Zoning commission rules new Boston buildings will be required to meet 'net zero' standards

Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald on Jan 30, 2025

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The Boston Zoning Commission voted to approve a new zoning standard requiring new buildings to meet net zero carbon emissions upon opening — becoming the first city in the country to do so.

The new Net Zero Carbon Zoning standard, passed by the Zoning Commission with eight for and three against, will require new large building projects filed after July 1, 2025, to meet the climate-friendly standard. Qualified projects include those with 15 units or more, those with 20,000 square feet or over, or those adding 50,000 square feet or more to existing buildings.

The proposal has been championed by Mayor Wu’s administration in efforts to achieve carbon neutrality in the city by 2050.

The Zoning Commission last voted to reject the proposal less than a year ago in August. Following the vote, the former chair of the Commission was fired after about two decades in the position, claiming the decision was a direct reaction to his deciding vote against the net zero proposal.

“To protect families across our neighborhoods and keep our city running, we need urgent action to ensure resiliency for the safety and well-being of all Bostonians,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a release Thursday. “By embedding sustainability into new projects, we set Boston on a direct path towards a cleaner and healthier future for generations to come.”

In a presentation of the net zero proposal before the commission Wednesday, city officials referenced “extensive outreach and engagement” with housing and commercial developers to address cost and other concerns raised at the last meeting.

Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing for the City of Boston, said with the new zoning “when we underwrite affordable housing projects, we’ll be taking those additional but very manageable costs into consideration.”

In public comment, speakers from organizations including housing and commercial developers spoke in favor of aggressively addressing climate change but also pointed to the need for support for things like prioritizing affordable housing projects, increased costs, the technical aspects of renewable energy procurement and more.

Commissioner Michael DiMella, who expressed concerns with the proposal in August, said everyone who spoke is “on the same page” believing in net zero, but cited concerns with Boston’s housing crisis.

“My concern over that is there are increased costs, which I think many people feel in operating, specialists and building costs, that are likely to cause some challenges in getting projects off the ground,” DiMella said. “There are projects right now — I can name a host of them throughout the city — that can’t get out of the ground right now, without this even being in place. For housing that we very much need. So that’s a massive challenge.”

City officials said if the policy had been in effect starting in 2023, Boston’s greenhouse gas emissions would have reduced by 0.58%, “which is equivalent to all waste-related emissions in the city.” Buildings account for around 71% of the city’s carbon emissions, meaning “new buildings represent the greatest opportunity for emissions reductions,” the city proponents stated.