In a few weeks, a delegation of elected leaders, scientists and academic institutions will be headed to the Vatican for an international climate resilience conference hosted by Pope Francis. Gov. Maura Healey will lead the Massachusetts delegation.
While campaigning for governor, Healey told GBH’s Jim Braude that she would be “the most aggressive governor in the country on climate.” During her time in the corner office, Healey has been quite aggressive on climate, most recently pushing for deep investments in climate technology.
Ahead of her trip to the Vatican, Healey joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to discuss governing during a climate crisis. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.
Arun Rath: When people think of climate change solutions, the Vatican might not always be front of mind; it’s not like Vatican City is a major contributor to greenhouse gases. Why the Vatican for this conference? What’s the aim there?
Gov. Maura Healey: Well, this is a conference that His Holiness Pope Francis has organized and will be presiding over. It’s an international conference, and I’m honored and thrilled to be invited to be at the Vatican to deliver a keynote. It really is an opportunity to showcase Massachusetts’ leadership on climate on a global stage.
It’s also an opportunity to convene with government and education leaders, scientists, philanthropists and business leaders to talk about how we are going to advance our work, related to climate and climate solutions.
Rath: Talk a bit more about that. Your keynote, if I have the title right, is called “Governing in the Age of Climate Change.” Talk about that.
Healey: Right. There’s a particular focus on the role of governors and mayors, and that’s why I’m invited alongside [Boston] Mayor Wu. What I’ll be speaking to is some of what we’ve done and what we want to do here in Massachusetts.
I was the first governor to ever appoint a cabinet-level climate chief. I’m the first to establish the country’s first green bank that is dedicated to affordable housing. Last week, my administration announced a significant investment that we want to make in climate tech, making Massachusetts the global hub for climate technology.
This is an opportunity for us to talk about some of the things that we’re doing here, including an announcement that I’m going to be making about something else — it’s the first of its kind. It’s launching a global climate workforce so that we have the workers trained here in Massachusetts who are going to be needed to fill the jobs and all the climate-related work that is happening now and ahead of us.
That’s sort of a summary of what I’m going to be speaking to. But more than anything, it’s an opportunity to convene with leaders from around the world to share Massachusetts' story and to learn from others, as well.
Rath: What more can you tell us about the climate workforce? What would that mean in Massachusetts?
Healey: Well, we have mandates through our Legislature that require us to hit certain emissions targets and reduce our greenhouse gases. There’s a lot of things that we need to do that. We need to decarbonize transportation, housing and manufacturing. We need to also develop strategies and tools and implement them to deal with things like building our resilience.
How do we identify the areas where we need to build out more resilience — whether it’s along our coasts or the interior — when it comes to the kinds of weather that we’re seeing, in addition to rising sea levels? When you’re talking about all of that, you’re talking about technology and work that’s needed to decarbonize to mitigate against climate problems, electrify our grid and build out transmission because we’re moving from fossil fuels to other sources of energy.
All of that requires a built-out grid. And the heroes of this revolution are going to be the actual workforce that is developing, implementing and building out all of what we need to build. We want to make sure that we are training up that workforce in a K-12 context, our vocational schools and our community colleges, working with labor and working with industry to make sure that we have the HVAC folks, the electricians and so many others who are going to be needed to do this work.
The reason this is the first of its kind is because we’re doing it as a public-private partnership. We’re looking to use state money to make investments in the workforce and pair that with private money in those same workforce investments. Together, we’re going to help leverage that. It’s going to build a terrific workforce of people [who are] ready to deliver on all that we need when it comes to climate mitigation, resilience, decarbonization, etc.
Rath: Who do you hope to connect with at the summit to help advance this and put that into effect globally?
Healey: I think that this conference is going to be a series of talks and meetings, discussions with science, government and business leaders about what is happening in their realms, and then how we can work together to advance solutions.
I’m looking forward to the conversations. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s possible in terms of things that we can bring back to Massachusetts, and how we can look to scale up some of what we are trying to do here in Massachusetts.
Rath: You’re leading a delegation to the Vatican. Not to put a fine point on it, but the Vatican has baggage here in Massachusetts with the clergy abuse scandal and, more broadly, with what some consider a failure of leadership on LGBTQ+ issues. As a governor leading a state delegation, are those issues you have to take on in any way? Or is this all just about climate?
Healey: Well, my trip to the Vatican will be about climate. And as somebody who is gay and Catholic, I have been heartened by many things that Pope Francis has done to make the church more inclusive and more welcome, including last year’s decision to bless marriages between same-sex couples.
It’s certainly the case that I have been deeply disappointed by some of the church’s policies. I have a very different view about certain things.
But this is an opportunity ... to come together and focus on one of the most pressing issues of our time and, again, to showcase Massachusetts’ climate leadership on a global stage.
In addition to visiting the Vatican for the climate summit, I also will be meeting with business leaders because part of what we’re trying to do is promote our Massachusetts economy. Italy happens to be our 10th largest trading partner, with over $2 billion in trade last year. I’ll have an opportunity to meet with Italian companies to talk about how they might expand business in Massachusetts.
Rath: Brilliant. And just one last thing: Earlier this week, students were arrested at UMass Amherst. Just last night, the UMass Student Government Council issued a no-confidence vote about the university’s chancellor, Chancellor Javier Reyes, who was only just recently inaugurated. I’m wondering if you want to make any comments on this, the police’s handling of it or about Chancellor Reyes.
Healey: I certainly support Chancellor Reyes and the University of Massachusetts. I understand and appreciate that there is a right to protest and to give voice, certainly. But it’s also clear that there’s no place for hate, violence or threats of violence on our college campuses — we have to be very clear about that.
We have to be very clear about denouncing antisemitism, Islamaphobia and hate in all its forms. Colleges have an obligation to keep their students safe, and we are here as an administration to support them in that work.
