The City of Cambridge, Mass., is beginning to implement its Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO). The law seeks to drive substantial building-sector greenhouse gas reductions, which Cambridge identifies as accounting for 80% of the city’s emissions. BEUDO includes requirements for certain building owners to track, report, and reduce energy-related emissions to support net-zero emissions objectives.

Who Is Covered & Core Requirements

BEUDO applies to “covered properties”—parcels that contain one or more buildings meeting size or use criteria:

• Non-residential properties ≥ 100,000 sf: required to report energy and water use annually and start reducing emissions by 2026 on a trajectory to net-zero by 2035;
• Non-residential properties 25,000 – 99,999 sf: required to report energy and water use annually and begin reducing emissions by 2030, with a path to net-zero by 2050;
• Residential properties with 50 or more units: required to report energy and water use annually but do not currently have mandated emissions reduction requirements.

Emissions Baseline

Non-residential property owners must establish an emissions baseline. This becomes the starting point against which the city will measure achievement of emissions reductions. The city provides a methodology for calculating the baseline—which generally must reflect average emissions from two consecutive years between 2010– and 2019—and a qualified third-party must verify the data.

Configuration

All covered property owners are also required to identify the configuration that establishes which buildings are grouped together so they are treated as a single covered property—a critical input in determining reporting directives, baselines, and future emission reduction requirements.

What’s Next

• Emissions reduction compliance begins for the largest non-residential buildings in 2026, with progressively tighter performance targets in future years.
• BEUDO implementation is in the final stages of a phased rulemaking process, and the city is on track to finalize regulations in 2026.
• In 2026, the city will stand up a BEUDO Review Board, a nine-member body that the City Manager appoints to oversee implementation of the ordinance, including reviewing hardship and deferral applications and requests for alternative compliance pathways.