ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
CommonWealth Beacon breaks down the latest energy and environmental policy news in Massachusetts, including moves in renewable energy, conservation, and innovation.
Our top five housing stories of 2025
The Bay State’s housing crunch seemed to reach into all corners in 2025, tying up courts, lawmakers navigating climate and transportation concerns, groups dependent on federal fair housing funding, and services promising to make it easier for more people to afford to live in pricey Massachusetts.
Our top five climate stories of 2025
Frustrations over high gas and electric costs drove Gov. Maura Healey’s agenda around energy issues.
Massachusetts kicks off big bet on battery storage
The four projects selected, out of 13 total bids, will create 1,268 MW of storage capacity, though that’s shy of the 1,500 MW the state and utilities had sought to solicit in this round of bids.
What is the Massachusetts FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort?
The increased FAIR Plan policies and rising home insurance prices in the private market across New England both reflect and tell the climate story, since insurers are the arbiters of risk.Â
Mass. home insurer of last resort sees spike in enrollment
Massachusetts’s home insurance market, officials and experts stressed, is in a much better place than other parts of the country. Still, signs of change are emerging. Â
‘Rate shock’: Healey’s affordability push meets a dramatic proposed gas bill hike
Liberty Utilities, which services a small southeastern pocket of Massachusetts, filed its rate hike request in June and is asking the Department of Public Utilities for permission to raise gas rates by about 55 percent on average.
‘People have a right to know’: Flood disclosures poised to step into legislative limelight next yearÂ
As flooding touches more Massachusetts households, Gov. Maura Healey is proposing a new requirement to mandate the flood disclosures as a means of steering people out of harm’s way in the first place.
Massachusetts agencies never followed a 2017 rule to cut emissions from state vehicles, court documents showÂ
The rule was issued under Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and followed a landmark court ruling that found the state needed to issue more specific and stringent regulations in order to meet the 2050 climate commitment.
House punts on sweeping energy bill that would dial back state climate commitments
After intense blowback to a draft House bill to weaken the state’s 2030 clean energy target, the chamber’s budget chief says the topic is on hold until next year.
Energy industry pads key lawmaker’s campaign coffers as major bill advancesÂ
Cusack’s legislation would lower the amount of renewable energy the utilities would be required to purchase and cut the state’s energy efficiency initiative, which is funded through the utilities’ ratepayers, by $500 million.
Massachusetts EV charging plans continue to take hitÂ
The delays underscore the challenges facing the state in cutting pollution from the transportation sector, which accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts at 38 percent.
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