NEW YORK — Mayor de Blasio has announced that New York City is committing to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over 2005 levels by 2050, starting with One City, Built to Last: Transforming New York City’s Buildings for a Low-Carbon Future – a sweeping plan to retrofit public and private buildings to dramatically reduce the city’s contributions to climate change, while spurring major cost savings and creating thousands of new jobs for New Yorkers who most need them.
This makes New York the largest city to commit to the 80 percent reduction by 2050, and charts a long-term path for investment in renewable sources of energy and a total transition from fossil fuels.
Nearly three quarters of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions come from energy used to heat, cool, and power buildings, making building retrofits a central component of any plan to dramatically reduce emissions.
The City is poised to make direct investments to increase the efficiency of its public buildings, including schools and public housing, reducing the government’s contribution to climate change and generating operational savings for New York City taxpayers. Every single city-owned building with any significant energy use – approximately 3,000 buildings – will be retrofitted within the next ten years, by 2025, with interim goals along the way.
