For cities working to address the climate crisis at the local level, benchmarking and transparency policies are a foundational step. Dozens of cities have passed these policies and scores more will likely adopt them in the coming years. They are important tools for understanding energy use and motivating building owners to make their buildings more energy efficient and climate-resilient.
This document provides guidance for integrating equity into policy and practice surrounding benchmarking and transparency ordinances in particular. The guidance is also applicable to cities’ broader building and energy policies, especially as they get increasingly prescriptive and influential. It aims to be useful both to cities just starting this work and to those already engaged. It is not, however, a primer on benchmarking.
