Starting January 2022, O’Malley will serve as Vicinity’s environmental advocate, charged with leading the company’s decarbonization and sustainability efforts.

BOSTON, December 3, 2021 – Vicinity Energy, owner of the nation’s largest portfolio of district energy systems, announces that Boston City Council President Pro Tempore Matt O’Malley will become the company’s first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer. Reporting to President and Chief Executive Officer Bill DiCroce, O’Malley will be responsible for leading the company’s decarbonization efforts and guiding the execution of Vicinity’s Clean Energy Future, Net Zero Carbon plan. O’Malley will officially join the company in January 2022 when he finishes his term on the Boston City Council.

Serving on the Boston City Council for the past 11 years, Councilor O’Malley has led aggressive environmental initiatives, including promoting net zero carbon building standards, community choice energy, eliminating gas leaks and single-use plastic bags, and diverting organics from landfills through curbside composting in the City of Boston. He also authored the Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO). BERDO has required buildings to report their annual energy and water use since 2013 and was recently expanded to give the city authority to set carbon targets for individual buildings.

“I am excited to join the Vicinity team as Chief Sustainability Officer early next year,” said O’Malley. “District energy is the missing puzzle piece to rapidly decarbonize the Cities of Boston, Cambridge, and nationwide. The company is taking swift action to reduce its carbon footprint with proven technology modeled after other leading cities around the world, like the systems in Vancouver and Copenhagen. The district energy assets under the ground in Boston and Cambridge are unique and incredibly valuable. They can allow us to move quickly in reducing emissions without making substantial changes to existing building infrastructure, which is critical for our communities and future generations. I couldn’t be more eager to make this move and work hand-in-hand with the Vicinity team and our regulatory partners to achieve our mutual decarbonization objectives.”

“Hiring Matt as our Chief Sustainability Officer marks the next determined step in our move away from fossil fuels towards a net zero carbon future,” said Bill DiCroce, president and CEO of Vicinity. “With Matt on Vicinity’s executive leadership team we can accelerate the understanding of our decarbonization efforts by the environmental and business community. Having served on the Boston City Council for over a decade, Matt brings incredible depth of experience, and I know he will be a tremendous asset in educating our community about the real potential of district energy in meeting our shared carbon reduction goals. We all look forward to his contributions to the company, which I’m certain will help us put Boston at the forefront of a paradigm shift for our industry.”

The Vicinity district energy network in Boston and Cambridge currently reduces greenhouse gas emissions in the region by 165,000 tons annually, the equivalent of removing 36,000 cars from the road each year. Additionally, Vicinity is ramping up its decarbonization efforts in these cities, reducing its use of fossil fuels by electrifying its district energy system operations.

About Vicinity Energy

With 19 district energy systems in 12 major cities, Vicinity Energy is the leading provider of district energy solutions nationwide. Vicinity produces and distributes steam, hot water, and chilled water directly through its vast underground network to individual buildings and campuses. Additionally, it generates electricity through its CHP units as a wholesale provider to the electric grid. District energy eliminates the need for boiler and chiller plants in individual buildings, improving overall efficiency, lowering carbon footprints, and increasing reliability. Vicinity’s over 450 skilled engineers, operators, and energy experts have a singular dedication to customer success and a relentless focus on delivering reliable and efficient energy products and services. With the recent launch of the company’s Clean Energy Future roadmap, Vicinity has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions across all operations by 2050.  For more information, check out www.vicinityenergy.us.

Media Contact
Sara DeMille
Senior Director of Marketing and Communications
media@vicinityenergy.us