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Cambridge must do more – not just intend to do more – to address the city’s carbon footprint amid a worsening global climate crisis, a mayoral-appointed working group’s report argues.
Councilor Patrica Nolan chaired the Cambridge Climate Working Group established by Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, and wrote the report released on April 4. Eighteen members convened a half dozen meetings to figure out ways to build on, increase urgency around and offer policy suggestions for the mitigation of Cambridge’s carbon emissions.
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Get moving
The working group credits the city’s efforts, but states the scope and speed of local efforts do not match the pace that addressing the climate crisis demands.
Nolan stated that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report today stating that it was now or never. “The world needs rapid, deep and immediate cuts in carbon emissions for us to have any prayer of making good on the environmental justice on the national security issues, on public health issues, on the livability of the planet. This report is timely.
Cambridge declared a climate emergency a decade ago, and started working to address the city’s carbon footprint 20 years ago. Massachusetts begins to reduce carbon emissions by half by 2035, and reaches net zero by 2050, according to state law.
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“Cambridge, all parts of the city and the community, needs to act as though the climate crisis is the emergency that the city declared a decade ago,” the report reads. Members ask: Why has Cambridge’s progress in curbing its emissions been so slow?
The following is the answer:
- A cultural perspective on climate
- A lack of funding
- Aversion to mandates
- Structural challenges
“We need to change our mindset. We need mandates. Nolan said that money is crucial. “If we put these in place, the city will live up to its reputation.”
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Cambridge must be a leader in climate issues
Dennis Carlone, Councilor, stated that Cambridge should lead on climate change initiatives.
“People ask, “Why should Cambridge be a leader?” We’re more wet than any other city. We have scientists at Harvard and MIT. Carlone stated, “We have their wealth of information.” “We need cities that lead the way to show other cities how it is done.”
Quentin Zondervan, Councilor, stated that the city needs a connector in order to unify climate initiatives within Cambridge.
“We should consider creating an office of sustainability that can really focus on moving us forward in the right direction, because [the city]He said that the organization has done a lot of work in the past decade. “But as this report demonstrates, we are still falling short. We’re still behind. And I think part of the reason is that we don’t have a locus for that activity in our city government.”
The working group formulated more specific actions items, which include:
- Fare-free transit: Help cities expand their pilot program and work with the state for more public transit, including microtransit. Also, improve pedestrian and bike connections to transit. Encourage parking maximums and end parking minimums.
- Transition to an all electric municipal fleet in a short time frame
- Amend Building Emissions Use Disclosure Ordinance along the lines of the city proposal, with stronger elements: Shorten the timeline for net-zero, ensure the highest alternative payment is required, bring outliers’ emissions down faster.
- To ensure safe walking and cycling for citizens, reduce vehicle traffic and improve bike and pedestrian infrastructure
- All city properties use on-site solar power generation.
The report contemplates just how complicated reversing Cambridge’s carbon footprint will be: “The issue is daunting, the challenge great and moving the needle on reducing emissions and changing the trajectory of climate disaster is monumentally difficult.”
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“A key to success over the next few years is to consciously and intentionally address the barriers the city can affect directly: mindset, mandates and money.”
Councilors created the climate report, which can be accessed by going to bit.ly/3JjrB95 – before the City Council’s Health and Environment Committee.
