Key Documents

Background on BERDO

Just 400 large buildings account for 27% of Newton’s greenhouse gas emissions. In an effort to address growing concerns about these emissions, the City’s Climate and Sustainability Department and Citizens’ Commission on Energy have adopted Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) for Newton. The importance of BERDO as compared to other proposals such as the State’s draft net zero stretch code is that BERDO addresses existing buildings in addition to new construction.

Boston adopted BERDO 1.0 in 2013, which required only energy and emissions reporting.  In 2021, Boston adopted BERDO 2.0, which requires that several categories of large buildings reduce their emissions gradually to net zero by 2050.  Cambridge has also adopted its Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) performance standard (see ordinance here), and Lexington and Watertown are considering adopting both versions of BERDO.

The BERDO approach is a performance standard. This approach means that building owners choose their own compliance path and have flexibility regarding how they reach their compliance targets over a long planning horizon.

Newton adopted BERDO 1.0 and 2.0 at the same time, with a time lag between implementation of the two programs. The goal of a Newton BERDO is for buildings to reach net zero by 2050. A BERDO sets declining emissions standards in five intervals between 2026 and 2050.  

 In early March 2025, the City notified covered building owners via letter of their reporting, disclosure, and emissions reduction obligations per the ordinance. The City also requested that building owners provide additional contact information by mailing back a postcard or filling out an online form. 

• Read the letter and postcard for non-condo building owners.
• See also the letter and postcard for condo building owners.

Contact Information

Questions? Contact the City at newtonberdo@newtonma.gov or Synapse's BERDO support email address: newtonberdo@synapse-energy.com.

ENERGY STAR & Portfolio Manager Trainings

The City of Newton hosted a virtual meeting on BERDO energy use reporting during which we walked through how to use Energy Star Portfolio Manager. View the slide deck here.

Click here for the full list of recorded Energy Star webinars. No live online trainings sessions from Energy Star are currently scheduled.

Some trainings that may be particularly relevant:

• Portfolio Manager 101: Navigating Portfolio Manager, Adding a New Property, and Entering Use Details. View recording.
• Part 1: A Beginner's Guide to Using Portfolio Manager for Benchmarking Law Compliance. View recording.
• Portfolio Manager 201: Editing Property Details, Data Quality Checker, and Sharing Property Data. View recording.

Discussion Sessions

The BERDO team is preparing future discussion sessions, which will be listed here.

The last two sessions, on Nov. 17 and Jan. 19, were conversations with National Grid and Eversource, who presented on their new energy efficiency and electrification retrofit programs for large commercial, small business, and multifamily customers. These new programs include significantly increased financial incentives for heat pumps and weatherization. Materials from these sessions:

• Recording and slides from Nov. 17 (commercial & small business)
• Recording and slides from Jan. 19 (multifamily)
  

You can view the recordings of previous sessions using the links below. These presentations provide an overview of BERDO and applicable timelines.

June 17, 2022, June 23, 2022, June 29, 2022, July 28, 2022, August 24, 2022, September 29, 2022, October 25, 2022.

Find informational slides for the first discussion sessions here and view updated slides here.

MassCEC Seeks Buildings For Decarbonization Pilot

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) recently announced its latest pilot program, aimed at helping to decarbonize a wide range of commercial facilities 20,000 square feet and larger (including municipal facilities, public schools and multi-family buildings with 15 or more units) across the Commonwealth: the Building Electrification and Transformation Accelerator (BETA): Commercial Buildings Pilot.

Aimed at helping buildings become 2050 ready (see this Buildings Sector Report for further information), the pilot will support participants by creating decarbonization plans to eliminate on-site fossil fuel use over time, for the least cost. The work to support these individual projects will provide insights in the development of statewide resources for decarbonization, such as market specific guides and toolkits.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Check the criteria detailed in the Program Manual for participation requirements. Applications are available online here.

For more information about the pilot, please see this flyer. Email questions to buildings@masscec.com.

Additional Background Materials

• Information on Grid Capacity from ISO-NE and a review from the Newton Climate and Sustainability Team
• Committee of the Whole Presentation and Report (3/21/2022)
• ZAP Resolution to pursue BERDO (4/11/2022)
• Letter from the Mayor to large building owners in Newton regarding BERDO (6/2022)
• Update to the Committee of the Whole (9/19/2022)
• Update from the BERDO team (6/2023)
• PowerPoint presented at the 9/23/2024 ZAP Committee Meeting
• Boston's BERDO ordinance text