New York’s city council has recently passed several environmental pieces of legislation.
The Climate Mobilization Act, which city council passed last week, imposes limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
The imposed limits will officially go into effect by 2024.
The piece of legislation provides exemptions for various buildings, including place of worship, hospitals, and power plants.
“This will be the largest disruption in the history of New York City real estate,” John Mandyck, the Chief Executive of the Urban Green Council, said in a statement. “Buildings will have to do deep energy retrofits or buy green power or eventually look at carbon trading. We get that it’s tough and that billions of dollars will need to be spent to reduce carbon emissions. But new technology and new business models will be invented to help buildings get there.”
The Urban Council recently created a working group to propose regulations on emissions, according to Crain’s.
“Unfortunately, [the legislation] does not take a comprehensive, citywide approach needed to solve this complex issue,” John Banks, the president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said in a statement. “A coalition of stakeholders including environmental organizations, labor, engineering professionals, housing advocates, and real estate owners came together and proposed comprehensive and balanced reforms that would have achieved these goals.”
1 Bryant Park, built by the Durst Organization in 2010, was the first skyscraper to receive a “platinum” rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.
That, however, isn’t enough as a source tells Crain’s that under the new legislation, the building will be fined $2.5 million dollars in 2024.
“The fine will escalate annually from there,” Alexander Durst, the Chief Development Officer of the Durst Organization, told Crain’s.
Ed Ermler, the president of a Jackson Heights co-op told Crain’s that despite convincing the co-op board to invest in green features as of late — he doesn’t think he can reduce emissions much more and will likely become liable under the Climate Mobilization Act.
“We’re already at a minimal baseline, to begin with,” Mr. Ermler told Crain’s. “At the end of the day, I’m going to have my seniors—who are hard-pressed to pay their maintenance on a good day—getting hit with assessments. And I’m going to end up with a lot of co-ops I can’t sell.”
