To meet our state and global climate goals, we must transition away from our reliance on fossil fuels in all sectors.

Currently for the buildings sector, this transition is moving community-by-community, door-by-door, and boiler-by-boiler, with each building type and appliance costly, complex, and deeply personal to retrofit. Without deliberate planning, organization, and support to decarbonize buildings, Massachusetts communities will fail to meet their climate goals or meet them in ways that are profoundly inequitable.

Left to the current trajectory, wealthy communities with the capacity and desire to transition away from fossil fuels will be increasingly future-ready – with gleaming net zero schools and cozy passive house homes – while under-resourced communities will increasingly bear the costs and health burdens of failing, expensive fossil fuel systems.

The BEA serves as a convenor and resource provider to accelerate the electrification and retrofit process in Massachusetts. We create and curate tools for municipalities working on these issues and support municipalities in identifying trusted partners and supporters. Our desired impact from our work is that it leads to an ever-increasing number of building retrofits and all-electric new construction projects across the state, with a particular focus on benefitting low- and moderate-income residents and environmental justice community members.