State Senate unanimously passes Natural Climate Solutions amendment—what this means for the Commonwealth | Q&A with Linda Orel, Trustees Director of Policy

Q: The Massachusetts Senate recently passed—unanimously—a bill to mitigate the effects of climate change through natural solutions. What does this bill call for, and why is it important? 

Linda Orel, Director of Policy at The Trustees of Reservations

A: The bill is called the “NextGen Climate Bill,” and its goal is to update the Global Warming Solutions Act to a Net Zero emissions reduction by 2050. The current law calls for an 80% reduction (from 1990 levels), but this bill would increase that goal to 100%. The only way to reach this goal is to include Natural Climate Solutions in our approach. The original version of the NextGen Climate Bill, released by the Senate Ways and Means Committee ahead of the January 30 Senate debate, did not include National Climate Solutions as a strategy for meeting Net Zero. It was a surprise, and a disappointment, for many of us who had worked hard to get that piece included. So instead, we worked with several senators on an amendment—called Natural and Working Lands—which passed on the Senate floor. This amendment was a consolidation of several similar amendments filed by multiple senators. State Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) filed this amendment on our behalf as its chief sponsor, along with State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), as lead co-sponsor but ultimately, it was a concerted, cooperative effort to include Natural Climate Solutions in the bill, which sends a very powerful message. We are grateful to all the Senators who filed and supported amendments to include Natural Climate Solutions, and we were excited when it passed with a unanimous roll call vote.

Q: What does “Natural Climate Solutions” mean, and why is it so important?  

A: Incorporating “Natural Climate Solutions” means taking actions to protect, restore and better manage natural and working lands, including forests, farms, wetlands, salt marsh, and urban trees and landscapes, which in turn help to reduce and remove carbon emissions. Natural Solutions are the only tool available to use to remove carbon pollution from the air. They offer co-benefits, including helping our communities to become more resilient to climate impacts while conserving habitat, creating outdoor recreational opportunities, protecting water supplies, and enhancing our working farms and forests and local economies. Land-based resources across the state are already sequestering, absorbing, and storing carbon, but if we take actions to better protect, restore and manage those landscapes, Massachusetts could remove and reduce an additional two million metric tons of carbon pollution every year. The amendment requires the state to determine the current baseline—put a number to the amount of carbon sequestered in natural and working lands now—then increase that level, by setting and tracking benchmarks. Natural Solutions do not need to mean drastic measures. Some solutions include improved management of agricultural soils and working forests and restoration of sensitive wetlands. Recent research from the U.S. Climate Alliance found that the most impactful Natural Climate Solution is tree planting—whether that’s reforesting suburban and rural areas, or urban tree planting. In fact, urban trees and urban forests deliver more than 10% of forest-based sequestration in the U.S. To put that into a local perspective, planting more trees in Massachusetts cities, including Boston, could potentially account for 10% of all the carbon sequestration happening in our state. That’s a remarkable number and should empower our cities to step up and do more. At the same time, there’s great opportunity for better protection and restoration of our salt marshes as a Natural Climate Solution: Acre-for-acre, salt marsh absorbs more carbon than any other type of land-based ecosystem.

Q: What makes this proposed policy new or unique? 

A: The program proposed in our just-passed Senate Bill would be one of the first comprehensive Natural Climate Solutions policies in the country, putting Massachusetts in the lead. It’s also important to mention that our amendment was one of more than 120 included in the NextGen Climate Bill on the floor of the Senate, the majority of which didn’t make it through. In the case of our amendment, Senator Tarr graciously thanked senators for their leadership, cooperation, and commitment to Natural Climate Solutions, and praised their willingness to consolidate the related amendments into one. He spent time explaining the importance of Natural Climate Solutions, and how necessary they will be to meet the Net Zero by 2050 goal. Senator Tarr then requested a roll call vote, and every Senator present voted in favor. That was a powerful moment.

Q: What are the next steps for this Climate legislation?   

A: Ultimately, the Senate voted to engross the whole bill and it was sent to the House, where it currently sits. Though not yet scheduled for debate, it will go to the House Ways and Means Committee. My job is to advocate for the bill’s passage to House leadership, and for all state representatives—through calls, letters, and a public relations campaign—to communicate our message about National Climate Solutions and the reasons why they are imperative, if we want to reach the goal of Net Zero Carbon by 2050. The Trustees is one of the three lead nonprofit organizations working on this, along with The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts and Mass Audubon. With 27,000 acres of land in our reservations, and an additional 20,000 acres of land under conservation restriction in our care, The Trustees will play an important role in this effort by continuing to conserve, restore, and manage our critical natural resources.

Q: Can you talk me through some of the other climate policy items you’re working on right now? 

A: Several things are front-of-mind for me right now. The first will be trying to get the House to pass its own version of the NextGen Climate Bill that includes Natural Climate Solutions. Another priority is the GreenWorks Bill, which passed in the House and is now in the Senate Bonding Committee. GreenWorks sets aside $1.2 billion in a bond, to be used for clean energy measures. A group of us are meeting with the Revenue Committee Chairman, Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury) next week to talk about GreenWorks and prepare for a public hearing on February 25 at the State House, where I will testify on a panel. One of the items in the bill that we want to beef up is something called a Green Resiliency Fund. The current House version funds resiliency improvements and preparations for extreme weather with mentions of hard solutions like seawalls. We’d like to soften the language to have it emphasize nature-based solutions, which are more sustainable, and often less expensive than hard infrastructure. I’m also working on the “Green Budget,” to increase funding for agencies like the Department of Ecological Restoration and the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, which are working on vital climate resiliency programs and projects that are critical to resilience and adaptation.

Q: How can people get involved, and make a difference from a policy standpoint?   

A: Call your state representative and tell them how important it is to have a NextGen Climate Bill that includes Natural Climate Solutions. We want them to pass a bill on the House floor before the end of this legislative session and send it to the Governor for his signature. Let’s make Massachusetts a leader in this effort, to better care for our beautiful, natural places, which can then, in turn, help to slow the effects of climate change by sequestering more carbon pollution. Make your voice heard!

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Questions? Reach out to Linda Orel at LOrel@TheTrustees.org