Ithaca 2030 District

TCCPI at Fifteen

/ Peter Bardaglio / Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe, but this summer marks the 15th anniversary of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative. At the time of TCCPI’s launch in June 2008 I was working on a book with a colleague at Second Nature, a nonprofit think tank in Boston dedicated to promoting the higher education sustainability movement. One of the key themes in the book, Boldly Sustainable: Hope and Opportunity for Higher Education in the Age of Climate Change (2009) was the need for greater collaboration between colleges and universities and the communities in which they operated.

I was drafting a chapter for the book in early 2008 on sustainability, economic development, and community partnerships, exploring several case studies across the U.S., including Ithaca. I had stepped down the previous year from the provost’s office at Ithaca College, where I had helped lead what became a nationally recognized sustainability initiative, to join Second Nature as a senior fellow. Having left the academic world following a quarter century as a faculty member and administrator, I became much more aware of the disconnect between campuses and communities in the emerging sustainability movement. 

Time for Collaboration

Looking over the Ithaca landscape, it seemed to me that the time was right for an effort that would bring together higher education institutions, local governments, nonprofits, and businesses around the need for climate action and the energy transition. I brought the idea to the Park Foundation and submitted a grant proposal for what became TCCPI; the foundation generously funded the proposal and has continued to do so with unstinting support.

In that time, TCCPI has held about 165 monthly meetings, published 76 newsletters, and issued 14 annual reports of member accomplishments regarding climate action, clean energy, and sustainability. In 2016, as part of an effort to strengthen our engagement with the private sector, we established (with the assistance of a grant from NYSERDA) the Ithaca 2030 District, part of what is now a network of 24 urban districts in the U.S. and Canada dedicated to improving the energy and water performance of commercial buildings in downtown areas. 

From an initial base of 15 buildings, the Ithaca 2030 District has grown to 44 buildings with 584,381 square feet of committed space. Besides our quarterly meetings and newsletters, we provide each property member with an interactive, online dashboard that measures the energy and water performance of their individual buildings. These dashboards are regularly updated so that owners, managers, and tenants can monitor their progress. You can find our latest annual district-level report here.

Policy Advocacy

Apart from the founding of the Ithaca 2030 District, perhaps the most significant change in TCCPI since its beginning is the extent to which we have become involved over the last few years in policy advocacy. Our activities in this area are primarily focused on the state level, and we are members of three statewide activist coalitions: NY Renews, Renewable Heat Now, and Climate Can’t Wait. The passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019 and the subsequent establishment of the Climate Action Council, which released its recommendations for a state climate plan this past December, as well as the flurry of bills sparked by these recommendations, have constituted the main catalyst for this evolution in TCCPI’s work. At the local level, we have been a strong and active supporter of the Ithaca Green New Deal.

Underlying this new attention on policy advocacy is a mounting sense of urgency as the climate crisis becomes an undeniable reality of our present, one that has had a disproportionate impact on marginalized groups and which demands that we place equity and justice at the center of our efforts. In the face of this growing awareness and public support for action, however, the fossil fuel industry and its allies have responded with misinformation, fear mongering, and a deep-seated commitment to maintaining the status quo.

In the process, it’s become clear that the most effective way to push back and secure a safe, just, and healthy future is collective action by well-organized citizens fighting for our communities and making sure no one is left behind. Animated by this spirit, TCCPI will keep moving forward in the years to come. As Thomas Berry writes in The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, unless we devote ourselves to preserve and enhance the life, beauty, and diversity of the planet for the generations to come, we will become “impoverished in all that makes us human.”

Ithaca 2030 District Annual Report for 2022

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The Ithaca 2030 District recently released its fourth annual progress report.  As the report shows, the District as a whole in 2022 reduced its energy consumption by 27% from the baseline and realized a savings of 40% in water use. Thus, at the end of last year, we were over three-quarters of the way toward the 2025 energy goal and 80% of the way towards the 2030 water target.

The latest greenhouse gas inventory showed that buildings in the city make up an estimated 58% of emissions in Ithaca, with the commercial sector contributing 38%. Clearly, achieving the city-wide goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 depends in great measure on dramatically reducing the carbon footprint of our buildings.

The Ithaca 2030 District—the flagship program of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI)—is a voluntary effort by property owners and tenants to improve the energy and water performance of their buildings as well as to bring about cuts in commuter transportation emissions.

The District continues to experience considerable growth. Currently, there are 44 member buildings and 584,381 square feet of committed space, compared to 33 buildings and 417,089 square feet in 2021. That’s a 40% increase in committed square footage. For the purposes of this annual report, we focus on the 30 property members, 41 buildings, and 532,097 square feet that belonged to the District at the end of 2022.

Commuter emissions remained an area of concern in 2022. There was, however, an improvement: they dropped from 1706 kg CO2e/commuter/year in 2021 to 1421, a 16% reduction and significantly below the pre-pandemic level of 1,603. We still remain above the 2020 target of 1200, but at least now we’re headed in the right direction.

Besides the annual district-level report, each of the property members is provided access to a confidential interactive, dynamic dashboard that measures the energy and water performance of their individual buildings. These dashboards are regularly updated so that building owners and tenants can monitor their progress towards the individual 2030 energy and water targets.

Check out the full 2022 report for details about the progress and growth of the Ithaca 2030 District.

Growth & Progress in the Ithaca 2030 District

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The Ithaca 2030 District recently released its third annual progress report. As the report shows, the Ithaca 2030 District in 2021 once again surpassed the 2020 reduction target for energy and, for the first time, went beyond the 2030 target for water.

Buildings make up 73% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Ithaca, with commercial buildings accounting for 48 percent, so achieving the city-wide goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 depends in great measure on dramatically reducing the carbon footprint of our buildings.

The flagship program of TCCPI, the Ithaca 2030 District is a voluntary effort by property owners and tenants to improve the energy and water performance of their buildings as well as to bring about cuts in commuter transportation emissions.

District property members, by committing to the goals of the 2030 District, are not only having a positive effect on the environment; they are also saving money on utility costs, improving the well-being of those who live and work in their buildings, and stimulating the local economy.

The Ithaca 2030 District has grown considerably in the last 16 months, due in part to the reopening of downtown as well as the excitement generated by the City’s building decarbonization campaign.

Currently, there are 30 commercial property owners, 40 buildings, and 522,375 square feet of committed space, compared to 25 property members, 29 buildings, and 375,371 square feet at the end of 2020. This annual report focused on the 27 property members, 33 buildings, and 417,089 square feet that belonged to the District for most of 2021.

The District reduced its energy consumption by 21.8% from the baseline. In addition, it realized savings of 51.4% in water use. The one area where the District lost ground was commuter transportation emissions. The increase in driving to work in 2021 as downtown reopened, along with a decline in the number of remote workers, resulted in a rise in transportation emissions to a level well above the 2020 target, even exceeding the level of emissions generated before the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Clearly, commuter emissions will be a major area of concern as the City of Ithaca works to achieve its goal of community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.

Besides the annual district-level report, each of the property members is provided access to a confidential interactive, online dashboard that measures the energy and water performance of their individual buildings. These dashboards are regularly updated so that building owners and tenants can monitor their progress towards the individual 2025 and 2030 energy and water targets.

Check out the full 2021 report for details about the growth and progress of the Ithaca 2030 District.

NYC’s Climate Mobilization Act

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As the City of Ithaca considers possible next steps on climate action, it would do well to look downstate for inspiration. On April 18 the New York City Council passed a sweeping “Climate Mobilization Act” to fight climate change, a package of seven bills that supporters said would help build a “Green New Deal for New York City.” The legislation passed by a 45-2 vote.
Midtown Manhattan. Photo by Andreas Komodromos licensed under CC BY-2.0.
The centerpiece of the package requires buildings over 25,000 square feet to cut climate emissions 40% by 2030 and more than 80% by 2050, which officials said is “the most ambitious energy efficiency legislation in the country.” In addition, the legislation:
  • Requires green roofs, solar panels, and/or small wind turbines on certain buildings
  • Establishes a renewable energy and energy efficiency loan program
  • Streamlines the application and siting process for wind turbine installation across the city
  • Orders the city to carry out a study on the feasibility of closing its 24 oil- and gas-fired power plants and replacing them with energy storage and renewable power

“This legislation will radically change the energy footprint of the built environment and will pay off in the long run with energy costs expected to rise and new business opportunities that will be generated by this forward thinking and radical policy,” said Timur Dogan, an architect and building scientist at Cornell University.

As the New York Times observed in its coverage of the story, “Buildings are among the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions because they use lots of energy for heating, cooling and lighting, and they tend to be inefficient, leaking heat in the winter and cool air in the summer through old windows or inadequate insulation.” An inventory published in 2017 of greenhouse gas emissions in New York City found that buildings accounted for two-thirds of the city’s overall emissions.

It is for this very reason that TCCPI moved in 2016 to establish the Ithaca 2030 District as its new flagship program, joining a network of 22 cities in North America seeking to improve the energy and water performance of their downtown commercial buildings. Currently, the network has 493 million square feet committed. New York City is in the process of also establishing a 2030 District in Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, and it should soon be up and running.

The Ithaca Green Building Policy marks a significant step towards encouraging new development projects to become more environmentally sensitive. As the policy enters the process of codification, however, it is important to remember that the overwhelming majority of commercial construction in the city is made up of already existing buildings. How does Ithaca intend to address this issue? The Climate Mobilization Act just passed by the New York City Council points the way.