Speaking Monday in a virtual farewell address hosted by the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, Hoffer defended the whole-of-government approach she built under Gov. Maura Healey while urging advocates to push for an eventual end to natural gas infrastructure — a stance that puts her at odds with the administration's recent embrace of additional gas supplies.

Hoffer is leaving to become president of Vermont Law and Graduate School, a position she begins Dec. 1. Her departure leaves unresolved the future of the Cabinet-level climate office Healey created on her first day in January 2023, and no successor had been publicly named as of Hoffer's last day. Hoffer's office did not respond to questions about the governor's timeline for an appointment.

Healey established the Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience to embed climate considerations across state government, not just in environmental agencies. "On day one of this administration, we created the Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience and appointed the nation's first cabinet-level Climate Chief because we know that addressing the climate crisis requires a comprehensive, coordinated approach across all of state government," Healey said in October 2023.

In her address, Hoffer argued that framing environmental protection as a tradeoff against working-class economic interests is a political trap, citing the long-running conflict over logging and the spotted owl as a cautionary example. "What is affordable is green. What is affordable is clean energy. What is affordable is investing in resilience now," she said. "This is one of those situations where we must do everything we can to avoid running into a situation where people see it as a competition between, it's either going to be affordable or it's going to be green, because that's malarkey."

That argument carries particular weight as Healey pursues an energy strategy that explicitly includes natural gas while the state remains legally bound to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In October, Healey wrote to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright urging expedited federal review of the proposed Algonquin Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement, or RARE, pipeline project, which the governor's office says could lower costs by reducing reliance on imported liquefied natural gas. "I've been clear that we need to bring more energy supply into Massachusetts with an all-of-the-above approach that includes solar, wind, storage, nuclear, geothermal, hydro and gas," Healey said at the time.

Asked what she would do with a "magic wand" to remove systemic obstacles, Hoffer was blunt: "We should be putting in place a hard stop on natural gas infrastructure. It should be phased out by 2050." She called methane "a super pollutant" but qualified that the transition must be orderly and that existing gas infrastructure cannot simply be abandoned overnight. "I'm answering you in a magic world where politics don't matter because you gave me my wand," she said. "But if we are looking at science, that's what we should be doing."

Hoffer also warned that building out both gas and electric systems simultaneously risks sticking ratepayers with the cost of assets that may become obsolete as homes and businesses electrify. "We're expanding the electric system and we're expanding the gas system, and we're paying for stuff that we don't need," she said. She pointed to Healey's energy affordability legislation, which proposes integrated gas and electric planning, and said utilities and the Department of Public Utilities need better transparency and oversight to "prudently prune back" gas infrastructure in areas expected to transition to heat pumps.

Beyond the RARE project, Enbridge has proposed a second expansion of the Algonquin pipeline known as Project Beacon, which would increase natural gas flows into the region. Healey has not clearly outlined her position on that proposal. The administration has said its support for RARE rests on the project being funded by its developer rather than ratepayers; in January, after regulators approved an Eversource supply contract tied to the expansion, Healey said the decision would lower costs for more than 600,000 gas customers.

Hoffer also acknowledged the political constraints facing governors as the Trump administration moves against federal climate programs, describing the challenge of maintaining state commitments without inviting federal retaliation. She pointed to the cancellation and disruption of offshore wind investments, which she said dealt a significant blow to the state's reliability planning and climate goals. "As a governor, not just Governor Healey, but you saw many governors really trying to thread that needle, where you would cleave to your strong values and your state commitments, but not try to get on his bad side," Hoffer said.

Her central message to advocates was that affordability and climate action should not be treated as competing interests. "What we can't do is take that bait that somehow it's just too expensive for us to deal with climate change," she said. "Because I'll tell you what's really expensive: that is, climate change."