New York City says 95% of large privately owned buildings on the main compliance pathway for Local Law 97 met the law’s first-year greenhouse-gas emissions limits. NYC’s Large Buildings Exceed Emissions Limits Under Law 97 Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration released the figure Sept. 25 as part of a broader Climate Week update on building efficiency, solar power and clean-energy projects.
The figure comes from Department of Buildings data cited by the Mayor’s Office. The city says about 95% of roughly 20,000 private properties covered by the law filed a compliance report, and about 95% of buildings demonstrating compliance through improved efficiency met their first-year emissions targets.
What Local Law 97 does
Local Law 97 sets greenhouse-gas emissions limits for many large buildings in New York City. The law is one of the city’s main tools for cutting climate pollution because buildings account for roughly two-thirds of New York City’s greenhouse-gas emissions, according to city officials.
The first limits took effect in 2024, with stricter standards scheduled later in the decade. Building owners can reduce emissions through efficiency upgrades, electrification and other improvements. The city also allows certain compliance options, including purchases tied to its Affordable Housing Reinvestment Fund.
The Mayor’s Office says that fund has raised about $1.7 million so far for decarbonization projects in affordable housing.
City says compliance is high, but the work is not finished
The administration presented the 95% figure as evidence that many property owners are adapting to the law. At the same time, the city is expanding technical assistance for owners who still need help planning retrofits or calculating emissions.
NYC Accelerator, a free city service for building owners and property managers, has assisted nearly 700 properties since its relaunch in April, according to the Mayor’s Office. The city says 448 properties are using an online tool called Momentum for compliance calculations, project planning and retrofit management.
“Climate change is not a problem for someone else to solve someday,” Mamdani said in the release. He said the city is using building upgrades to cut emissions while also trying to improve comfort and resilience.
Public buildings are part of the strategy
The city also reported new figures for its own facilities. Municipal greenhouse-gas emissions fell 31% from 2006 to 2025, reaching what the administration describes as the lowest level in 20 years.
Over the past 12 years, the city says it has completed more than 17,800 energy-conservation measures across 2,500 facilities. Those projects reduced about 460,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to the Mayor’s Office.
Other city figures include:
- Nearly 36 megawatts of solar power installed across 222 city facilities
- 29 megawatts of solar at 138 public schools
- 78 additional school solar installations in progress
- More than 1,600 teachers and 19,000 students trained through the NYC Solar Schools program
Affordable housing is a major focus
The city’s climate strategy also includes public and affordable housing. The New York City Housing Authority has set a goal of installing electric heating and cooling systems in 20,000 apartments over five years.
NYCHA is also pursuing building-envelope improvements, electric water heating, induction cooking and solar projects. The agency has committed to installing 10,000 induction stoves and plans 30 megawatts of solar capacity and 150 electric-vehicle charging stations across its campuses.
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development says 60 affordable housing projects have been built to Passive House standards and that solar panels on affordable housing developments now generate 17 megawatts of power.
Why the numbers matter beyond New York City
Local Law 97 applies only in New York City, but the program is being closely watched because large buildings are a major source of energy use and emissions in urban areas. Other cities and states are considering similar building-performance rules, and New York City’s early compliance data offers one measure of how property owners respond when those rules begin to take effect.
There are still important questions about cost, enforcement and how smaller property owners or financially stressed buildings will handle tighter limits in future years. The city says it is using technical assistance and reinvestment programs to ease that transition, while building owners have argued in past debates that major retrofits can be expensive and complicated.
The first-year compliance figure does not mean every covered building has completed long-term upgrades. Future emissions limits are more demanding, and some owners may face additional work before later deadlines.
For now, the city’s data shows broad initial compliance among buildings on the law’s performance pathway. The next test will be whether that level holds as standards become stricter and more properties move from planning to major capital upgrades.
Source: New York City Mayor’s Office.
