This story was originally published by Canary Media and is republished with permission.
Airbnb has a new program to help hosts slash carbon pollution by offering them cash rebates to weatherize and electrify their vacation-rental homes — available, for now, in Massachusetts.
While Airbnb successfully launched similar programs in the U.K. and France in 2022 — with enthusiastic responses from thousands of hosts, according to the company — this is the first of its kind in the U.S.
The incentives from Airbnb include up to $500 for energy-efficiency upgrades, such as insulation, and up to $2,000 for air-source heat-pump installations.
That $2,500 carrot tackles emissions as well as hosts’ energy costs. “This program would save me a ton of money,” Elle Michelle, an Airbnb host in Massachusetts, said in a statement. “As a host in a home built in the 1970s, I’ve been wanting to make upgrades to... Read more
