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Glossary
Energy standards and regulation

What is Local Law 97?

Definition

Local Law 97 is New York City's building emissions law, setting annual greenhouse gas limits for most buildings over 25,000 square feet, with penalties for emissions above the limit.

Covered buildings

Per the NYC Department of Buildings, the law covers a single building over 25,000 gross square feet and two or more buildings on the same tax lot that together exceed 50,000 gross square feet. Condominium buildings governed by one board of managers can be covered when their combined area passes that threshold. Office, multifamily, hotel, hospital and institutional owners are all in scope.

Limits, filing dates and penalty

  • Emissions limits began in 2024 and tighten in 2030
  • The first annual report was due 1 May 2025, with a report due by 1 May every year after
  • A registered design professional must certify each report, with a retro-commissioning agent allowed in limited cases
  • The penalty is $268 per metric ton of CO2e over the limit

What Aqueduct measures ahead of a filing

Emissions under the law are annual energy by fuel multiplied by coefficients set in the law, so a monthly projection of electricity and gas per building shows exposure before the year closes. aQ EnergySmart separates a real reduction from a mild winter through degree-day normalization, and the electric twin shows which feeder, HVAC or plug load, drives the total.

Questions

Local Law 97: common questions

Local Law 97 is part of New York City's Climate Mobilization Act of 2019, and it caps annual carbon emissions from large buildings. The NYC Department of Buildings enforces it, and covered owners file a yearly emissions report. Read the Local Law 97 compliance page for the data Aqueduct supplies.

Local Law 84 requires annual energy and water benchmarking. Local Law 97 adds emissions limits, and penalties for exceeding them, on top of that reporting. Most covered owners file under both, and the same metered energy totals feed each filing.

Limits tighten in 2030, so a building under its cap today can be over it then. Retrofits take years to plan, fund and verify, which is why owners model the second period now, using metered data by fuel to test which measures move a building below the later cap.

Aqueduct projects annual electricity and gas per building from interval data before the year closes. Applying the coefficients in the law gives estimated emissions, and the $268 per ton penalty from the NYC Department of Buildings gives exposure. The registered design professional still certifies the filed report.

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