New York City has set a goal of decreasing its carbon footprint by 30% by 2025. To ensure ongoing progress toward this goal, the city created a benchmarking program for tracking energy consumption. These benchmarking requirements are fully explained in Local Law 84 (LL84), but the basics are below.

Which buildings must join the benchmarking program?

LL84’s Covered Building List indicates which buildings must take part in the benchmarking process. Those buildings must have their energy and water consumption monitored with an online benchmarking tool.

Buildings in the following categories must take part in the benchmarking program:

• Most buildings over 50,000 square feet
• All city-owned building over 10,000 square feet
• Multiple private-sector buildings on one lot that, combined, exceed 100,000 square feet

Some exceptions to these requirements exist, including Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) buildings under 50,000 square feet and real estate that is classified as Class 1.

Who conducts the benchmarking?

For city buildings, the benchmarking should be conducted by the agency or entity responsible for property management. For other covered buildings, the owner should conduct the benchmarking. Owners and agencies can also hire a representative to conduct the benchmarking on their behalf.

The data collected during this process must be submitted to the city annually, and fines will be assessed against individuals who do not submit their building’s data on time. At the end of every year, the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability creates a report based on collected data.

What’s the bottom line?

Residential buildings are awarded a score based on their performance. This program tracks energy efficiency and records which buildings are excelling. For the owner, energy efficiency is important because it decreases energy costs. For the city, energy efficiency represents progress towards the 2025 goal of reduced emissions.

For any additional questions or comments on NYC’s benchmarking program please contact Milrose Consultants.