NYC's Skyline, Capped

LL97

Buildings account for roughly two-thirds of New York City's greenhouse gas emissions, more than transportation and industry combined. Passed in 2019 as part of the Climate Mobilization Act, Local Law 97 sets carbon emissions limits for every building over 25,000 square feet.

What makes the law unusual is that it doesn't just apply to new construction. It places mandatory carbon caps on existing buildings, covering tens of thousands of properties across the five boroughs. Each dot on this map represents one of these buildings.

2024 Emissions Threshold

The law rolls out in phases. The first set of limits took effect in 2024, and most buildings clear them comfortably: roughly 9 in 10 covered properties already meet the threshold based on current energy use. The buildings shown in red are the ones that do not.

2030 Emissions Threshold

In 2030, the limits tighten significantly. Emissions caps for most building types drop by 40% or more, pushing a large share of previously compliant buildings over the line.

Penalties Today

Buildings that exceed their emissions cap owe $268 per metric ton of carbon over the limit, assessed annually. Each column here represents a building already over the 2024 threshold, scaled by its estimated penalty.

2030 Penalties

When the stricter 2030 caps take effect, the penalty landscape expands dramatically. The yellow columns represent buildings that are compliant today but would owe fines under the new limits, assuming no changes to their current energy use.

Fossil Fuel Dependence

Much of the emissions challenge traces back to how buildings are heated. Across New York, the majority of large buildings still rely on natural gas or oil for heating and hot water. This map colors each building by the share of its total emissions that come from on-site fossil fuel combustion.

Noncompliant Buildings by Fuel Source

Filtering to only the buildings that will exceed the 2030 limits, the pattern sharpens. Three in four noncompliant buildings draw the majority of their emissions from gas and oil, pointing to fossil fuel dependence as a central driver of noncompliance.

Four Years

The window to act is narrowing. Owners of these buildings face the same decision: retrofit, electrify, or absorb annual penalties that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

How the city's building stock responds over the next four years will be a test of whether regulations like Local Law 97 can reshape the economics of urban energy use at scale.