Buildings are the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in New York State. Integrating energy efficiency and electrification measures in new and existing buildings will reduce carbon pollution and help achieve more sustainable, healthy, and comfortable buildings. It will also support the State's ambitious goal to reduce GHG emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

As a steward of State assets across New York, including the Empire State Plaza and Harriman Campus in Albany, OGS has been implementing energy efficiency and decarbonization work at State facilities for decades. For more on OGS’s work on this, see the Building Decarbonization page.

Background

In the Climate Action Council’s Scoping Plan, the Governor’s Executive Order 22, and the 2024 Education, Labor, and Family Assistance (ELFA) budget bill, New York State outlines its commitment to reducing buildings' environmental impact.

• The Scoping Plan includes a comprehensive roadmap of initiatives to link decarbonization and renewable energy efforts with investment in disadvantaged communities. It highlights a commitment to “Lead by Example in State Projects” in highly efficient, zero-emission, and resilient new construction. Chapter 12 of the Scoping Plan emphasizes updating regulations in 2025 to adopt a “high-efficiency State Energy Code” for new construction, “building resilience features into State codes,” and “prohibit building systems or equipment used for the combustion of fossil fuels in new construction.” The Scoping Plan also mentions the need to reduce embodied carbon in State construction and procurement in order to reach a truly net zero building.
• Governor Hochul issued Executive Order 22: Leading by Example in September 2022 to provide a government-wide approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and institutionalizing sustainability. EO22 commits State agencies to lead the effort to green operations and decarbonize our assets. For State buildings, this means focusing on energy efficiency, avoiding the use of equipment that burns fossil fuels, calling for 100 percent of the electricity used in State operations to come from renewable sources by 2030, and investing in resiliency initiatives.
• BuildSmart 2025 is a key program highlighted in EO22. Managed by NYPA, BuildSmart 2025 is an advisory service providing State entities with expert advice and turnkey implementation of energy efficiency, solar, and storage projects. The goal of BuildSmart 2025 is to reduce on-site energy consumption in State buildings by 185 trillion British thermal units (BTU) — the equivalent of the energy it would take to power 1.8 million homes — by 2025. EO22 also points to the need to reduce embodied carbon in State construction projects. Further information on the EO22 Embodied Carbon Guidance, led by OGS and NYSERDA, can be found on the Reducing Embodied Carbon page.
• In the spring of 2023, Governor Hochul signed the Education, Labor, and Family Assistance (ELFA) budget bill, enacting into law key amendments to the energy law (Subdivision 6 of section 11-104) and future updates to the New York State Energy Conservation Construction Code. ELFA  prohibits the installation of fossil fuel-burning equipment and building systems starting in 2026 for new buildings up to seven stories tall (except for commercial and industrial buildings larger than 100,000 square feet). In 2029, the restrictions will expand to include nearly all new buildings.