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The Download: Our top five climate stories of 2025
by CommonWealth Staff, CommonWealth Beacon December 23, 2025
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Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper (right) speaks about energy affordability at a press conference alongside Gov. Maura Healey on October 14, 2025. Chris Lisinski/CommonWealth Beacon
The climate story written in Massachusetts this year was, depending on your perspective, an instant classic or a nightmare.
It had intrigue. It had personalities. It had political posturing. And it sure had long-term repercussions for the Bay State’s vision of a green economy and its preparations for the impacts of climate change.
2025 started with a turbocharged shakeup of the climate and energy landscape. After taking office in January, President Trump quickly used his power to pull funding for clean energy and energy efficiency initiatives and to stop additional offshore wind permits.
Many Massachusetts residents also saw their winter gas bills skyrocket, prompting widespread anger and calls for relief. Elected officials began shifting the discourse – and their attention – toward energy affordability, which opened up an intense debate about the cause of the high costs. The Department of Public Utilities, in fact, recently opened an investigation into all charges on gas and electric bills.
Those frustrations drove Gov. Maura Healey’s agenda around energy issues the rest of the year as she fashioned herself as an “all of the above” supporter on energy. And these dynamics teed up a host of policy fights as the state looks to thread an increasingly delicate needle: how to meet rising power demand, bring down utility bills, and meet the ambitious climate commitments that require dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
CommonWealth Beacon chronicled these storylines and more throughout the year. Here is your 2025 climate and energy recap.
GATEWAY CITIES: Catch up on all of CommonWealth Beacon’s2025 coverage of Massachusetts’s 26 Gateway Cities with this rundown from Hallie Claflin, who took on this sprawling beat earlier this year to deliver incisive reporting about the challenges and opportunities facing these former industrial hubs that now serve as regional economic anchors from Holyoke to Chelsea.
PODCAST: Michael Jonas sat down with Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler, where he opens up about the tricky process for developing new high school graduation requirements.
WIND: The Trump administration paused leases for five large offshore wind projects already under construction, and this time, Massachusetts’s Vineyard Wind wasn’t able to avoid the wrath of the federal government. Michael P. Norton at State House News Service explains.
BUILDING CHARGE: Bay State officials announced Friday they are entering contract negotiations with four companies to procure nearly 1,300 megawatts of battery storage. More than half of the storage would come from the largest bidder, the Trimount project in Everett. Jordan Wolman has the details.
HARD TALK: State Sen. Brendan Crighton is not shying away from the revenue third rail, talking openly about his interest in at least exploring or weighing almost anything to produce more money for transportation systems. Chris Lisinski and Jennifer Smith have more.
OPINION: The Healey administration’s initial framework for new high school graduation requirements isn’t good enough for Lisa Guisbond, executive director of Citizens for Public Schools, who argues that it’s creating new obstacles for students.
OPINION: Poverty is once again being weaponized, writes Imari Paris Jeffries, the president and CEO of Embrace Boston. And poor people, particularly Black and brown families, are once again the target.
