New York City’s 2019 Climate Mobilization Act includes a goal to reduce overall carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The City’s first big milestone arrives in 2030: by then, New York buildings will need to collectively cut their carbon emissions by 40 percent. Intermediate reductions begin in 2024.

Is my building subject to Local Law 97?

An estimated 50,000 residential and commercial buildings are subject to the carbon cap (measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide per square foot).

Buildings larger than 25,000 square feet in the 10 Building Code Occupancy Groups are regulated under this law. Generally, if your building is subject to NYC’s benchmarking law and you submit annual water and energy use, you are required to comply with Local Law 97.

A list of buildings subject to the benchmarking law can be found here (opens an Excel spreadsheet). Search for your building by its 10-digit Borough-Block-Lot (BBL) number.

Not sure of your BBL?

Find it on the NYC Department of Finance website.

Note

Mixed-use buildings have limits that reflect their specific percentage of occupancy groups.
Hospitals and income-limited units are regulated under a separate timeline.

How much carbon does my building emit now?

Visit Metered.nyc and enter your building’s BBL or the street address in the green search bar.

Once your building is located, scroll down to the green highlighted “GHG Emissions / sq. ft.” bar to view the carbon intensity for the building. This value depends on an emissions factor applied to each source of energy used (e.g., fuel oil, natural gas, electricity, district steam) based on its associated carbon pollution. Metered.nyc uses emission factors from EPA’s Portfolio Manager Tool.

You can calculate your building’s annual carbon emissions by multiplying the value in the green box by the building’s total area (square feet).

How much do I need to reduce my building’s carbon emissions?