Preparing for Carbon Reduction Legislation
Buildings emissions account for almost 40% of carbon dioxide (CO2 or carbon) emissions in the U.S. per year.1 Recent legislative efforts around the nation look to address carbon emissions produced from large buildings’ significant energy usage by assessing and optimizing facilities’ energy performance.
In this blog, we will explain the different types of legislative initiatives, dive into a few specific city and state mandates, and cover solutions that can help your business meet these legislative demands.
Types of Initiatives
Recent legislative actions involve comprehensive policies and programs affecting an entire state, city, town or community, often with multiple areas of sustainability focus including energy, transportation, waste and overall resilience.
Some states and cities have implemented specific programs focused narrowly on improving energy performance and reducing emissions within specific sectors or institutions. These programs involve the implementation of targeted measures with clear compliance requirements and penalties. The mandates apply to most commercial and some residential buildings over a certain square footage, based on each city’s requirements. The requirements include reporting, mostly through ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®, of energy consumption, water usage, and in some cases, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most of these mandates are set on a sliding scale starting in the calendar year 2024/2025 to achieve their goals by 2050.
City Specific Mandates
These mandates make significant strides in addressing climate change, enhancing public health and fostering economic resilience. Some cities, among a long list of growing cities, that have begun to implement sustainability measures include:
- Boston, MA: The Climate Action Plan aims for climate neutrality by 2050. Strategies focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable transportation and climate resilience initiatives. As part of these strategies, large buildings over 35,000 square feet are required to report their energy and water usage.
- Cambridge, MA: The Net Zero Action Plan targets carbon-neutral buildings by 2050 through stringent energy performance standards, renewable energy adoption and innovative waste reduction programs. While focusing on non-residential and large residential buildings, the plan also contributes to the city’s overall goal of urban sustainability.
- Washington DC: The Sustainable DC Plan targets a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2032, emphasizing green building standards, extensive public transit improvements and comprehensive recycling programs.
- New York City: OneNYC aims for 100% clean electricity by 2040 and carbon neutrality by 2050, focusing on retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, expanding renewable energy and enhancing sustainable transportation.
- Chicago, IL – The Chicago Climate Action Plan aims for reducing the City’s carbon emissions by 62% by 2040. Strategies focus on increasing community based renewables, improving energy efficiency and climate infrastructure projects, retrofit residential and industrial buildings, updated building codes for new buildings, sustainable transportation and innovative waste reduction programs. As part of these strategies, large buildings over 50,000 square feet are required to report their energy usage.
- Detroit, MI: The Detroit Sustainability Action Agenda enhances environmental quality and resilience through renewable energy adoption, urban farming and waste reduction initiatives.
State Specific Mandates
The California legislature passed SB 253, also known as the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (CCDAA), which will require large public and private companies doing business in the state to disclose their scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, scope 2 refers to indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, and scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain.
Under SB 253, companies with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion will be compelled to disclose Scope 1 and 2 emissions starting in 2026 (for 2025 data) and subsequent disclosure of Scope 3 emissions.
Steps You Can Take
If your business is required to report on your energy usage or has corporate sustainability goals, creating a sustainability roadmap is important. A sustainability roadmap is a strategic plan that outlines a company’s sustainability goals, actions to achieve them, timelines and analytics for tracking progress. It typically involves a comprehensive assessment of a company’s current operational and sustainability practices, identification of key sustainability issues and opportunities, and development of a plan to address those issues and opportunities.
Constellation Navigator, a division of Constellation, delivers customized paths and sustainable solutions to help customers set and meet their environmental and operational goals. Driven by the advanced analytics from our technology platforms and advisors with decades of industry expertise, it provides strategies to help organizations reduce their carbon footprints. Constellation Navigator helps businesses solve challenges across the energy lifecycle, including carbon accounting, sustainability advisory, utility bill management and rebate administration.
Additionally, implementing energy conservation measures can improve a business’s bottom line through reduced energy use and cost savings, while also mitigating emissions. Energy efficiency upgrades that can help optimize your roadmap include:
- LED or other high-efficiency lighting that uses less energy and has a longer lifespan, leading to lower utility bills and maintenance costs.
- Water conservation measures, which are highly effective in reducing emissions due to the significant amount of energy required to produce potable water.
- State-of-the-art building automation systems that enhance energy conservation across facilities.
- High-efficiency heating systems, which reduce energy consumption and costs in colder climates.
- Onsite solar that decreases reliance on non-renewable energy and contributes to lower energy bills.
Learn more about our energy efficiency and emissions reduction solutions that can help you reduce energy usage and costs and manage your carbon footprint.
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