in the effort. Run On Climate, a national organization that is devoted to municipal level climate action, supported Councilor Zondervan and advocates in their efforts to pass the ordinance changes.

“What Cambridge just passed is the strongest policy of any city in the U.S. for requiring existing buildings to move off of fossil fuels to clean energy. This policy will serve as a model and will accelerate bold action in communities across the country. It will also demonstrate to state and federal lawmakers that a Green New Deal framework can work — both for our economy and our climate” said Jack Hanson, a former City Councilor in Burlington, Vermont and the Executive Director of Run On Climate.

With this final piece of the Green New Deal passed, the focus will now shift from policy adoption to implementation on the ground. As these policies and programs roll out, the City — and climate organizations and activists across the country — will be watching to determine the effectiveness of its actions.

“It’s a big deal because it’s really the first time that we’ve taken steps to require reductions in our overall emissions as a city,” reiterates Councillor Zondervan. “But it’s really just the beginning of the journey. We need to do so, so much more to ensure a liveable future for our children.”