Boston Releases Draft Update for the 2030 Climate Action Plan
October 23, 2025
In April 2025, Boston began community engagement for the update to Boston’s Climate Action Plan for 2030, which will identify priorities between now and 2030 to meet goals across climate mitigation, climate resilience, and climate justice. This 2030 update is the first version to incorporate climate justice, alongside climate mitigation and resilience goals. In summer 2025, Boston released the first draft of the 2030 Climate Action Plan, with the following 8 overarching goals: making our buildings healthier, more resilient, and fully decarbonized; making transportation more sustainable, accessible, and equitable; powering Boston with clean, renewable energy; combatting the risks posed by extreme weather events; reducing waste and promoting sustainable consumption; protecting and expanding our green space; building a green workforce; and prioritizing public health for a healthier, stronger city.
The draft Boston Climate Action Plan offers 36 strategies across 11 categories: buildings, transportation, energy, recovery and materials, open space, combating heat, combating stormwater and inland flooding, combating coastal flooding, combating cross-hazard climate risks, workforce development, and funding and financing. Through a series of community stakeholder sessions and written comments on the initial draft Climate Action Plan for 2030, Boston hopes to prioritize the strategies to focus on for the next 5 years, as well as to identify relevant metrics for tracking success and implementation progress, and relevant “delivery partners” that can help the City to implement various strategies.
A Better City submitted extensive comments on the draft Climate Action Plan and encouraged the City to consider financial and technical feasibility of any proposed new guidelines or requirements, alongside opportunities for partnership and incentivization of innovative solutions in the next 5 years. These comments offered recommendations across several categories, including buildings, transportation, energy, recovery and materials, open space, combating heat, combating stormwater and inland flooding, coastal flooding, combating cross-hazard climate risks, workforce development, and funding and financing.
Boston intends to release an updated draft Climate Action Plan, which incorporates initial feedback, in early 2026, with a second public comment period to follow, and a target release date of Spring 2026 for the final 2030 Climate Action Plan. Thank you to the many A Better City members and staff who have already contributed to comments on the draft Climate Action Plan, and we welcome any additional feedback in the coming months as the draft is finalized. For any questions on A Better City’s comments or how to get involved, please contact Isabella Gambill or Yve Torrie.
