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The Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates high emissions-producing Logan International Airport, has hired its first chief climate and resilience officer.
Massport announced the hiring of Jill Valdes Horwood, who has worked for the Barr Foundation, a grant-making private foundation, and advocacy group Boston Harbor Now, as the new chief. The job includes helping the agency get to its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2031, the same year Massport turns 75.
“Jill brings a strong track record in climate policy and advocacy that will be critical as we continue our Net Zero initiatives and prepare for the long-term impacts of climate change,” Rich Davey, Massport’s CEO, said in a statement.
At the Barr Foundation, Horwood worked as director of its Boston Waterfront Initiative, which focused on promoting access and development focused climate resilience. She served as Boston Harbor Now’s director of policy, and she previously has done legal work for victims of domestic violence and underserved populations.
Aside from Logan Airport, Massport’s portfolio of facilities includes Worcester Regional Airport; Hanscom, an airfield 20 miles northwest of Boston; the Port of Boston’s Conley Terminal serving container ships; and the Flynn Cruiseport, which serves cruise ships.
Massport’s emissions come from a central heating plant, cargo handling equipment, its maritime facilities, emergency generators, and snow melters, among other machinery. But the largest generator of emissions is aviation fuel.
“Ninety percent of greenhouse gas emissions at Logan Airport come from aviation fuels,” Davey said during a recent talk to members of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) at a local law firm. Overall, aviation fuel accounts for two to three percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to Davey.
“We’re doing all the things you would expect a manager of facilities to do. We’re changing our light bulbs, we’re buying electric vehicles, we’re putting in charging plug-ins for customers. We’re doing all that,” he said. “But still, we take care all of that, it’s only a 10 percent reduction of our own greenhouse gas emissions. So sustainable aviation fuel is still reasonably new and there are some promising technologies. We’ll see how far off they are.”
Massport is interested in helping the technology along. “We’re really focused on how we can scale it, how we can get some adoption going, at Hanscom for example, or at Worcester or Logan,” Davey said. “It’s exciting to be at the forefront of that question.”
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