Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer will speak about climate change at an international conference at the Vatican next month.
The announcement was made on Monday, Earth Day, a global event to support environmental protection, which has been celebrated since 1970. Pope Francis, who has sharply noted the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the world’s poor and called for collective action to reduce economies’ reliance on fossil fuels, will preside over the Vatican summit.
In a statement, Healey called the invitation to attend “an immense honor.” The theme of the event is discussing how to shift the focus from climate crisis to climate resilience (climate resilience generally refers to how communities can prepare for, adapt to, and respond to the impacts of climate change, including extreme heat and intense flooding).
Both Healey and Wu have made responding to climate change major priorities of their administrations. Healey created the state’s first cabinet-level climate chief to coordinate climate policy across all executive agencies. Wu’s administration last week announced Boston will soon have a similar role to oversee climate policy at the city level.
During their Vatican visit, Healey will speak about “governing in the age of climate change,” and Wu will speak about “governance, health and energy.”
The visit to the Vatican comes as Massachusetts aims to jumpstart an energy transition from burning fossil fuels to using renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. The state has a goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency said that the Commonwealth will receive $156 million in grant dollars for residential solar energy programs. The grants are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the nation’s largest federal investment in renewable energy in US history.
