Mayor Daniel Biss announced Jan. 26 that the City of Evanston has committed to inclusively design and implement building performance standards and complementary policies and programs in the city, driving investment into building retrofits and good-paying jobs that create healthier buildings and lower housing and energy costs.
The city’s commitment is part of its participation in the National Building Performance Standards Coalition, a collaboration of state and local governments launched by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Building performance standards paired with complementary programs and policies will enable the city to meet the goals stated within its Climate Action and Resilience Plan as well as its health and equity goals.
“The City of Evanston is committed to an equitable, carbon-neutral future, and our participation in the White House National Building Performance Standards Coalition will facilitate collaboration with other cities that share that commitment,” Biss said. “We know that achieving the coalition’s goals will enable our residents to live healthier lives with more job opportunities, and it is clear that we cannot achieve these goals without collaboration across jurisdictions together with strong federal leadership.”
Buildings are responsible for 80% of the City of Evanston’s carbon emissions. Upgrading and retrofitting buildings to increase clean energy sources and reduce overall energy use can dramatically reduce these harmful emissions. Energy retrofits and upgrades also can be leveraged to concurrently improve a building’s health and resilience for its occupants and surrounding community, while generating jobs and increased local economic investment. Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan calls for reducing building energy consumption from 2005 levels by 35% by 2035.
Through the coalition, the city commits to increasing community and local stakeholder engagement to co-design building performance standards and complementary policies and programs with the ultimate goal of advancing legislation or regulation, with adoption by Earth Day 2024.
“We are eager for the opportunity to support city and state leaders representing the vanguard of innovative climate policy, and joining this National Building Performance Standards Coalition. Members of this groundbreaking coalition will help drive new jobs to make existing buildings across the country more efficient, affordable, healthier and resilient, and will deliver equitable benefits across their jurisdictions,” said Mark Chambers, Senior Director for Building Emissions and Community Resilience at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
In pursuing its commitments as a member of the national coalition, Evanston will be able to leverage technical support via federal agencies including the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. For more information about the coalition, visit www.nationalBPSCoalition.org.
Source: City of Evanston