New York City mayor Bill de Blasio plans to ban construction of glass and steel skyscrapers, in a major bid to tackle the climate-change crisis.
"We're going to introduce legislation to ban the glass and steel skyscrapers that have contributed so much to global warming," said the mayor in a press conference on 22 April. "They have no place in our city or on our earth anymore."
Blasio revealed the plan as part of his New York City Green New Deal, launched at a press conference at Long Island City's Hunter's Point South Park on 22 April.
Buildings "number one" cause of greenhouse gases
The $14 billion (£10.8 billion) initiative, which forms part of the city's OneNYC 2050 strategy, aligns with the goals of the Paris Agreement ? the international climate-change treaty that president Donald Trump withdrew the US from in 2017. High-rises, which require a large amount of energy to run, underpin its ambition to reduce emissions in New York by 30 per cent by the year 2030.
"The number one cause [of greenhouse gases] in this city is the buildings," said Blasio. "It's not the cars, it's the buildings."
Along with forbidding glazed towers, Blasio also revealed a mandate for landlords to apply energy efficiency standards to the city's existing towers, which account for nearly a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. He believes retrofitting these could reduce their emissions 40 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050.
Landlords wi...