Mark Pipher
NEW YORK CITY—Earlier this year, The Climate Mobilization Act was passed in New York City Council and the city's real estate market is expected to undergo a vast change to push back against climate change. There are 11 pieces of legislation that are part of the Act, but the centerpiece is Local Law 97 of 2019, which establishes strict carbon emissions limits for New York City buildings larger than 25,000 square feet.
Local Law 97 is the most aggressive climate legislation to date for buildings of this size and is setting the precedent for a more sustainable future. The new law places buildings on route to meet the city's goal to reduce overall carbon emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. Starting in 2024, building owners who don't comply and stay within the limits will be heavily fined.
Robert LoForte
Buildings are the largest offender of greenhouse gas emissions, representing nearly 70 percent of New York City's total emissions. This new legislation will affect 50,000 existing residential and commercial buildings—and is just the first step towards full implementation across the country. As New York spearheads its own sustainability efforts, it's also setting the standard for greener, more energy conscious buildings across the U.S.
What does this mean for the building owners?
One of the largest concerns with Local Law 97 is whether or not buildings will be able to adapt in time and what the will cost for compliance will be. The first deadline for New York City buildings is 2024, which requires immediate action and planning to identify retrofits, commissioning, and energy efficiency upgrades that need to be worked into the budget. This is a costly and time intensive process for both new and existing buildings where energy efficiency was not originally implemented in the blueprints.
The requirements and limits are strict and will only become more stringent over time. For every metric ton over the limit, a fine of $268 will be implemented on an annual basis and additional fines will be added for false or inaccurate reporting. Buildings will need to submit a report each year to calculate carbon emissions limits for all covered buildings, prepared by a registered design professional, showing their calculated limit as well as their carbon emissions for the previous year. Buildings that emit carbon over their calculated limit are then subject to a fine.
|| Occupancy Group | Carbon Limit – kg CO2e/sf | |
| 2024-2029 | 2030-2034 | |
| A – Assembly | 10.74 | 4.20 |
| B – Business | 8.46 | 4.53 |
| E and I-4 – Educational and Institutional Custodial Care Facilities | 7.58 | 3.44 |
| I-1 – Institutional supervised living and personal care facilities | 11.38 | 5.98 |
| F – Factory and Industrial | 5.74 | 1.67 |
| B civic administrative facility for emergency response services, B non-production laboratory, Group B ambulatory health care facility, H, I-2 or I-3 | 23.81 | 11.93 |
| M – Mercantile | 11.81 | 4.03 |
| R-1 – Transient Residential Buildings | 9.87 | 5.26 |
| R-2 – Residential | 6.75 | 4.07 |
| S and U – Storage | 4.26 | 1.10 |
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