NYC Next: Facing down the future 

Our 2025 conference explored three key trends shaping the future of NYC’s buildings.

Original publication by Urban Green Council • July 8, 2025

On June 2, over 360 building professionals gathered at the NYU Kimmel Center for NYC Next: Shaping Building Decarbonization. The sold-out event explored three of the most critical forces transforming New York City’s buildings: innovative financing, energy storage and climate resilience. The room was energized in anticipation of three expert panel discussions about New York City’s path to building decarbonization.  

But what will it take to build a decarbonized New York that benefits everyone? This year’s keynote conversation, Rory Christian, the Chair and CEO of New York State Public Service Commission, sat down with Urban Green CEO John Mandyck to discuss this and more. Christian mapped out New York’s plan to invest in energy re-use, emphasizing that the first step to a decarbonized future is repairing the community impact of harmful energy systems. 

He closed on a hopeful note, comparing the potential transformation of New York’s built environment to the transition from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles in the early 20th century. “Progress never really stops,” Christian said, “When there’s a natural evolution towards something better, it will continue.” 

Innovative funding for decarbonization

In the first session, “Funding the Future of Decarbonization,” panelists explored how a new delivery model could streamline and scale building retrofits.  Local Law 97 has paved the way for New York’s acceleration towards a net-zero future; however, the transition to electrification presents significant hurdles for many building owners, like high upfront costs, fragmented incentives, and the lengthy process of planning deep decarbonization and finding the right contractors and equipment installers. 

James Geppner, senior project manager at NYSERDA, outlined a proposed turnkey program designed to reduce the cost, uncertainty and complexity of energy upgrades to support compliance with a building performance standard like Local Law 97. This innovative and scalable program would provide building owners with everything from planning to funding to pre-qualified equipment installers and project scopes. 

Susan Leeds, founder of NYCEEC, elaborated on how the initiative would assist with decarbonization. She described the program as taking the burden of project design, development, installation and financing off of solely the building owner. The program would also offer an affordable means for buildings to pay for improvements, through a tax assessment that can be amortized over the useful life of new equipment for as long as 30 years. 

While still in development, the proposal was discussed with cautious optimism. As Joe Chavez of NYC MOCEJ pointed out, “New York City is one of the greatest cities in the world because we are open to new solutions.” 

Battery storage: The Swiss army knife of decarbonization 

In “Boosting the Grid with Battery Storage,” panelists discussed the increasing importance of battery storage in sustainable buildings. Claudia Villar-Leeman of NY-BEST refers to energy storage as “the unsung hero of the clean energy transition.”

More than just backup power, batteries can help manage peak demand to the grid, preventing it from going out in the first place. Beyond reliability, there are countless financial incentives for integrating batteries into our grid.

A recent NYSERDA model demonstrated that adopting six gigawatts of energy storage statewide by 2030 would result in two billion dollars worth of electric savings. Panelists noted that, due to a lack of widespread implementation and education on battery storage, many of these financial and environmental incentives are not yet widely understood. 

Daniella Leifer of Sustainable CUNY explained the effort to transition from front-of-meter (grid-side) battery projects to standardized products in buildings. For batteries in buildings to become more standardized and widespread, new permitting and safety requirements will need to be implemented. The city is now working to clarify and streamline these rules to help batteries scale. 

Molly Rafelson, program director at The Clean Fight, highlighted new battery technologies designed to address both safety and accessibility concerns. She detailed multiple innovations, including next-generation lithium-ion batteries with integrated fire prevention, and behind-the-meter plug-in batteries for regular outlets. As new battery technologies continue to come online, energy storage is poised to become a key player in building decarbonization. 

A future-forward building mindset includes resiliency

In the final panel, “Built to Last: Resilience in Every Retrofit,” panelists made one thing clear: resilience must be part of every building design and not treated as a separate priority. As Susanne DesRoches at NYSERDA put it, “The future that the climate scientists promised us is here.” With more frequent heat waves and extreme storms, New York buildings must be future-forward and built for long-term sustainability. 

The panelists described how climate events have changed the building sector over the last decade, from the use of future climate hazard projection data to an emerging insurance crisis. Mónika Serrano-Riedlinger, principal at Adaptate LLC, noted that because human beings are not wired to prepare for future disasters, the building world is still reluctant to view resilience as a need, delaying implementation of available solutions. 

The panelists broke down what climate resilience looks like from their posts in the respective building design, construction, insurance and legal sectors. Although each industry is confronting climate resilience in its own way, the panelists agreed that every sector would benefit from more consistency in the market around building standards. “It’s not just about what you’re doing,” Ilana Judah, principal and director of sustainability at Arup, explained, “It’s also about what your neighbor is doing, and your community.” Adapting to climate risk is an evolving, communal duty, and every building professional must be ready to adopt new standards of building resilience. 

A decarbonized future 

This year’s conference highlighted bold ideas and emerging solutions that will drive New York’s path to a low-carbon future. While panelists emphasized the long, collaborative road ahead for financing and delivering retrofits, improving battery storage and implementing resilience in building, the panels were unwaveringly optimistic. In a deserved vote of confidence, Susan Leeds stated, “Our resources here in New York are widely viewed as examples of what a lot of other people, in a lot of other places, want to do.”