Burlington Draws Inspiration from Other Cities to Reduce Building Emissions

Over the past few years, cities across the US have made headlines for their efforts to ban natural gas in new buildings. To date, 76 cities have placed restrictions on natural gas in new construction. However, even the strongest policies regulating new construction fail to address the bulk of the problem: existing buildings. About 80% of today’s buildings will still be standing in 2050; the year by which the United States aims to become climate-neutral. In order to lower emissions, cities must enact policies that encourage or require existing properties to make the switch to electric, renewable fuel.

Of those 76 cities working to restrict natural gas use, only nine have enacted policies that impact existing buildings. 

Brittainy Newman/AP

In 2019, New York City became the first. In a city where over two-thirds of emissions come from buildings, policies targeting emissions cuts from buildings are crucial to reaching the city’s goals to reduce overall emissions 40% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. New York’s law sets emissions limits for buildings over 25,000 feet, which includes 50,000 buildings across the city and 60% of all building area. In New York, emissions limits depend on the type of building, for example, a hospital is permitted to emit more than a fitness center. These emission reduction targets ramp up every few years. For buildings that fail to meet those targets on time, owners are fined $268 for every metric ton of carbon emissions over the limit. The first compliance deadline (for about 12% of buildings), was January 1, 2024. 

Two years later, in 2021, Denver, CO passed its Energize Denver Ordinance, which requires buildings over 25,000 square feet to submit emissions reduction reports on June 1 of each year, starting in 2024. Denver’s policy is notable because of the three mechanisms it uses to enforce decarbonization and encourage electrification. Not only does it prescribe a building performance standard with energy efficiency requirements, but it also gives different requirements for smaller buildings and institutes, such as electrification requirements for heating equipment. The same year, the state of Colorado enacted its own building emissions reduction law. 

In 2023, with support from Run On Climate, Cambridge, MA passed its own building decarbonization ordinance, applying to non-residential buildings over 25,000 square feet. Cambridge’s approach is uniquely ambitious, requiring all buildings over 100,000 square feet to reach net-zero emissions by 2035. 

Cambridge’s expedited timeline recognizes the urgency of lowering emissions, but in an interview with Run on Climate, former Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan also emphasized the importance of flexibility. The deadline for buildings to reach net zero was initially later, but Zondervan and other councilors negotiated it to 2035 by giving property owners more ways to comply with the ordinance. Preserving trust between businesses and the government is essential, according to Zondervan. 

“We’re not trying to punish them, or force them to do something that’s not realistic,” Zondervan explained. He also reflected on the challenge of enforcement, joking that, “at the city level it’s especially challenging because we don’t have the power to march the Cambridge Police into a building.” 

It's for these reasons that Cambridge’s law has multiple ways that buildings can comply, including by purchasing locally sourced, city-approved carbon credits or paying a fee which is equivalent to the cost of reduction. 

“It’s always a delicate balance when you’re trying to impose requirements because obviously we want everybody to zero out their emissions tomorrow, but if you actually made that the requirement, nobody would do it… We’re always trying to maximize the reductions that we’re actually going to get… you don’t want to sacrifice the good for the perfect,” Zondervan said.

This year, Burlington, VT is following suit with the development of a Building Emissions Reduction Ordinance. This new ordinance is a critical step towards realizing the ambitious goals set by Burlington’s 2019 Net Zero (NZE) Roadmap, which calls for all buildings to eliminate fossil fuel use by 2030. With about 95% of the city’s buildings still reliant on natural gas for heating, the stakes are high, and there is tremendous room for progress. Although Burlington’s emissions from the thermal sector have struggled to stay on track with NZE goals, this new ordinance could be the catalyst Burlington needs to crack down on emissions and make its vision of a net-zero city a reality.

Last year, the city passed a near-ban on fossil fuels in new buildings. Burlington’s new policy, introduced by City Councilor Marek Broderick, is drafted to apply to existing buildings larger than 10,000 square feet. 

Broderick, who will be a senior this fall at the University of Vermont, began his council term in April and wasted no time introducing the ordinance and advocating for other ambitious climate policies. 

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” Broderick says, “If I'm going to spend a significant portion of my time writing policy, it's going to be the best policy possible. I'm going to get the best bang for my buck when it comes to these things, especially on climate, because it's such an important issue that deserves proper respect right now.” 

Moran Municipal Generation Station, a former power plant in Burlington.

Burlington is uniquely positioned to reduce its emissions through building electrification thanks to its clean electrical grid. Burlington’s municipally owned utility sources 100% of the city’s electricity from renewables. This means that buildings can immediately benefit from renewable energy by electrifying — ‘a luxury’ as Broderick describes it.

Burlington’s policy is still in the works. On September 3, the Transportation, Energy, and Utilities Committee will hear public input, and by October they are expected to send a draft ordinance to the Council’s Ordinance Committee.

If the ordinance is passed, Burlington will become the tenth American city leading the way to lower emissions from existing buildings. Broderick hopes that rather than contributing to the controversy around progressive climate policy, passing ambitious policies in Burlington will showcase their benefits and inspire other cities to take similarly progressive actions. 

“We're helping these buildings by telling them that you have to make your building more efficient to lower your emissions, but it's also going to lower your heating bill,” says Broderick, “Obviously that's not the primary goal of doing this. But again, it helps with that community buy-in and showing the community that — in all ways — this is in your best interest.”

Run On Climate is supporting Broderick’s work, while also helping develop building emission reduction requirements in a number of cities. The goal is to ignite a policy movement similar to the one that in 2019 to get fossil fuels out of new buildings — but this time, for existing ones.