The city of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States has a Green New Deal plan. This plan was introduced by Michelle Wu, who is now the mayor of Boston. She first proposed the plan in August 2020 while serving as a member of the Boston City Council. After becoming mayor in November 2021, she has carried out several environmental policies and projects that match the goals of her Green New Deal plan.
Initial proposal
In August 2020, Wu shared a plan called the "Boston Green New Deal & Just Recovery." The plan had goals to make city buildings carbon neutral by 2024, use only renewable energy by 2030, and make the entire city carbon neutral by 2040.
The plan also focused on helping Boston recover fairly from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included supporting small businesses in a fair way.
The plan said Boston should stop investing in fossil fuel companies and other harmful industries, such as gun manufacturers and private prisons. Instead, the city should invest in clean energy and community-based financial institutions. It also included plans for food justice. Earlier, in March 2019, Wu helped create the Good Food Purchasing Program, which set rules for public food buyers, like Boston Public Schools.
The plan had ideas about housing. It suggested making housing more affordable by expanding cooperative housing, community land trusts, and community ownership. It also proposed giving tenants legal help to protect them from unfair or illegal evictions. The plan included creating "just and resilient development" through affordable green areas and fair agreements for communities. It also suggested using maps to identify areas where more trees should be planted to help reduce heat, improve air quality, and capture carbon.
The plan called for "transportation justice" by improving access to public transit and making it more reliable. It also supported making public transit free. Wu had promoted this idea before, writing about it in an article in January 2019 and working with another councilor to make a bus route free in 2019. Her work inspired others, including the mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts, to support free bus rides.
The Green New Deal also included a "local blue new deal" to address climate challenges in Boston’s coastal and ocean areas. This would use coastal resources for clean energy, food systems, and jobs. The plan proposed using special bonds and programs to help install solar energy and improve efficiency in homes and businesses. It also suggested conducting a justice audit to find unfair practices and using the results to create fair policies. The plan included training for green jobs and creating a group of workers focused on climate issues.
Initial pursuit of goals before Wu's mayoralty
In March 2021, Wu, along with Councilors Lydia Edwards and Matt O'Malley, proposed a law that would stop using city money to support private prisons, fossil fuel companies, and tobacco businesses. This idea was similar to a plan included in the original Green New Deal document.
In 2021, Acting Mayor Kim Janey started a test program to make the MBTA Route 28 bus free to ride for three months. This idea had been suggested earlier by Janey and Wu together. This matched Wu’s Green New Deal plan for free bus rides.
Regarding efforts to recover fairly from the COVID-19 pandemic, Wu led City Council meetings about the topic. In February 2021, Wu suggested a law to ensure the COVID-19 vaccine was shared fairly in Boston by requiring at least one vaccination site in each neighborhood. In late summer 2021, Wu’s office gathered information showing that half of the city’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund money given to restaurants went to businesses in only three of Boston’s 23 neighborhoods: Back Bay, Downtown Boston, and the Seaport District. These neighborhoods were mostly white and wealthy compared to the rest of the city.
In October 2020, Wu shared a report about a "food justice" plan for Boston. The plan included raising the minimum wage for food workers and requiring paid sick leave for them. It also asked the city government to help pass state laws that would slowly remove the tipped wage for restaurant and bar workers.
Pursuit of goals during Wu’s mayoralty
In 2021, Wu's campaign included a plan called "climate justice" that included a "Green New Deal" for the city. She said this plan would help reduce the racial wealth gap and support economic justice and workers' rights. Her education plan also included a "Green New Deal" for Boston Public Schools. This plan aimed to improve school facilities, create healthier environments for students, and align with goals for fairness and opportunity. It described schools as places that could serve as community hubs to meet the needs of students and the city.
Wu kept Mariama White-Hammond in her role as the city's chief of environment, energy, and open space. In August 2022, she announced that Oliver Sellers-Garcia would start a new position called "green new deal director," which would advise the mayor's office on climate resiliency. In September 2022, Wu created the Cabinet for Worker Empowerment, which was responsible for overseeing the Green New Deal for Boston Public Schools.
As mayor, Wu expanded a pilot program for free public transit on the Route 28 bus, adding two more routes for lower-income areas. The city used $8 million in federal pandemic relief funds to cover the costs. Wu's support for free public transit became a well-known part of her work in Boston.
In 2021, Boston created a program called Power Corps to train people for green jobs. Wu has been part of the steering committee for Climate Mayors.
On November 22, 2021, Wu signed an ordinance to stop investing city money in companies that earn more than 15% of their income from fossil fuels, tobacco, or prison facilities. This was part of her Green New Deal for Boston. The city planned to remove $65 million in investments, but the city's employee pension fund was not included because it is governed by state law. Earlier, as a city council member, she had supported this policy.
In August 2022, Wu proposed a plan to ask the state to allow Boston to join a pilot program that would ban fossil fuels in most new buildings, except for labs and hospitals. The Boston City Council approved the plan 9–3, but the city still needed state approval. In July 2023, Wu signed an order to stop using fossil fuels like heating oil and natural gas in new city buildings and during major renovations. This also required removing fossil fuel use in HVAC systems, water heaters, and cooking appliances. In November 2023, Wu said Boston would not join a state pilot program to require all-electric buildings, even though buildings account for most of the city's greenhouse gas emissions, because the program did not fit Boston's needs. In April 2024, the Wu administration announced the city's first chief climate officer and $75 million in funding for climate resilience grants.
In May 2022, Wu announced a "Green New Deal" for Boston Public Schools, which included renovating and building new school facilities. This increased the city's investment in school construction from $1 billion to $2 billion. The Cabinet for Worker Empowerment was also created to help implement this plan.
In April 2022, Wu unveiled the Heat Resilience for Boston plan, which focused on protecting communities like Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Mattapan, and Roxbury from extreme heat. She also created a task force to manage heat-related challenges.
In August 2022, Wu announced that Oliver Sellers-Garcia would begin working as the city's "green new deal director."
In April 2022, Wu said the city would replace all school buses with electric vehicles by 2030, starting with 30 buses in the 2022–23 school year. She also launched a program to train workers for electric vehicle maintenance. In May 2022, the city awarded a $17 million contract to City Fresh Foods, a Black-owned business, to supply food for Boston schools. This supported a program aimed at improving food justice. A $20 million housing program funded by pandemic recovery funds included a "Large Building Green Energy Retrofits Program," offering up to $10,000 to building owners to reduce energy use.
In September 2022, the Boston City Council voted 9–3 to allow the city to join a state pilot program that would ban fossil fuels in most new buildings. Wu applied for the city to join, but in November 2023, she said Boston would not pursue the program because it was not practical for the city's size and electrical system.
In July 2022, it was announced that Boston would host the Earthshot Prize ceremony in December 2022. Wu spoke with Prince William about the event. In November 2022, Wu joined Governor Charlie Baker and John Kerry as part of the event's official host committee.
Decreased use of term "Green New Deal" by Wu
During her first term as mayor, Wu made progress on several projects related to her earlier "Green New Deal." By early 2025, Emma Platoff and Niki Griswold of The Boston Globe noted that Wu had largely stopped using the term "Green New Deal" to describe this work. However, Platoff and Griswold also reported that many supporters of environmental causes believed Wu remained dedicated to these issues, even with the change in language. They quoted Larry Chretien, executive director of Green Energy Consumers Alliance, who said that under Wu, "progress is being made in Boston that I don’t see [occurring in other cities]…[Wu is] committed to real actions and she's so easy to reach…[making] herself available to those of us who want her to do more [and not avoiding] us."