Five Recent Climate Votes
Cambridge has a well-deserved reputation as a leader when it comes to climate-related policies. And yet, we have not been able to reduce the City’s emissions since we first began setting goals more than 10 years ago. To address this, the City just adopted two ground-breaking policies — one regulating emissions from our large buildings (BEUDO) and a second restricting fossil fuel use in new buildings (the “Fossil Fuel-Free Pilot”).
Although adopted with hard-earned near-unanimous support, both of these new policies were weakened by actions taken by the Council. The votes are unambiguousl the tallies clearly demonstrate who is leading the City’s climate efforts.
Vote #1: Consensus vote on BEUDO in the Spring of 2023
The critical vote to adopt the Building Energy Use Disclosure and Energy Reduction Ordinance (generally referred to as BEUDO) was made possible by relentless effort on Patty’s part to build the consensus among councillors needed to regulate emission pollution from the City’s largest buildings.
In favor of BEUDO:
Patty Nolan, Burhan Azeem, Dennis Carlone, Marc McGovern, Alanna Mallon, Sumbul Siddiqui, Paul Toner, Quinton Zondervan
Voting Present:
Denise Simmons
Vote #2: BEUDO does NOT apply to large residential buildings
The version of BEUDO adopted this year (in vote #1) originally specified a schedule of emission reduction targets that would apply to commercial buildings above 100,000 square feet and residential buildings with 50 units or more.
The Council voted to weaken BEUDO by removing the requirements for residential buildings, even on a delayed timeline. The version of BEUDO adopted applies only to commercial buildings, not to large residential ones.
In favor of regulating large residential buildings as part of BEUDO:
Patty Nolan, Dennis Carlone, Sumbul Siddiqui, Quinton Zondervan
In favor of removing large residences from BEUDO regulation:
Burhan Azeem, Marc McGovern, Alanna Mallon, Paul Toner, Denise Simmons
Had any of these five voted No, BEUDO would not have been weakened.NOT
Vote #3: 2035 timeline applies only to the the very largest buildings covered by BEUDO
The Council also considered whether the 2035 timeline for reaching net-zero in BEUDO should apply to commercial buildings above 50,000 square feet, or just those over 100,000 sf. It voted to apply it only to buildings over 100,000 square feet, with a 2050 timeline applying to smaller buildings.
In favor of a 2035 timeline (vs. 2050) for buildings of 50k square feet and up:
Patty Nolan along with Dennis Carlone, Sumbul Siddiqui, Quinton Zondervan
In favor of 2035 timeline only those above 100,000 square feet:
Burhan Azeem, Marc McGovern, Alanna Mallon, Paul Toner, Denise Simmons
Had any of these five voted No, BEUDO would not have been strengthened.
Vote #4: The Fossil Fuel-Free Pilot program will not apply to restaurants
The City recently chose to become part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ pilot of building codes for new construction and major renovation; these codes prohibit the installation of new fossil fuel-burning systems. To participate, the City needed to submit a draft plan for state approval. The Council voted to place this restriction on new restaurants, even though the new code included a way to request waivers for technical or financial reasons.
In favor of restricting new restaurants ability to burn fossil fuels:
Patty Nolan along with Dennis Carlone, Sumbul Siddiqui, Quinton Zondervan
Against regulating restaurants:
Burhan Azeem, Marc McGovern, Alanna Mallon, Paul Toner, Denise Simmons
Had any of these five voted Yes, new restaurants in Cambridge would not be able to burn fossil fuels on site (unless they applied for, and were granted, a waiver).
Vote #5: The Fossil Fuel-Free will exempt restaurants through 2035 rather than 2030
After the Council voted to exempt new restaurants from the restrictions on new fossil fuel-burning systems, there was proposal that the exemption end in 2030 rather than 2035.
In favor of ending the exemption for restaurants after 2030:
Patty Nolan along with Dennis Carlone, Sumbul Siddiqui, Quinton Zondervan
In favor of continuing the exemption through 2035:
Burhan Azeem, Marc McGovern, Alanna Mallon, Paul Toner Denise Simmons
Had any of these five voted Yes, restrictions on installation of new fossil fuel-burning equipment in restaurants would have ended in 2030. Now new restaurants can install fossil fuel-burning systems for five additional years.