The New York City Council voted to pass a bill on Wednesday that will address the Big Apple’s biggest source of planet-warming emissions: the fossil fuels burned in its buildings. The new law will prevent building developers from installing fuel-burning systems in new buildings and most gut renovations starting in 2024, forcing them to instead design buildings with all-electric heating, hot water, and cooking appliances. Mayor Bill de Blasio supports the legislation and is expected to sign it.

“We’re really setting the pace here, saying that if it can be done in New York City, it can really be done anywhere,” Ben Furnas, director of the mayor’s office of climate and sustainability told E&E News. “We want to be a model for the world.”

As local governments around the country try to figure out how to reduce their role in climate change, buildings have emerged as an important target. Municipalities usually don’t have a lot of tools to change how green their electricity supply is, but many do have control over their building codes. And cutting the use of natural gas, propane, and fuel oil in buildings can make a big dent in emissions, especially in cold northeastern cities like New York.

Heating and hot water systems alone are the source of about 42 percent of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions. They also produce significant local air pollution. A peer-reviewed study published in May found that fuel combustion in buildings in New York City led to an estimated 1,114 premature deaths in 2017, the most recent year for which data was available, and cost $12.5 billion in health impacts.

Read the full article about banning gas heating and stoves by Emily Pontecorvo at Grist.