Seventy percent of the city’s pollution comes from large buildings.
The Building Energy Reporting Ordinance, BERO, will address this issue in hopes of promoting a green economy and becoming more energy efficient. The city will publish the building’s energy use to disclose the information to the public.
According to Elorza, over 30 cities in the U.S. have adopted similar policies.
“We had years to see the results of such policies, and it works,” said Elorza. “What gets measured, gets managed.”
Elorza announced the Climate Justice Project back in October, which outlined specific strategies to lower the city’s carbon footprint while considering low-income communities’ needs.
“We have to codify the vision set forth by the Climate Justice Plan and put it into our governing documents so that we can protect these communities and realize the transformation we need,” said Elorza.
The policy will be introduced to the city council on Jan. 21, where it is expected to pass and go into effect immediately.
Elorza stressed that the window is closing to act on climate change, and ignoring science is not an option. According to Elorza, the time to act is now.
Monica Huertas, a member of the city’s Racial and Environmental Justice Committee, said she also struggles with the problems communities in Providence face due to pollution.
Once she could afford property in Providence, she looked forward to a vegetable garden in her backyard. She said she was saddened and angered when, after doing research, she realized the soil was too contaminated from years of industrialization in the city.
“Providence, and our old lead infested pipes and years of air, water and soil contamination by corporations who only care about their bottom line, has put me, my children, and my neighbors and their children at the center of one of the worst areas in the country for lead poisoning and asthma,” said Huertas.
Huertas is hoping this policy is a significant step in making the city cleaner and safer for future generations.
“It is my deep wish that when my child and my neighbors children grow old enough, they can stick to our state’s unofficial motto: I will never leave Rhode Island,” said Huertas. “And in our case, I’ll never leave Providence.”
With this policy, building owners will have until May 2022 to report their data to the city for this year.
