The High Rise / Low Carbon Series highlights NYSERDA’s Empire Building Challenge and the commitments of the Challenge Partners. The series is designed to inspire action among New York’s building industry stakeholders and invite the world’s top solution providers to join New York on its journey toward a low-carbon future.
High Rise / Low Carbon advances the decarbonization of New York’s existing buildings by sharing low-carbon retrofit success stories and making key connections among the real estate, construction, engineering, and design communities.
about the challenge
NYSERDA’s Empire Building Challenge cultivates key public-private partnerships with leading commercial and multifamily real estate owners, alongside solution providers and manufactures from across the globe, to bring innovative and scalable low-carbon building retrofit approaches to the New York market, reinforcing New York’s position as a global hub for tall building decarbonization.
join the challenge
Get involved in the radical transformation of New York’s built environment for a sustainable future. NYSERDA invites building owners, solutions providers, manufacturers, and other key stakeholders, to pioneer innovative, scalable retrofit strategies and activate the market for low-carbon building.
EBC Pitch Deck Video
NYS has thousands of buildings that must decarbonize during this decade to achieve the State’s ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. But, we need the world's top solutions providers to pave the way.
WATCH VIDEOPortfolio Owners
Receive updates about the Empire Building Challenge and future opportunities to meet both carbon reduction and financial objectives through NYSERDA partnership.
GET INVOLVEDSolutions Providers
The EBC supports collaboration among the world’s largest real estate companies, cleantech manufacturers, and solution providers worldwide. Join New York's growing market for low-carbon retrofits.
GET INVOLVEDevents
Learn about best-in-class case studies, building technologies, and design strategies from industry experts directly involved in New York’s growing market for low-carbon retrofits.
Connect with key industry stakeholders— portfolio owners, managers, designers, engineers, and solutions providers— to help advance existing building decarbonization solutions across New York State.
Have you worked on a high-performance retrofit that led to significant energy and carbon reductions? Connect with us and share your success stories.
partner profile: 345 Hudson
Read our first High Rise / Low Carbon Partner Profile, showcasing Hudson Square Properties’ 345 Hudson project, a carefully phased building retrofit that deploys thermal networking—novel to the US market, but vetted across decades in other regions—to drastically reduce energy demand and eliminate carbon emissions.
tools & resources
Choose from a host of resources— articles, reports, interactive tools, podcasts, and more— to learn more about innovative retrofit strategies to decarbonize large buildings.
meet the 2024 partners
The Empire Building Challenge third cohort real estate partners, and their teams of energy experts will implement replicable, low-carbon retrofit demonstration projects addressing one or more barriers to decarbonizing their multifamily building(s).
The 11 partners collectively own more than 1.7 million square feet of real estate and 133,500 residential units throughout New York State, including more than 18,700 affordable housing units. These partners are advancing 29 showcase buildings in the program.
Click on partner logos to learn more about their commitments.
meet the 2022 partners
The Empire Building Challenge’s second cohort, selected in the fall of 2022, control 94 million square feet of New York real estate and pledge carbon neutrality in 72 million square feet. The partners are advancing eight showcase buildings through the EBC, across a diverse range of building typologies.
Click on partner logos to learn more about their commitments.
meet the 2021 partners
The Empire Building Challenge’s first cohort, with more than 130 million square feet of real estate in NYS under its control and 250 affordable housing buildings, represents a critical public-private partnership accelerating the transition towards a carbon neutral building stock in New York.
The 10 Empire Building Challenge Partner commitments will reduce GHG emissions from more than 52 million square feet of commercial and multifamily space. This includes more than 700 units of affordable housing collectively, with the potential to scale to more than 25,000 units of affordable housing across their portfolios.
Click on partner logos to learn more about their commitments.
