DCAS – Morgan Rote – 2016

Goals

The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Morgan Rote to evaluate best practices for commercial green leasing and develop policy recommendations for its integration into NYC’s municipal leased portfolio. Achieving energy efficiency improvements in commercial buildings, which represent a significant portion of NYC’s GHG emissions, is critical to meeting the City’s goal of 80% reductions by 2050. But, because many of these properties are leased, they suffer from the split incentive problem, in which the costs and benefits of improvements do not accrue to the same party. The City is investigating green leasing as a solution to overcome these coordination, ownership and financial challenges intrinsic to leased spaces.  

Solutions

Working with DCAS Energy Management, DCAS Asset Management, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and other parties, Morgan developed a comprehensive survey of best practices in green leasing. She then created a menu of preferred options, based on lease and building characteristics, for public and private sector parties interested in designing and implementing these rental agreements. Using the viability of green leasing in DCAS’ own portfolio, Morgan suggested several ways for the public agency to become a first mover in NYC. 

Potential Impact

DCAS could achieve an estimated annual cost savings of up to $3.5 million by proposing a targeted program to fund key efficiency improvements in its leased office spaces. Morgan showed that by adopting certain supportive policy measures, DCAS and its city government partners could help address market gaps and foster green leasing on a much broader scale. The results of her work will serve as a reference guide to all parties involved and will inform city government’s growing involvement with green leasing practices.