New York, San Francisco Earn Recognition for Government Policy

DURBAN, South Africa — The World Green Building Council recognized New York and San Francisco for international best practice in government policy at the city level for green building initiatives — two of six cities to earn the award.

The Government Leadership Awards for Excellence in City Policy for Green Building were announced at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, and recognize green buildings as an important means to reduce carbon emissions, according to a statement from the council.

Winners were chosen by a panel of judges comprised of representatives from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) and the World Green Building Council, a coalition of more than 90 national green building councils.

Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, said buildings are responsible for about one-third of global carbon emissions and 40 percent of global energy usage — making exemplary green building policies in the United States and on a global scale important.

The city of San Francisco was honored with the Best Green Building Policy award for its Green Building Ordinance — the San Francisco Building Code Chapter 13C, adopted in 2008 — which requires all new commercial, residential and municipal construction to be built to the LEED green building program, and existing buildings to publicly disclose energy labels, and undergo periodic energy audits and mandatory water efficiency retrofits at the time of sale.

The impacts of building labeling and auditing alone are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 105,000 tons and have a 10-year, net present value of about $1 billion.

The Mayor’s Task Force on Green Buildings, created in 2008, estimated that the cumulative effect of adopting the green building ordinance from 2008 to 2012 to save 220,000 megawatt-hours of electrical power and 100 million gallons in potable water savings.

Though current numbers are not available, officials from the city and county’s Department of the Environment program aid development has been slower than anticipated.

Barry Hooper, an official with the city and county of San Francisco’s Private Sector Green Building Program, said that in terms of the ordinance’s impacts on property values, national and regional economic health have the greatest short-term influence.

“Due to the global economic downturn, commercial rents in SF declined 30 percent between 2007-2009,” he said. “Rents and occupancy have rebounded dramatically in 2011 with the health of the tech and clean tech sectors. So it’s key to compare relative financial performance of green buildings to their peers.”

The city has also created financing options to assist the private sector in meeting its efficiency targets.

“The Green Building Ordinance employs San Francisco’s design talent, as well as technological and business innovations, to ensure that we meet the market demands of the 21st century, protect the environment, and support the health and well being of our residents,” said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, adding thanks to the city staff’s departments. “I also wish to extend my appreciation to the local building industry professionals who design, construct and manage the green buildings for which we are receiving this award.”

New York City received the Industry Transformation award for its Greener, Greater Buildings Plan, a component of the broader PLANYC policy that requires large commercial buildings to publicly display annual energy and water benchmarks and undergo cost-effective lighting and efficiency upgrades.

The plan is expected to reduce the city’s carbon dioxide emissions to 5.3 percent below 2009 levels, reduce citywide energy costs by $700 million annually by 2030 and create roughly 17,800 construction-related jobs over 10 years.

David Bragdon, director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, said the city staff was honored to receive the award and recognize the private-public partnerships that made the plan’s passage possible.

“The Greener, Greater Buildings Plan will transform the industry because it is the first policy of its kind to aggressively target energy efficiency in large, existing buildings,” he said. “We hope that this plan can be a model for other cities to follow because of the substantial environmental, economical, and social impacts that are possible on a large scale.”

Mexico City, Singapore, Tokyo and Birmingham, UK, also received awards for their green building policies at the ceremony.

More than 80 green building councils across the globe, along with ICLEI and UN-HABITAT network members, were given the opportunity to nominate local government policies from their countries for the award.

“Buildings represent unparalleled potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and cities play a critical role in seizing this opportunity," said Jane Henley, CEO of the WorldGBC. "The Government Leadership Award entries demonstrate that all around the globe cities are implementing policies that are meeting immediate budget priorities while still addressing longer term emissions reduction goals.”