NYC Targets Buildings for Massive Emissions Reduction Effort

Alexander C. Kaufman reports on the "Climate Mobilization Act" approved by the New York City Council late last week, just in time for Earth Day.

The legislation requires "large and medium-sized buildings, which account for nearly a third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the city, to reduce their emissions 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050," according to a City Council statement on the legislation.

"The effort demonstrates one of the clearest examples yet of what a municipal version of the Green New Deal, the national movement for a multi-trillion dollar climate-friendly industrial plan, might look like," writes Kaufman for perspective. "The legislation is forecast to spur thousands of blue-collar jobs and make it easier for the city to take advantage of future state and federal funding for clean energy projects and climate change-ready infrastructure."

Supporters of the legislation are calling the effort the single largest mandate to cut greenhouse gas emissions by any city in the world, according to Kaufman.

For further reading on the subject, Nilda Mesa, a senior research scientist at Columbia University and a former director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, wrote an opinion piece for Crain's New York Business in support of the legislation.