Sustainability Street: Living With Local Law 97

Five years after the passage of Local Law 97, impacted property owners are facing their first reporting deadline under the groundbreaking carbon emissions reduction legislation.

But it’s the deadlines to come that will really challenge owners and the city at large. By 2050, all buildings are expected to get to zero.

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, our podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in. 

My guest for this episode is Amanda Clevinger, policy and programs director for Bright Power. She and I discuss how owners are being impacted by the new building performance standards, how the city plans to fund its massive decarbonization project and and how owners not currently affected by emissions caps can prepare for what is likely to come in the future.

 ”I think we need to get through the first year of emissions reporting, and then we’re gonna see more of that focus of pushing buildings to take firmer actions to upgrade their buildings and Beneficial Electrification credits will be part of that discussion because it does provide a pretty lucrative reward for electrifying early,” Clevinger told me.

Here’s a sample of the topics we discussed:

• An “aggressive” legislation (5:34)
• The road to electrification (8:41)
• Compliance challenges (12:10)
• How can older properties and co-ops comply? (16:34)
• Funding the work (21:26)
• Local law 97 and the split incentive (26:00)
• Energy effiiciency and AI (29:35)
• Building performance standards are spreading (31:03)

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