Assessment
As energy bills rose nationwide, Massachusetts held the line on measures of energy burden for households across the state. At a time when the federal administration is zeroing budgets for environmental justice (EJ) work, state grants and supplier contracts supporting or going to these communities show increases year over year. The Commonwealth’s efforts to establish community agreements as part of energy siting processes, to embed best practices on EJ principles into agency workflows, to build on language accessibility, and to establish a grant program to support burdened community efforts will meaningfully advance EJ in the state.
| Metric | Submetric | 2023 Report Value | 2024 Report Value | 2025 Report Value | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) workforce grant budget awarded to programs serving EJ communities1 | Percent of MassCEC workforce grant budget awarded to programs serving EJ communities2 | 76.9% in FY 2023 | 63.6% in FY 2024 | 65.9% in FY 2025 | Targets are under development. |
| Total MassCEC workforce grant budget awarded to programs serving EJ communities2 | $20.1 million in FY 2023 | $24.1 million in FY 2024 | $29.0 million in FY 2025 | ||
| Energy burden3 | Percentage of income the median household spent on energy bills | 2.9% in 2022 | 3.0% in 2023 | 3.0% in 2024 | Targets are under development. |
| Percentage of households that pay more than 6% of their income in energy bills | 19.5% in 2022 | 19.8% in 2023 | 19.5% in 2024 | ||
| Percentage of income the median household receiving food assistance spent on energy bills | 5.7% in 2022 | 5.6% in 2023 | 5.5% in 2024 | ||
| Percentage of households receiving food assistance that pay more than 6% of their income in energy bills | 48.9% in 2022 | 48.9% in 2023 | 48.9% in 2024 | ||
| Percentage of annual spend for diverse suppliers.4 | Percentage of EEA spending that went to Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) | 7.0% in FY 2022 | 9.4% in FY 2023 | 16.5% in FY 2024 | Targets for diverse supplier spend include meeting EEA’s current procurement goal of at least 8% MBE in 2024, increasing to a goal of at least 15% MBE in 2025 and advancing to a goal of at least 25% in 2026. WBE targets are 14% in all years. |
| Percentage of EEA spending that went to Women Business Enterprises (WBE) | 25.9% in 2022 in FY 2022 | 28.7% in FY 2023 | 69.8% in FY 2024 | ||
| Number of state-supported climate resilience projects led, planned, and/or implemented by or in collaboration with Tribal Nations and Tribally serving (Native serving) organizations | State Supported projects from Municipal Vulnerability Program, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and MassCEC EmPower | New in 2024 Report Card | 21 | 22 | To be determined as part of ResilientMass Metrics process |
| Public and internal outreach and engagement | Public trainings conducted by the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity: number of trainings and number of participants | New in 2025 Report Card | New in 2025 Report Card | 10 trainings, workshops and webinars for about 300 participants | There are no current targets for this metric at this time. |
| Total EEA staff trainings conducted by OEJE and number of staff attending | New in 2025 Report Card | New in 2025 Report Card | 21 trainings for over 900 staff participants |
Primary Challenges
- The Trump Administration rolled back federal environmental justice initiatives and programs that support healthcare, nutrition, and economic stability for burdened communities.
- Standardized tools to assess cumulative impacts and track equitable outcomes across burdened communities remain an area of need, but progress is being made in energy siting processes. Members of burdened communities have limited time and resources to engage in a growing number of stakeholder processes.
How we are meeting this moment
Despite federal rollbacks and funding cuts, Massachusetts stands with its commitment to environmental justice and equity. Building on the Environmental Justice Strategy released in 2024, the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity (OEJE) worked with agency environmental justice liaisons to advance key initiatives identified in annual progress reports. In 2025, the team convened Tribal and Indigenous leadership and Tribal-serving organizations to begin a secretariat-wide Tribal Environmental Justice Strategy. OEJE is also working closely with the Department of Public Utilities to develop and implement meaningful engagement requirements, cumulative impact analysis, community benefit plans and community benefit agreements to be used as part of energy facility siting. EEA launched its first capacity building environmental justice grant program, dedicating $500,000 to a variety of organizations focused on access to food, natural resources, environmental planning, capital projects and intersecting social equity issue areas. Additionally, OEJE expanded its paid fellowship program to develop a pipeline and foster future environmental justice leaders.