Boston, MA

At a glance

Population: 100,000 - 750,000

City Leader: Mayor Thomas M. Menino

Sustainability Officer:
Jim Hunt

Office Contact Information:
One City Hall Square, Room 603
Boston, MA 02201

Three Greatest Accomplishments to Date:
1. Green Building: 1st in the nation to implement zoning requiring adherence to USGBC LEED standards
2. Solar: Solar Boston Program helped expand installed capacity of solar by more than 300% in 2years and developed innovative online solar mapping tool
3. Recycling: Recycle More program moved to single-stream recycling with larger carts increasing recycling by 50%

City Sustainability Board: NO

City Sustainability Plan: YES

Climate Action Plan: YES

Green Building Ordinance: YES
Included for city funded buildings, commercial space and residential buildings.

City Tracking & Results

Boston About Results (BAR) is the city's performance management system that requires quarterly updates on key indicators in the city. The Mayor's Climate Action Executive Order also requires that the City's Climate Action Plan be updated every 3 years.

Division of Sustainability Facts

The ofice of Sustainability is called the Mayor's Office of Environmental and Energy Services. It reports to the Mayor and sits in the Mayor's office. There are five positions within the office of Sustainability: (1) Chief of Environment and Energy Chief of Staff; (2) Administrative Assistant Director of Energy Policy; (3) Director of Environment; (4) Commissioner of Parks (Direct report); (5) Commissioner of Inspectional Services (Direct Report); (6) Director of Recycling (dotted-line report)

City of Boston Sustainability Website

Program Funding

Funding is directly tied to specific implementation priorities and not pooled as a general source of funding. Staff and operations is funded through operating budget and grants at approximately $750,000 per year Capital funding, partnerships with other agencies and outside grants fund sustainability implementation. In 2009 alone, the City of Boston secured over 100 million dollars for energy efficiency, green affordable housing, wind and solar installations, water conservation, low impact development infrastructure, and other sustainability investments.

Sustainability Officer Duties

Support city executive and senior management team in the design of overall strategy and process for the project
Develop Sustainability Plan and Climate Action Plan
Maintain updated Sustainability Plan and Climate Action Plan
Draft procedural and training manuals, process flow charts, and implementation plans
Oversee and maintain sustainability budget
Coordinate and lead City's Green Team
Develop criteria, policies and procedures for sustainable programs
Identify and secure funding resources from outside sources (ex. Federal grants) for projects
Track and report about sustainability programs underway on a regular basis through the City's performance management program
Represent the City at key meetings
Develop a multi-faceted communication strategy within the organization and the community to promote the City's efforts locally, statewide, and nationally to gain recognition
Perform financial analysis on ongoing and new projects
Foster, develop, and launch projects in partnership with city departments and external stakeholders
Track, monitor, and report utility usage and greenhouse gas emissions of city operations
Track, monitor, and report greenhouse gas emissions at the community level