New York’s “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality” Initiative

The New York City Council approved the “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality” plan in December 2023, a set of citywide zoning changes making it easier to install a variety of distributed energy resources, perform building retrofits, install EV charging, and more. The Initiative includes 17 policies, including opening up over 8,500 acres of parking lots across the city for the potential installation of solar panels, easing wall height and thickness restrictions that hinder building electrification and retrofit efforts, and more than doubling commercially zoned land where EV charging facilities can be located. Energy storage systems received a sweeping zoning update, and can now be used in residential districts on sites up to 10,000 square feet and without size limits in commercial and manufacturing districts. The zoning changes also allow solar parking canopies up to 15 feet high over all parking areas and allow building owners to add solar energy systems on roofs irrespective of height limitations. A project description and annotated zoning text amendment are available at this listing.