City Triples Staff to Enforce Local Law 97 as First Deadline Looms

Local Law 97 scofflaws, beware. As the first deadline approaches for reporting building carbon emissions under the city's sweeping climate law, the administration of Mayor Eric Adams has more than tripled the staff assigned with enforcing the law.

The Department of Buildings (DOB) has a team of 30 full-time staff members dedicated to overseeing the building decarbonization law, and is onboarding another eight people that will imminently join the Local Law 97 team, DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky tells Crain's. There are an additional 20 positions that the city says it's rushing to fill — a lot more enforcement muscle than the skeleton crew of 11 staffers the DOB had on hand at the beginning of the year.

The Adams administration has kicked in $4 million in this year’s budget toward the enforcement effort, and it has secured a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy that will partially go toward increasing the staff of the DOB/s sustainability team. 

Under Local Law 97, owners of buildings larger than 50,000 square feet, including co-op and condo boards, must reduce their buildings' carbon emissions under prescribed caps beginning this year — or face fines that could run reach tens of thousands of dollars. The first annual emissions reports are due in May 2025. It is estimated that 80% of the covered buildings are already in compliance with the 2024 caps without making any retrofits, but that number is expected to plunge to 20% in 2030, when carbon caps become more stringent.

Once May arrives, staff dedicated to Local Law 97 will be tasked with collecting and analyzing thousands of building emissions reports, along with doling out and enforcing penalties to building owners who fail to meet their new carbon emissions targets under the law.

The city's commitment to enforcing the law, which is supported by climate activists, is unfolding against a murky legal background. A state court lawsuit seeking to block the law has the support of many property owners who aren’t eager to make green building investments. A judge has paused that lawsuit until at least Dec. 9 while the city tries to get the case dismissed on appeal, court records show.

Meanwhile, the Adams administration has shown its determination to enforce the law as written.