KEEPING AN EYE ON THE CHANGING CARBON EMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS FOR CONDOMINIUMS UNDER “BERDO” AND “BEUDO”

To combat the global climate crisis, in 2013 the City of Boston passed the Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance (“BERDO”), which required the owners of large existing buildings to start reporting their building’s energy usage on an annual basis (i.e., the amount of electricity, natural gas, oil, etc. used to power the building). However, BERDO was amended in 2021 to require that these large existing buildings also start drastically reducing their carbon footprint over time with the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050. In the event the owner does not report and/or reduce their building’s carbon emissions in compliance with BERDO, that building will be levied daily fines for noncompliance. For example, buildings with 35 units or more who fail to reduce their carbon output in accordance with the strict schedule established by the city will be subject to daily $1,000.00 fines for each day they fail to comply. The result? The vast majority of condominiums located in the City of Boston will be forced to upgrade their building’s utility systems and/or otherwise convert those utility systems to electricity in a short period of time.

Luckily, there is hope. Like Boston, the City of Cambridge passed the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (“BEUDO”) for the purpose of reducing the city’s carbon emissions.

However, BEUDO was recently amended last month to exempt residential buildings from the ordinance. Specifically, the 2023 Amendment to BEUDO only requires large commercial buildings to comply with an emissions reduction schedule (commercials buildings 100,000 sq. ft. or greater must achieve carbon neutral status by 2035 whereas commercial buildings between 99,999 sq. ft. and 25,000 sq. ft. have until 2050 to comply). In short, while residential condominiums must still report their building’s energy use to the city every year, they are not forced to adhere to strict reduction deadlines nor are they subject to daily fine for failing to accomplish the same. Rather, condominiums have been given the freedom to establish their own emissions reduction schedule in order to meet the Commonwealth’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050. In exempting residential buildings from BEUDO, the Cambridge City Council recognized that the condominium form of ownership poses unique compliance and legal challenges. For instance, if a Unit Owner is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the utility systems serving his/her unit, it is going to be difficult for the Board of Trustees to demand replacement of the same in order to comply with BEUDO. Hopefully, the 2023 Amendment to BEUDO will serve as a template for other cities and towns in Massachusetts and condominiums will be specifically exempt from reduction requirements across the Commonwealth.

Condominium Associations or Property Managers who need assistance complying with either BERDO and/or BEUDO should contact Dillon G. Brown, Esq. at dbrown@meeb.com or (781) 843-5000.