The City’s Sustainability Team recently issued an update on the status of Newton’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) in preparation for an upcoming Zoning and Planning Committee meeting. Newton’s Climate Action Plan shows that 66% of the city’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) come from buildings. The Newton Citizens Commission on Energy, working with the City’s Sustainability Team, “determined that about 27% of the total emissions in Newton come from about 400 of the largest buildings.” In order to address the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of these large buildings, Newton intends to adopt its own version of BERDO using Boston’s ordinances (version 1.0 adopted in 2013, requiring energy and emissions reporting and version 2.0 adopted in 2021, requiring a gradual reduction in emissions of large buildings by 2050) as a model and intends to adopt both simultaneously.
In March 2022, the City Council met as a Committee of the Whole to learn more about BERDO. In April 2022, the Council adopted a Resolution confirming its support for pursuing an ordinance that would require large property owners to report annual energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and then to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions over time, to further the objectives of the Newton Climate Action Plan.
Beginning in June 2022, the Mayor invited business owners to learn more about BERDO and participate in the development of the ordinance and program. The City also created an Advisory Group consisting of representatives of six building owners and has been coordinating with the Charles River Chamber of Commerce and the Chair of the Economic Development Commission, and former Chair Philip Plottel, to reach out to building owners to join the Advisory Group and to participate in crafting the ordinance.
To date, the City has held nine information-and-discussion sessions for building owners (see slides and recordings). The first seven sessions covered how the ordinance is designed to work, and the final two sessions included utility providers, National Grid and Eversource, to provide information on resources available to assist with BERDO compliance. According to the update, “100 of the 225 building owners that would be covered by BERDO have attended at least one of the 9 sessions.”
Since the September 2022 update provided to the Council’s Committee of the Whole, the City hired consultant Synapse Energy Economics to assist with the development and implementation of the BERDO ordinance. Synapse, working with the City Assessor, identified 355 buildings over 20,000 square feet (not including residential condominiums) that would be subject to BERDO.
Ward 6 At-Large Councilor and Zoning and Planning Committee Chair Deb Crossley said she anticipates the Committee will discuss a draft ordinance in July and hopes to adopt Berdo 1, requiring reporting, before the end of the term this year.
