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.
Empire Building Challenge Program Page
LEARN MOREEmpire Building Challenge Pitch Deck
LEARN MOREDecarbonizing NY's Buildings Interview
LEARN MOREevents
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.
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.
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.
Portfolio Owners
Receive updates about the Empire Building Challenge and future opportunities to meet both carbon reduction and financial objectives through NYSERDA partnership.
LEARN MORESolutions Providers
The EBC supports direct collaboration among the world’s largest real estate companies, cleantech manufacturers, and solution providers worldwide. Join New York's growing market for high-performance, low-carbon retrofits.
LEARN MOREmeet the 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.