Rick Dimino

To combat the growing impacts of climate change, there are some obvious action items for Greater Boston.

We must strengthen seawalls to protect against rising sea levels. Older buildings should be retrofitted to be more energy efficient. Federal, state and municipal governments have set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the public and private sectors; we are focusing on achieving them. These are essential ways to protect our neighborhoods, economy and future quality of life. Yet more must be done and this month, three Massachusetts organizations are taking extra steps to support clean, renewable energy and in the process they may revolutionize how nonprofits and small businesses participate in the global effort to mitigate climate change.

MIT, Boston Medical Center (BMC) and the Friends of Post Office Square are uniting to both purchase electricity generated by solar power and actually finance the construction of a 650-acre, 60-megawatt solar farm. This project is expected to produce approximately 146,000 megawatt hours of emissions-free electricity annually – the equivalent of electricity used in 17,600 homes every year. A Better City worked to unite these groups on the idea and foster a sustained, long-term commitment to the project. Our team brought on CustomerFirst Renewables – a seasoned renewable procurement technical advisory firm – to provide economic and environmental analysis, help review project proposals and structure the contract negotiations. This successful purchase represents the largest renewable-energy project ever built in the U.S. through an alliance of diverse off-takers.

This “virtual” power purchase agreement (PPA) demonstrates how Boston’s leaders are thinking outside the box when it comes to mitigating climate change. The solar farm in North Carolina will not directly supply power to MIT, BMC and Post Office Square as some other PPAs do – it will produce clean energy in North Carolina, offsetting the use of much dirtier power generators than in our New England grid. This innovative approach leads to much larger emissions reductions than we would have been able to accomplish closer to home. The impact of this power purchase agreement is an estimated abatement of 119,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is the equivalent of removing 25,250 cars from the road every year.

The impacts of greenhouse gases are not restricted to the boarders of one state or region, so the benefits of this shift to cleaner energy in one area will be realized across the globe. The efforts taken by our organizations within Boston will be futile if other parts of the nation and world are not joining in the effort to fight climate change. The structure of this PPA shows a blueprint for Greater Boston entities to have a global impact that benefits everyone. We can and should replicate this initiative, working beyond our city for the greater, global good.

Rick Dimino is president and CEO of A Better City.