< Back to Previous Page Mayor Bloomberg signs Executive order establishing committee to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today signed an executive order that establishes a steering committee charged with reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in City owned buildings and operations by 30 percent over the next ten years. This is one of the 127 initiatives that the Mayor announced in an Earth Day speech six months ago today as part of PlaNYC, his plan to create a greener, greater New York. The order signed by the Mayor also earmarks $80 million in FY2008 funding, or approximately 10 percent of the City's current annual energy expenditures, to implement energy saving measures in City owned buildings. Buildings account for more than 80 percent of citywide greenhouse gas emissions and more than two-thirds of emissions by City government. As part of today's announcement the Mayor also issued a PlaNYC Progress Report, which shows that work has begun on more than 80 percent of the other 126 initiatives. Joining the Mayor at today's event was Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel Doctoroff; Director of Long-term Planning and Sustainability Rohit Aggarwala; Ashok Gupta from the National Resource Defense Council; representatives of the New York State Power Authority (NYPA); and the members of the Steering Committee: Deputy Mayor for Administration Edward Skyler who will serve as chair; Director of the Mayor's Office of Operations Jeffery Kay; Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Martha Hirst; Commissioner of the Department of the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) David Burney; President of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Robert Lieber; and Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB ) Mark Page. "Our Administration released the first of its kind comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in April, which showed that buildings produce 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the City. As part of PlaNYC we committed to reducing those emissions citywide by 30 percent by 2030," said Mayor Bloomberg. "We also committed to taking action in our own government buildings on an even more aggressive timetable and today we are taking the steps necessary to make sure that happens. The Steering Committee is one of our 127 PlaNYC initiatives, and six months after unveiling that ambitious plan we've seen real progress on more than 80 percent of them. We'll continue to work throughout the coming months to advance all 127 initiatives as we build a greener, greater New Yorker to meet the environmental and economic challenges of the next several decades to come." "Today the Mayor is fulfilling another of the commitments laid out in PlaNYC by creating this steering committee which will work across agencies to implement plans for energy and emissions reductions – one of the most fundamentally important goals he laid out in April," said Deputy Mayor and Steering Committee Chairman Edward Skyler. "Over the coming weeks and months, we'll identify and implement cost effective, measurable ways to reduce City government's carbon footprint so that we can achieve a 30 percent emissions reduction within 10 years. Leading by example, our goal is not only to reduce emissions by City government, but to encourage the private sector to do likewise. I'm excited to lead this effort." The Administration today also unveiled the first PlaNYC Progress Report, a detailed analysis of the 127 initiatives that were included in PlaNYC announced on April 22nd, 2007. The report shows that significant progress has been made on more than 80 percent of the initiatives. The report provides the status of each proposal and outlines next steps for continuing to implement them. The first 127 initiatives that make up PlaNYC were designed to achieve the ten goals that Mayor Bloomberg first conceived in December 2006 and outlined when PlaNYC was launched in April. Those goals include: building homes for almost a million more New Yorkers; ensuring that all New Yorkers live within a 10 minute walk of a park; cleaning-up all contaminated land in the City; opening 90 percent of our waterways for recreation by reducing water pollution and preserving natural areas; developing critical backup systems for our aging water network to ensure long-term reliability; improving travel times by adding transit capacity for millions of New Yorkers, visitors and workers and reaching a full state of good repair on our roads, rails and bridges; providing cleaner more reliable sources of energy and power; achieving the cleanest air quality of any big city in America; and reducing our global warming emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Contact New York real estate lawyers from the law firm of Weinstein, Chase, Messinger and Peters, P.C. ,