This article is part of the Belmont Citizens Forum’s series on environmental leadership in Massachusetts.
The Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM), founded in 1898 as the Massachusetts Forestry Association, is the Commonwealth’s oldest environmental advocacy organization. Working at the state level on Beacon Hill, ELM advocates for policy that meets the scale and urgency of today’s environmental challenges, from decarbonizing the electric grid and transportation to protecting land, water, and public health. Over its long history, ELM has helped establish the state park system, town conservation commissions, and the Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction Act. Today it focuses on advancing an equitable, carbon-neutral Commonwealth through thoughtful advocacy and strategic partnerships with business, government, and fellow environmental nonprofits.
The Belmont Citizens Forum spoke with Casey Bowers, interim president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, about the organization’s legislative priorities, its work engaging the corporate sector, and how residents and municipalities like Belmont can advance climate and conservation goals at the local level. Bowers joined ELM in 2018 and stepped into the role of interim president in September 2026. She is also the executive director of the ELM Action Fund and has previously served as the executive vice -president for Government Relations. As a key member of ELM’s leadership team, she has helped shape the organization’s overall trajectory while leading legislative and political efforts. Jeffrey North conducted the interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.
ELM is described as the Commonwealth’s oldest environmental advocacy organization, working for Massachusetts’s environment since 1898. What does that long institutional history allow ELM to do particularly well today, and what does it require the organization to do differently in a rapidly changing climate and political landscape?
Our history gives us the benefit of sustained relationships and a deep understanding of how decisions are made at the Massachusetts State House. We know how to turn an environmental priority into a policy proposal, build support, and keep working through a process that can take years. I take very seriously the responsibility that comes with that. That means choosing our priorities strategically and sharing what we know with partners, from grassroots organizations to large corporations, so we can be more effective together.
Our longevity also requires us to keep learning. We must remain nimble, creative, and resourceful with our community engagement and coalition building. For example, our experience helps us communicate effectively with lawmakers and their teams. Reaching people who don’t follow the State House closely requires a different approach. For instance, while Instagram wasn’t a resource for our first 11 decades, we are now using it to educate a wider audience about how environmental decisions affect our economy, health, and communities. It’s been great to see that those same approaches are catching lawmakers’ attention, too!
Massachusetts faces a broad environmental agenda, from clean energy and transportation to PFAS, drought, land conservation, and environmental justice. How does ELM decide where to concentrate its time and political capital?
We were proud leaders within the coalition that helped pass the Next Generation Roadmap Law, which requires Massachusetts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030, and to become net-zero by 2050.
Since then, our primary focus has been smart, effective, and timely implementation to reach this goal. Frankly, we aren’t acting quickly enough. So, within ELM’s strategic plan, we have prioritized the biggest levers we can pull to reduce emissions with Massachusetts. That means decarbonizing our homes and transportation while bringing more clean energy online across the state.
How we make that transition matters just as much. We want policies and programs to improve health, lower costs, and deliver benefits to communities that have borne the greatest burdens from pollution. Environmental justice shapes how we approach each priority. We also put significant effort into securing state funding. Passing a law is a major milestone, but agencies and municipalities need resources to carry it out. That funding supports both decarbonization and the broader work of protecting communities, clean water, and the natural resources we all depend on.
You’ve said that finding shared value and building trust with unlikely partners is fundamental to making progress. Can you share an example where a corporate partnership shifted a piece of Massachusetts environmental policy in a way ELM couldn’t have achieved through legislative advocacy alone?
So many corporations and institutions have climate and environmental goals, but need partnerships and government involvement to have a cost-effective path to achieve them, in part because we continue to need newer and evolving decarbonization technologies to deploy—and at scale. Our universities and tech incubators provide a wealth of knowledge and potential solutions, but we need to create conditions to rapidly scale these solutions, thereby reducing emissions and growing our economy.
We’ve seen health care blossom in Massachusetts and engaged our partners on a key question: could the same happen for climate tech? In 2024, ELM became the leading voice advocating for state investment in this burgeoning industry. Eighty-one leading businesses and institutions, including Takeda, Mass General Brigham, and many more joined us in urging lawmakers to include at least $1 billion in climate tech investments in the state’s economic development bill. It was a show of force to the Massachusetts legislature that an expanded climate tech sector benefits the entire economy.
Climate and environmental policy can present real trade-offs among housing, conservation, renewable-energy siting, transportation, and affordability. How can towns choose between competing goals?
These goals are often presented as competing, but they do not have to be. ELM’s goal is that we plan for each of them in tandem so that experts and community members have a voice.
Consider public transportation. Investing in transit can make affordable housing possible, connect people to jobs, support our economy, and reduce traffic congestion and tailpipe emissions. Similarly, thoughtful clean energy siting and permitting helps us build these resources while protecting natural resources and ensuring communities have a say in what is built. All of these have been priorities to ELM.
When tough decisions arise, decision-makers need to be transparent about costs and benefits and listen to the communities impacted.
What can a town like Belmont, without direct control over offshore wind or grid-scale policy (although we do have our own electric utility company), still do at the local level to meaningfully advance ELM’s net-zero agenda?
Many communities, including Belmont, are weighing the imperative to build new housing with concerns about traffic, congestion, and altering the character of the community. Belmont can model leadership in building the transit-oriented housing we need while also protecting the green spaces and nature that people cherish. Density need not be at odds with the other values we have for our communities, and towns like Belmont can show the way.
Belmont Municipal Light Department gives residents an unusually direct connection to local electricity decisions. What questions should Belmont residents be asking their municipal utility as Massachusetts transitions to a cleaner grid?
Belmont residents have a valuable opportunity to continue to shape how the Belmont Municipal Light Department responds to the clean energy transition. I would encourage them to focus on affordability. How can Belmont Light help residents use electricity more efficiently and reduce demand when the grid is under strain?
Much of the cost of our electric system comes from meeting demand during a relatively small number of very hot and very cold hours. Programs that help people shift some electricity use away from those peaks can reduce costs for everyone. So can strong energy-efficiency programs, which help households lower their bills while reducing the need for more expensive infrastructure.
Residents should expect their utility to plan for a future where more of our homes and vehicles run on electricity. I encourage Belmont residents to be in contact with their elected municipal light board members and to vote in those small but mighty elections.
In the near future, name one a major environmental success for Massachusetts —and what is one concrete action you hope Belmont and other communities will take to help achieve it?
Offshore wind remains the biggest single potential source of clean energy for New England. Federal attacks on offshore wind have led to higher energy prices by blocking this major source of potential supply. One of the best opportunities for climate progress is to get responsible offshore wind development back on track, and we must be ready to act as soon as we have a more favorable federal administration. Everyone in Massachusetts, including those not directly on the shore, has a role in supporting these projects and working to dispel misinformation.
What questions would you ask peer leaders of other regional environmental and conservation organizations, about advancing shared environmental progress and strengthening our common natural wealth? What lessons from your experience at ELM would you most want to share with other environmental leaders across Massachusetts
I’d want to ask where they’re seeing environmental wins make the biggest difference in people’s everyday lives. How can we better ensure that the benefits of clean energy reach every community? And how can we work together so that more people see themselves and their needs reflected in our agenda?
One lesson I’d share from ELM is that we find more opportunities when we look at these issues together. Housing, clean energy, transportation, and conservation are often treated as competing priorities. But at ELM we are seeing how thoughtful planning processes can make it easier for our towns and state to meet the needs of Massachusetts residents and our environment.
Readers can learn more about the ELMEnvironmental League of Massachusetts at EnvironmentalLeague.org
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