Who We Are
The mission of the GRC is to accelerate the implementation of Boston's Climate Action Plan together with our most influential institutions. The GRC serves as an international model for the governance of public-private climate action networks.
Boston has 47 miles of coastline, approximately 85,000 buildings, an aging electrical grid, and more than 650,000 residents—all increasingly affected by climate change. For 15 years, the Green Ribbon Commission has partnered with the City to advance climate resilience, carbon neutrality, and climate justice. Launched by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and local philanthropist Amos Hostetter, the GRC was built on a clear idea: engaging Boston’s business, institutional, and civic leaders directly in the design and implementation of climate solutions can accelerate progress and help match the scale of action to the scale of the challenge.
Today, the GRC is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Former U.S. Ambassador Alan Leventhal. Our growing network of leaders is informed, engaged, and connected—sharing proven approaches, advancing cohorts of first movers, and contributing institutional expertise to important policy and implementation decisions. Across sectors including commercial real estate, health care, higher education, culture, and energy, our members work alongside the City to move Boston’s climate goals from ambition to action.
The Era of Implementation
Boston has entered a new era of climate implementation. With the City’s updated Climate Action Plan providing a clear path toward 2030 and beyond, the challenge is no longer identifying what must be done—it is delivering solutions at the scale and pace the moment requires.
That means financing billions of dollars in coastal protection, decarbonizing Boston’s largest buildings alongside tens of thousands of smaller ones, beginning the transition away from natural gas, and modernizing the electrical grid to support a significant increase in electricity demand.
Through the GRC’s 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, we are concentrating our work in three areas where bold progress is essential and public-private partnership is critical:
Boston’s Path to Coastal Resilience
Advancing solutions to the city’s most complex resilience financing, governance, permitting, and implementation challenges.
Grid Modernization and a Just Energy Transition
Supporting a more modern, reliable, and resilient electric grid while helping Boston plan for electrification and the transition away from natural gas.
Large Building Decarbonization
Accelerating action across the buildings responsible for the largest share of Boston’s carbon emissions.
Staff
Members
Boston is already a global leader in climate innovation and action. By combining the City’s leadership with the talent, assets, and influence of its institutions, the GRC helps demonstrate what coordinated climate implementation can achieve—and offers a model for other cities to follow.
The GRC’s membership brings together many of Boston’s most influential leaders across higher education, health care, utilities, finance, commercial real estate, culture, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector. Members are committed to advancing climate action within their own institutions while contributing the expertise, influence, and resources needed to help Boston achieve its climate goals.
The Commission also includes senior leaders from the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, creating a unique forum for public- and private-sector coordination. Most members participate in at least one of the GRC’s six working groups, where they share best practices, address sector-specific challenges, and advance cross-cutting solutions that support climate implementation across Boston and the region.
Institutions
The GRC’s members include many of Boston’s most influential institutions across higher education, health care, commercial real estate, culture, business, energy, and civic leadership. Together, they bring the scale, expertise, and resources needed to accelerate climate action across the city.
Working Groups
The Green Ribbon Commission organizes its work through sector- and topic-focused working groups aligned with the priorities of its strategic plan. These groups bring together leaders in commercial real estate, cultural institutions, health care, higher education, coastal resilience, and grid modernization to share expertise, surface common challenges, and advance practical solutions grounded in research, analysis, and collective action.
