New York City Mayor's Office of Sustainability – Marzieh Jafary – 2018

Goals

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability has an 80×50 goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 from 2005 level by 80%. In an effort to reach this goal, buildings must reduce at least 40 to 60% of their energy use by converting away from fossil fuel use for heat and hot water production, and instead towards high-efficiency electric systems. EDF Climate Corps fellow Marzieh Jafary was brought on board to help manufacturers shift away from using high Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants in heat pumps, and to implement best practices in maintenance and disposal to leverage the benefits of air source heat pumps to achieve the climate goals

Solutions

There are two main strategies for reducing emissions: preventing leakage and emissions emitting and avoiding the use of fossil fuels. Jafary recommended limiting the total amount of the top fossil fuels that can be sold in the City from 2018 onwards and phasing down them in steps to 1/5 of 2014 sales in 2030 in order to reduce significant emissions reductions and push towards more climate-friendly technologies. Jafary also suggested banning the use of fossil fuels in many new types of equipment where less harmful alternatives are widely available and preventing emissions of F-gases from existing equipment by requiring checks, proper servicing and recovery of the gases at the end of the equipment’s life.

Potential Impact

Thanks to Jafary’s analysis, the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability has a better understanding of how reducing fossil fuels and refrigerants plays into the phase-down roadmap needed for the building sector to reach its goal of reducing 40% of emissions based on 2014 levels by 2030.