We were thrilled that Ann Berwick presented the Louise Bruyn Environmental Leadership Award to her former colleague, Bill Ferguson at our Environmental Leadership Celebration this month.
Ann herself received the award in 2023. As Newton’s former Co-Director of Sustainability, Ann leaves behind a truly remarkable legacy of environmental leadership that has shaped Newton for years to come.
Ann Berwick, Newton’s Co-Director of Sustainability since 2017, brought extensive legal, management, and leadership experience and a high level of expertise in environmental and energy law and policy to Newton. Ann has been instrumental at both the state and local levels in developing strong actionable environmental policies, getting them adopted and implemented.
Ann served in the administration of former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, first as Undersecretary for Energy and then as Chair of the Department of Public Utilities.
A long-time Newton resident, she also served on Green Newton’s board for many years until she became Co-Director of Sustainability for the City of Newton in 2017.Ann worked closely with Mayor Fuller to develop and implement Newton’s first community choice electricity aggregation program: “Newton Power Choice”. This program has served to support the further development of new renewable energy projects in New England, while protecting residents’ electricity rates. Ann was instrumental in negotiating the terms of four successive contracts, dramatically increasing the portion of Class 1 renewable energy RECs beyond the state requirement, leading other communities to follow suit, until the federal government pulled back its commitments to renewable energy projects in 2025. Ann also led an extensive outreach campaign that incentivized more people to choose 100% renewable electricity plans.
Ann and others on the Sustainability Team worked with city staff to produce Newton’s first citywide Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2019, to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions citywide, intending to achieve a carbon-neutral Newton by 2050. Importantly, recognizing that sustainability is a necessary mindset across many disciplines, the Sustainability Team included staff from Public Buildings, Public Works, Public Utilities, Planning and Conservation/ Open Space.
Ann played key roles implementing several efforts which continue to contribute to meeting those goals.
Ann worked with Green Newton and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to establish Newton’s HeatSmart Program. This program has to date helped over 200 homeowners upgrade their heating and cooling systems to heat pump technology.
Ann also worked closely and tirelessly with the City Council Public Facilities and Zoning & Planning (ZAP) committees on several building energy-related codes and ordinances. Ann wrote the electrification ordinance and Home Rule petition to the state, so that Newton is now one of the Ten Communities who require most new construction to be powered fully by electricity. Ann worked with the ZAP committee again, to illustrate the workings of the Stretch code, and drafted the ordinance (and all supporting materials) needed to adopt the optional Specialized Stretch Code, adopted in 2023.
Ann also worked closely with then Co-Director Bill Ferguson to design and
draft the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), adopted by Council in 2024. To comply with the ordinance, owners of large commercial properties in Newton are now reporting annual emissions and submitting plans showing how they will reduce fossil fuel emissions to zero by 2050. This ordinance alone will contribute significantly to the Newton Climate Action Plan.
We are profoundly grateful to Ann Berwick, for her significant and generous contributions to Newton’s environmental policies and programs. We will miss working with her.