Earth Protect Blog

By Jane Margolies

© The New York Times Co.

NEW YORK » Worried about higher temperatures, more frequent and intense rainfall and rising seas that are nibbling away at New York’s coastal edges, the City Council enacted Local Law 97 in 2019 as part of a pioneering legislative package aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.

The law zeros in on large buildings in New York, setting limits on their emissions. The city’s 1 million buildings generate nearly 70% of its carbon emissions because much of the energy for their heating, cooling and lighting comes from burning fossil fuels.

Now, with 16 months until the deadline to meet the first thresholds — and with the threat of fines that could climb to millions of dollars a year for buildings that do not — landlords are on high alert.

The good news is that nearly all the 50,000 buildings subject to the law will be in compliance for the first deadline, Jan. 1, 2024, according to city estimates. But that leaves 2,700 buildings across the city where action is needed to avoid fines — heating systems tuned up, leaky windows replaced and energy-efficient lighting installed.

And the emissions thresholds fall significantly for the second deadline, in 2030, which is likely to mean that many more buildings will need to make major changes — not just tuning up building systems but replacing them — or pay hefty fines.

Real estate companies with large portfolios — and often staff devoted to sustainability initiatives — have generally been getting their carbon act together, and many are on track to avoid crushing penalties in the near term.

However, mom-andpop companies that own older buildings that still have oil or gas furnaces in their basements, and the boards running the city’s residential co-ops and condos, have their backs against the wall. Some are still trying to figure out what they need to do and how they will pay for capital projects they never anticipated.

“We don’t really know what our obligations are and what our penalties are going to be,” said Debbie Fechter, a partner at Digby Management, a familyowned real estate business that has four buildings in Manhattan subject to Local Law 97. She added that her company had trouble getting the attention of the consulting firms that do energy audits on buildings and help owners understand how to comply with the law.

Some owners have been pushing back. In May, two garden apartment complexes in Queens and the owner of a mixed-use building in Manhattan sued the city, alleging the law would saddle them and others with “draconian” fines and asking that enforcement be blocked.

City officials, who would not comment on pending litigation, have said they are sympathetic to struggling owners and can waive or lower fines for those making “good faith” efforts — wiggle room that is enshrined in Local Law 97. The city is still drafting rules for applying the law and has hit pause on a financing program that would pay for the sorts of retrofitting that many buildings will need.