New York’s City Council passed major legislation on December 9th that places New York City at the forefront of municipal efforts to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings.

Under the umbrella of PLANYC, which outlined measures to reduce our city’s total carbon footprint 30% by 2030, the four bills are known as the “Greener, Greater Buildings Plan” and are among the most progressive adopted in the United States. Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn announced the legislation on Earth Day (April 22) of this year and their offices have worked alongside Council Members Jim Gennaro, Dan Gardonick, Domenic Recchia, Jr. and Melissa Mark-Viverito as well as many others to shepherd the bills to passage.

Taken as a whole, this suite of bills is expected to reduce the city’s carbon footprint by nearly 5%, equal to eliminating the entire carbon footprint of Oakland, California.

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Urban Green Council has elected Jeff Brodsky, President of Related Management, as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Brodsky replaces Susan D. Kaplan, Vice President of Sustainability of the Battery Park City Authority, who served as Chairwoman in 2009.

“I am thrilled to serve as Chairman of Urban Green Council, an organization that has emerged as an important advocate and resource for sustainable design and operations in the urban built environment and a respected adviser on long-term planning. Related shares Urban Green Council’s aspirations to create an environmentally sustainable built environment and is pleased to be contributing through our commitment to develop to LEED Silver or higher standards and through our ongoing efforts to upgrade the environmental performance of our vast existing building portfolio,” said Mr. Brodsky.

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