Policy, Codes and Standards

Everyone knows sustainable design is good for people and the planet—like spinach, it’s good for us, but not everyone wants a bite. This interactive session shows how to make sustainability irresistible by connecting it to what clients really care about: budget, performance, and social impact. Through real-world stories and hands-on scenarios, you’ll learn practical ways to reframe sustainability as smart business and great design—no greenwashing, no lectures, just results.

With mounting climate and carbon pressures, leadership depends on collaborating across disciplines, communicating value clearly, and convincing stakeholders to act—especially in existing buildings. This session explores recycling construction materials as a practical, low‑risk circular strategy especially in policy‑driven retrofit markets like NYC under Local Law 97. Using architectural glass as a main case study, presenters will show how specification, coordination, and metrics can reduce waste and embodied carbon within familiar project workflows.

The building decarbonization conversation is shifting from one focused on emissions, energy use and cost, towards something more tangible: the air people breathe, the buildings they live and work in, and the systems that protect them from an increasingly unstable and unpredictable natural environment. This session will discuss “Holistic Value” frameworks for evaluating building design and construction, associated energy use, and human and environmental impacts.

New York State is leading by example to decarbonize facilities in support of the state’s climate action goals. State entities (Office of General Services and SUNY) managing large campuses (Empire State Plaza and UAlbany) have been working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This panel will discuss the approaches and processes, and share the unique challenges of developing long-term action plans for State facilities while balancing operational and organizational priorities.

This session explores NYC’s first C-PACE financing for a co-op, highlighting how a mission-driven financing approach unlocked decarbonization for a traditionally hard-to-serve building type. Through a recent, real-world case study, presenters will share lessons learned navigating legal, financial, and governance barriers, and demonstrate how co-ops can access capital to meet Local Law 97 emissions goals and other mandates under the Climate Mobilization Act.