Preservation Has a Place in Boston’s Climate Future

Led by Chief Climate Officer Brian Swett and the Environment, Energy, and Open Space Cabinet, the Plan focuses on reducing pollution, improving resilience, and guiding how the city grows.

The Plan sets targets for 2030 on the way to carbon neutrality by 2050. It prioritizes cutting emissions from buildings, the city’s largest source of carbon production, along with expanding clean energy, electrification, and climate-ready infrastructure. Equity is central, ensuring all neighborhoods benefit.

For preservationists, the message is straightforward: climate action must include existing buildings. In Boston, where more than 75 percent of buildings are over 50 years old,  reusing and upgrading them will reduce carbon by avoiding demolition and new construction.

The City now clearly recognizes this. For the first time, the Plan identifies historic building rehabilitation as a core climate strategy through the advancement of adaptive reuse approaches such as converting underutilized offices to housing and reducing waste while supporting evolving needs.

Key tools in this effort are the State and Federal Historic Tax Credit programs, which supports adaptive reuse, system upgrades, and rehabilitation of historic buildings. The City will advocate for strengthening the State program—expanding eligibility and increasing caps—while also working to better understand how historic properties can pursue decarbonization and energy efficiency improvements.

To move this forward, the plan establishes a Historic Properties Decarbonization Task Force. This group will bring together preservation experts, decarbonization professionals, municipal staff, and community stakeholders to identify best practices and address regulatory and financial barriers. Its work will focus on the reality that the vast majority of Boston’s building stock, including designated Landmarks and older, non-designated buildings, will remain in use for decades. The goal is to reduce emissions while preserving cultural, architectural, and community value.

Expected outcomes include guidance for energy-efficient retrofits that maintain historic character, along with strategies to make improvements such as insulation, electrification, and high-performance windows that are more practical and widely achievable. The emphasis is clear: climate action should strengthen, not compromise, the integrity and usability of historic properties.

More broadly, the Plan aligns this work with citywide priorities, including promoting healthier, more efficient homes, advancing housing affordability, and supporting a healthier city for all residents.

This matters because most of Boston’s emissions come from older buildings. Addressing them directly is essential. The Plan makes clear that preservation is not a barrier. Rather, it is part of the solution. A low-carbon future will depend not just on new construction, but on how effectively Boston adapts what it already has.

This article was prepared by Katherine Kottaridis, Director of the Office of Historic Preservation.