Green Newton

Newton’s City Councilors are considering a proposal for a Building Emission Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) that would benefit our climate by dramatically reducing the amount of fossil fuels being used in the city.

The Newton Zoning and Planning Committee is holding a public hearing on BERDO on Monday, November 22nd at 7:00 to hear comments on whether the residential sector should be included in BERDO.  The meeting will take place at City Hall, City Council Chambers (Room 207) or on Zoom.  (Here is the City’s agenda with the Zoom link.)

Please attend the meeting in person or on Zoom to tell City Councilors that you support BERDO and that the ordinance should include larger residential buildings over 20,000 square feet. 

Background

What is BERDO?
BERDO stands for the Building Emission Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance, a proposed policy for existing Newton-area buildings over 20,000 square feet of floor space. Similar ordinances have been successfully implemented in Boston and Cambridge, with Watertown considering a comparable measure.

What does the ordinance require building owners to do?
If passed, BERDO would require building owners to measure and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and meet progressively stricter emission standards over time. These buildings must be net zero by 2050. By that date, owners whose buildings burn fossil fuel for heat, hot water, and cooking would need to use electricity to power these functions.

What kind of buildings would the ordinance apply to?
The ordinance would apply to commercial buildings, including institutional and industrial facilities, over 20,000 square feet.

Why should residential buildings be included in BERDO?
Residential buildings should be subject to BERDO for several reasons:

• Equitable standards: Large residential buildings with single heating systems face similar technical challenges to office buildings when upgrading systems. Excluding them would be unfair to owners of other building types, all of whom must comply.
• Built-in leniency for residential buildings: BERDO already provides residential buildings additional time—an extra year—to meet compliance standards.
• Robust support programs: Newton has strong systems in place to assist building owners with reporting and compliance. Additionally, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has committed significant funding to help building owners upgrade and electrify their properties.
• The urgency of climate action: The climate crisis demands bold steps. Including residential buildings in BERDO is essential to meeting Newton’s climate goals and ensuring comprehensive action across all sectors.

Why is BERDO important?

Newton has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero by 2050. Large existing buildings (Commercial) account for 23% of our total GHG emissions. The residential buildings to be included in BERDO account for 5% more. Commercial buildings alone account for 167K metric tons of CO2/year. In order to meet our goal of reducing GHG emissions, large buildings will need to move away from oil and gas-powered heating, hot water, and cooking equipment. As our electric grid becomes increasingly powered by renewable energy, the newer technologies for heating, cooling and water heating that are powered by electricity will bring our GHG emissions down to zero.

How many buildings will this ordinance apply to?

The Zoning and Planning Committee is considering whether to include residential buildings of the same size, which would bring the total to 385 buildings in Newton—282 commercial and 103 residential.

Why now?

The world has missed the window to keep average world temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius as recommended by the IPCC to prevent the worst effects of climate change. However, every tenth of a degree rise that we can prevent will save millions of lives, and potentially prevent catastrophic tipping points from occurring. Newton will not be able to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral without addressing the carbon emissions from our existing buildings.