San Francisco updates green building ordinance to target net zero carbon by 2040

The San Francisco City Council convened on July 4, 2025, to discuss significant updates to Chapter 7 of the Environment Code, which governs the city's municipal green building ordinance. This update aims to enhance the design, construction, and retrofitting of municipal buildings, aligning with the city's ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Eden Brookman, Senior Green Building Coordinator, presented the proposed changes, emphasizing the importance of government leadership in reducing emissions, despite municipal buildings representing a small fraction of the city's overall carbon footprint. The updates are designed to streamline existing regulations, reduce redundancy, and incorporate new sustainability metrics that reflect current best practices in green building.

Key changes include a reorganization of the ordinance, collapsing 15 sections into six, and introducing new requirements focused on energy resilience, waste prevention, embodied carbon reduction, and toxics reduction. Notably, the ordinance will mandate the installation of efficient, all-electric equipment as natural gas systems are phased out, and it will require battery storage for critical community institutions to ensure energy availability during outages.

The proposed updates were developed through extensive stakeholder engagement, including public meetings and workshops, and received unanimous support from the municipal green building task force. Brookman highlighted that while the updates may incur additional costs—estimated between $300,000 and $2.5 million for interconnection charges alone—these investments are essential for long-term sustainability and compliance with upcoming regional and state regulations.

The council is expected to vote on the resolution supporting these updates at a committee meeting scheduled for March 1, 2026. The successful implementation of these changes is seen as a crucial step toward transforming San Francisco's building practices and achieving its climate action goals.