USGBC California (USGBC-CA) announces the launch of a building performance standard (BPS) model policy to help cities and counties across California reduce pollution from buildings, improve energy efficiency, and reach their climate goals. BPS are policies that regulate the annual greenhouse gas emissions and/or energy use of existing large buildings – typically residential, commercial, and government buildings with floor area above 20,000 ft2 or more.
 
The goal of this policy guidance is to give local jurisdictions a head start on developing local BPS policies while encouraging consistency across California jurisdictions – a key need identified by property owners and the community of professionals that benchmark, audit, and retrofit covered buildings. In developing the guidance, USGBC California prioritized simplicity, practical feasibility, and equity.
 
This follows USGBC California's October launch of the California Building Performance Hub, a comprehensive resource designed to guide thousands of buildings in accelerating retrofits, supporting California’s urgent need for equitable and affordable building decarbonization.
 
“California’s climate goals depend on the performance of the buildings we already have. This guidance is designed to help cities and counties move from conversation to action—providing a practical, consistent framework that supports implementation while allowing flexibility for local needs,” states Ben Stapleton, CEO, USGBC California. “Through the California Building Performance Hub and our Peer Learning Collaborative, USGBC California is committed to helping jurisdictions turn policy into real-world results for communities across the state.”
 
The model policy was developed by USGBC California with input from the California BPS Peer Learning Collaborative (CalBPS PLC), a program of USGBC California that brings together staff from 50 local governments, the California Energy Commission, and a number of other organizations to collaborate on development of BPS policies. The policy guidance adapts best practices from the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and adopted BPS ordinances around the U.S. into a shared policy framework for California cities and counties, with the intent that this framework will provide general consistency across jurisdictions and, to the extent possible, with a future statewide BPS.
 
California Energy Commission (CEC) Commissioner Andrew McAllister noted, “By serving as a template for BPS, USGBC California's model policy encourages alignment across adopting jurisdictions. A consistent policy framework and a solid implementation toolkit are critical for accelerating investment in buildings across the state. Getting things right from the outset helps to ensure that each project realizes the expected energy efficiency and pollution reduction outcomes, both in the near term and over the life of the building.”

The policy is designed to encourage efficient electrification through two metrics: requiring properties to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions produced on the property and to achieve a reasonable level of energy efficiency.
 
Most properties 20,000 square feet and larger are covered, with flexibility for jurisdictions to set their own limits.
 
BPS policies provide property owners clear, long-term performance targets to allow them to incorporate compliance into their capital planning process, while also requiring annual reporting (“benchmarking”) and compliance with interim performance targets that demonstrate progress toward the final targets. The first interim targets are meant to be relatively easy to achieve, and increase in stringency over time on a five year cycle toward the final targets.
 
BPS policies also include alternative compliance options to provide flexibility for property owners.
 
Because circumstances may make the standard compliance pathway a bad fit for certain properties, and in order to reward property owners who make a good faith effort to meet the requirements of this policy, a number of temporary exemptions, time extensions, and target modification options are available. These include special options for affordable housing and a portfolio option for large building owners.
 
The full policy guidance can be found here. USGBC California plans to release model ordinance text to complement the policy guidance in the spring.
 
 Buildings represent the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California after transportation, making building decarbonization critical to achieving the state's climate goals. USGBC California has taken the initiative to create a model policy and backed that up with the CA Building Performance Hub that offers sophisticated resources, tools, and expert guidance for building owners and managers, local governments, contractors, tenants, and community advocates as they navigate this growing and complex landscape around BPS policies statewide.
 
Read the complete Hub announcement here.