The Newton City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee will meet on Monday, July 22 to continue its deliberations about the BERDO proposal. The proposed ordinance pertains to existing non-residential buildings that are larger than 20,000 square feet in size. The ordinance sets a timeline for building owners to begin measuring the emissions from the buildings, and for reducing emissions to zero by 2050, to meet our Climate Action Plan goals. With 23% of Newton’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions coming from 293 large commercial buildings, a BERDO ordinance would make a big difference in reducing emissions.
Here’s what you can do to help:
- Please attend the meeting to let the councilors know that you support this important measure. (We will post the meeting information in this post when it becomes available or you can check the Zoning and Planning Committee website as it becomes updated.)
- Write to the members of the Zoning and Planning Committee to let them know you support the proposed ordinance. You can send the letter to the committee clerk Jaclyn Norton at jnorton@newtonma.gov.
A draft Building Emission Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) was first presented to Newton’s Zoning and Planning Committee on Tuesday, May 28, and public comments were heard regarding the ordinance on Monday, June 10.
Want to know more about BERDO? See the previous Green Newton post below.
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