“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."
Climate Week is a week of action! Climate Week NYC 2021, which runs from September 20-26, brings together international leaders from business, government, and civil society to showcase the ever-increasing momentum of global climate action. Here in Battery Park City, we demonstrate our dedication to our climate every day through a variety of initiatives.
One year ago we launched Battery Park City’s ten-year Sustainability Plan. Developed in consultation with a broad range of residential, local, and governmental stakeholders, the Plan provides the framework for developing and implementing a carbon neutral Battery Park City by the middle of the century, in keeping with the mandate set forth in New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The BPC Sustainability Plan is centered around four “Topic Areas” (Energy, Water, Materials & Waste, and Site), which are further broken down into broad aspirations and discrete methods for achievement that chart a course toward making Battery Park City a sustainability model. Today we’re highlighting the “Energy” topic area of the Authority’s work.
Building Inventory
Energy Sub-Action 1.1a of the Plan proposes developing a comprehensive inventory of existing building systems and energy use to identify areas that merit further exploration. The Authority embarked on this work with a Request for Information to all BPC Buildings this summer. With completion scheduled this fall, the goal of this inventory is to help to align incentives, technical resources, and external funding sources with buildings across Battery Park City to use for sustainability initiatives including building retrofits, pilot projects, bulk purchasing, and other solutions that support achieving a carbon neutral Battery Park City by 2050 and assisting buildings to achieve Local Law 97 compliance.
In this way, that Authority is playing an important facilitator role by connecting building owners with resources and information needed to retrofit their buildings and implement programs and policies as outlined in the BPC Sustainability Plan.
Climate Action Plan
The BPC Building Inventory will also inform another BPC Sustainability Plan action – development of a Climate Action Plan. To achieve a carbon neutral Battery Park City by the middle of the century, we must understand our current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint, have a detailed plan for how to reduce it, and continue to track and update these strategies as necessary.
To that end the Authority’s Climate Action Plan, to be completed in early 2022, will put us on the path toward carbon neutrality by establishing GHG reduction pathways for buildings, transportation, and waste through 2050.
