Stories
Stories
Clean Slate
For the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), the pandemic opened up the rare opportunity to rethink “everything we do and how we do it,” says CEO Lisa Wieland (MBA 2001). The independent public authority that owns and operates the Port of Boston and three regional airports, including Logan, announced a $1 billion plan to ensure that by the time Massport celebrates its 75th anniversary, in 2031, it will have reached net-zero status. The plan aligns with a Massachusetts law requiring statewide net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050—but Massport didn’t want to wait that long, Wieland says.
To get there, Massport is reducing the carbons tied to the operation of its airports, container ship and cruise terminals, and all related equipment and vehicles. Logan’s central heating system represents the biggest opportunity: Converting that to a more sustainable energy source will take some time and a whole heap of permitting, Wieland explains. Meanwhile, Massport is electrifying its ground-service equipment, such as the trucks that ferry luggage and equipment around the tarmac, and installing the charging stations to power them. As airlines convert their own fleets to electric, they’ll be able to plug right in. Massport will also use its facilities to generate as much renewable energy as possible on-site and invest in carbon offsets to make up the difference, among a host of other initiatives to reduce its footprint.
More challenging are the emissions that fall beyond Massport’s direct scope, from the airlines, trucking companies, passengers, cargo vessels, and cruise liners that pump carbon into the atmosphere as they come and go from Massport facilities. Through policy and planning, Massport aims to encourage these partners to also reduce their footprints, by supporting airlines’ transition to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), for example, and incentivizing greener options for airport transport, whether that’s an Uber, HOV, or a Logan Express bus.
“We think about our airport as an ecosystem, where the health and success of any operator in that ecosystem is dependent on the health of the whole,” says Wieland.
