Last updated: June 9, 2026. By Will Tygart. Written for Long Island commercial property and facility managers — including the verified negatives no one else publishes.
Yes — Local Law 97 applies only inside New York City’s five boroughs. A commercial building in Nassau or Suffolk County has no LL97 obligation, no emissions cap, and no benchmarking filing due — and as of June 2026, neither county nor any Long Island town has adopted an equivalent. One disambiguation that trips up even the search engines: Long Island City is in Queens, which means LL97 fully applies there — and since Brooklyn and Queens sit on the geographic island of Long Island, a “Long Island portfolio” can absolutely contain covered buildings. The clean rule: coverage follows NYC Department of Finance tax lots, not geography.
That is the myth busted. Here is what a Long Island commercial building actually faces in 2026 — which is not nothing.
The applicability table (what applies on Long Island, really)
| Mandate | Applies in Nassau/Suffolk? | Status as of June 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| NYC Local Law 97 (emissions caps) | No | Five boroughs only — but it reaches your NYC buildings and your NYC-exposed tenants |
| NYC LL84 benchmarking | No | No Nassau, Suffolk, Hempstead, or Islip benchmarking ordinance exists |
| 2025 NYS Energy Code (ECCCNYS) | Yes | In force statewide for permit applications filed on/after Dec 31, 2025 — no grace period; notably stricter air-leakage and air-barrier testing for commercial buildings |
| All-Electric Buildings Act (new construction) | Pending | Enforcement suspended per the Nov 12, 2025 stipulation until ~4 months after the Second Circuit rules; towns may keep permitting fossil-fuel systems meanwhile |
| Town of Babylon green building law | Babylon only | New commercial buildings ≥4,000 sqft must demonstrate LEED certification; $0.03/sqft fee (capped $15,000), refunded on certification — the one true local green mandate on the island |
| NYS Part 253 mandatory GHG reporting | Large facilities only | 10,000+ tCO2e/yr facilities (large hospitals, campuses, industrial) track CY2026 now; first reports due June 1, 2027. Typical offices fall far below the threshold — but fuel suppliers report regardless |
| NY cap-and-invest (carbon price) | Indirectly, later | Delayed to late 2026–2027; when live, allowance costs flow into LI heating fuel and gas prices |
Also worth knowing: New York State’s own climate law was just amended — the May 26, 2026 budget bill dropped the CLCPA’s 2030 milestone in favor of a softer 2040 target. Our full breakdown covers it; the short version for LI operators is that the state-level pressure eased while the city-level pressure (LL97) did not move an inch.
So why do LI property managers keep getting carbon questions?
Three channels reach Long Island operators without a single LI ordinance:
- Portfolio spillover. An LI-based management firm with even one NYC building over 25,000 sqft carries full LL97 exposure on it: the $268/tCO2e penalties, the May 1 reporting cycle (CY2025 grace ends June 30, 2026), and the 2030 caps that roughly 57% of covered buildings currently exceed. The firm’s compliance muscle has to exist anyway — the only question is whether it stops at the city line.
- Tenant and investor demand. GRESB-reporting owners and corporate tenants under California SB 253 and the EU’s CSRD need emissions data from their Long Island spaces and vendors regardless of New York law — the lease, not the legislature, is the enforcement mechanism. This is exactly the gap the Commercial Restoration Carbon Protocol covers on the vendor side.
- The coming fuel-price channel. Part 253 reporting puts LI fuel suppliers into the state’s carbon accounting now; when cap-and-invest launches, allowance costs arrive as operating expense, not as a filing.
The carrot side: what an LI building can collect in 2026
No mandates does not mean no money. The island’s two energy programs are unusually generous right now:
- PSEG Long Island — Business First (announced March 2026): grants up to $125,000 for business customers, free commercial energy assessments, heat-pump HVAC and water-heater rebates (up to $1,200 for ENERGY STAR HPWHs), multifamily heating/cooling rebates of $4,000 per apartment ($5,000 in designated Disadvantaged Communities), EV make-ready up to $45,000 per charging plug, and a concierge “Business FIRST Advocate” service (PSEG LI). One LI-specific quirk: PSEG LI/LIPA runs its own programs outside the state’s Clean Heat utility pool — cite PSEG LI program pages, not Con Edison’s.
- National Grid (LI gas): commercial rebates on high-efficiency boilers, water heaters, controls, and heat recovery — plus a gas demand-response program paying up to 15% of a building’s annual gas bill, rising to 20% when the incentive funds an efficiency project (National Grid).
For an LI facility manager, the rational 2026 posture is: harvest the incentives while they are rich, build the data habit voluntarily, and let your NYC-exposed peers’ compliance pain be your preview.
The watch-list (what would change this answer)
- The Second Circuit ruling on the All-Electric Buildings Act — enforcement resumes roughly four months after a decision upholding it, hitting most new LI buildings under 7 stories and commercial under 100,000 sqft.
- Statewide private-building benchmarking — bills like S838 (annual energy/water benchmarking for private buildings >50,000 sqft statewide) have been proposed but not enacted; passage would create LI’s first filing obligation.
- Cap-and-invest litigation — courts have ordered DEC to move faster on economy-wide rules; the state’s appeal continues through 2026.
This page is maintained against those three triggers — the “as of” date at the top is the tell.
What this means for each seat at the table
| If you are the… | On Long Island in 2026, your move is… |
|---|---|
| Owner | No LL97 line item — but if any NYC building is in the portfolio, its compliance calendar is yours, and lender/investor ESG questionnaires do not check county lines. Harvest PSEG/National Grid money on equipment you were replacing anyway. |
| Facility / property manager | Your binding documents are the 2025 NYS Energy Code on every permit and (in Babylon) the LEED ordinance on new commercial work. Build the vendor and energy data habit voluntarily now — the requests are coming from tenants before they come from Albany. |
| Tenant (corporate occupier) | Your SB 253 / CSRD / GHG Protocol obligations follow you onto Long Island even though LL97 does not — the restoration job in your Melville office is still your Scope 3 Category 1 line item. |
Frequently asked questions
Is Local Law 97 only for NYC?
Yes. LL97 covers buildings on New York City tax lots in the five boroughs. Nassau and Suffolk County buildings have no LL97 obligation — though Brooklyn and Queens, which sit on the geographic island, are fully covered, and Long Island City (in Queens) is covered despite the name.
Does Long Island have its own building emissions or benchmarking law?
No. As of June 2026, neither Nassau nor Suffolk County, nor towns including Hempstead and Islip, has adopted an energy benchmarking or emissions-cap ordinance. The one true local green-building mandate is the Town of Babylon’s LEED certification requirement for new commercial buildings of 4,000 square feet or more.
What energy rules DO apply to a Long Island commercial building?
The 2025 NYS Energy Code (ECCCNYS), in force statewide for permits filed on or after December 31, 2025 with no grace period; the suspended-but-pending All-Electric Buildings Act for new construction; and, for facilities emitting 10,000+ tCO2e a year, the Part 253 mandatory GHG reporting rule (first reports June 1, 2027).
Will New York’s cap-and-invest program affect Long Island buildings?
Indirectly, yes — when it launches (now expected late 2026 or 2027), fuel suppliers will pass allowance costs into heating fuel and natural gas prices. It arrives as an operating cost, not a compliance filing.
My firm manages buildings in both NYC and Long Island — what should we do?
Run one compliance program with two zones: full LL97/LL84 machinery for the NYC assets (the CY2025 grace deadline is June 30, 2026), and on the LI side, incentive harvesting (PSEG Business First, National Grid demand response) plus voluntary energy and vendor-carbon data collection so tenant and investor requests never catch you flat.
Primary sources
- NYC DOB — Local Law 97 (coverage definition)
- NY DOS — 2025 Energy Code notice of adoption
- Harris Beach Murtha — All-Electric Buildings Act enforcement stipulation
- Town of Babylon Code — green building certification (Article VIII)
- NYSDEC — Part 253 mandatory GHG reporting
- PSEG Long Island — Business First grants
- National Grid — LI gas demand response
- NY Senate S838 — proposed statewide benchmarking (not enacted)