|
Read this if your organization owns, or is a tenant in, a building over 25,000 square feet in Cambridge.
The Cambridge Community Development Department is holding a virtual public forum this Thursday, September 15th from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. to discuss and answer questions about the proposed amendments to the City’s Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO). We encourage you to attend this overview as significant changes are being contemplated. You will be able to ask questions and articulate concerns.
BEUDO applies to buildings over 25,000 square feet and requires property owners to keep track of and publicly report their buildings’ annual energy use. The goal of the ordinance is to understand and catalog the individual and collective volume of local greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions. BEUDO, which many property owners helped to implement in 2014, is an effective first step in working to address climate change.
It was always understood that the City Council would examine how best to take BEUDO one step further by introducing mechanisms to reduce harmful GhG emissions from buildings. Again, many property owners participated in a process to help define those reduction tools and strategies.
In February 2022, two City Councillors proposed additional amendments that would significantly accelerate the emissions reduction percentages and timeframes, and introduce penalties if the new goals cannot be met. Since then, the KSA has been engaged with the City Council, City staff, climate experts, and business community stakeholders to understand what the implications of these new ideas will be for our members — and to advocate as appropriate.
Kendall Square is a global leader in sustainability. The KSA supports the City’s goals to reduce emissions in order to address climate change. However, there are two issues that continue to concern us:
-
The level of access to global carbon credits, an essential carbon-reducing mechanism
-
The requirement to pay steep penalties that will not reduce emissions
If you haven’t heard about BEUDO, please come and learn via this Zoom webinar. We will provide a more detailed update after some upcoming meetings.
If you have any questions about BEUDO, please reach out to B. Kimmerman at b@kendallsquare.org.
|
