Building Performance Standards

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What We're Doing

The City of Columbus is considering strategies that improve health and energy efficiency in existing buildings, including implementing and providing technical support for Building Performance Standards (BPS). Since 52% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to existing buildings, developing policies and programs to reduce these emissions and achieve Columbus’ Climate Action Plan goals is imperative. This requires engaging stakeholders and eliciting meaningful feedback from the community. Below, you'll find more information, including ways to get involved.  

The City of Columbus is working with organizations and other cities across Ohio to gather feedback from stakeholders; conduct a stakeholder engagement process that is as open and transparent as possible; understand local opinions and concerns; identify opportunities to address Columbus’ goals; and incorporate community values into a Building Performance Standard policy.  

Why It's Important

In 2020 the city passed the Energy and Water Benchmarking and Transparency Ordinance which required all buildings 50,000 square feet and above to report their energy and water usage to the city. Through increased awareness and reliability of energy data we saw energy decrease by 2.97% for buildings in compliance.  

A Building Performance Standard is the next phase of this process. This policy uses benchmarking data to set specific targets intended to reduce energy use in existing public and private buildings over a certain size to achieve a standard of performance. By implementing a Building Performance Standard, Columbus can expect to see a 46% energy savings for included buildings by 2050. The goal is to create new jobs and savings on energy bills while improving the health and resilience of our community.   

What Comes Next

The 60 day comment period for the Columbus Building Energy Performance Standard is open until August 30th!

Please review the proposed code here(PDF, 328KB) 

Take the survey now to provide your feedback! 

For commonly asked questions regarding the draft, please review this FAQ document(PDF, 303KB) . For any questions you may have that are not included in the FAQ, please reach out to CJJohnson@columbus.gov. 

The proposed code was created with feedback from over 500 individuals who were engaged during the Healthy Buildings Advisory Group, public meeting, focus groups, 1 on 1 meetings with stakeholders, and presentations around the community. Please review summary of the feedback(PDF, 148KB) we heard from our first public meeting and five focus groups as well as the Healthy Buildings Advisory Group(PDF, 203KB) for more insight. 

Prefer to provide feedback in person?

Join Sustainable Columbus, CREDA, and Ohio Environmental Council at 556 E Town St. Columbus, OH on August 18th for drop-in office hours from 5:30–7:30pm. These office hours are one way you can weigh in and ask questions on the Building Energy Performance Standard draft, a forward-looking policy designed to help large, existing buildings cut energy usage and hit efficiency targets over time. Street parking is available for free!

Enjoy light food and drinks while connecting with fellow community members and policy experts. We encourage you to read the draft beforehand so we can dive right into your questions and feedback.

Don't miss this opportunity to make your voice heard — RSVP today!

Street parking is free, please reference this map for more information(PDF, 173KB) .

Building Owner Focus Groups

Building Owner Focused

We are hosting focus groups with building owners of large, existing buildings over 50,000 Sqft in Columbus to understand their needs and challenges when maintaining healthy buildings. If you fit this description, we'd love for you to attend one of our two focus groups. Please note that these meetings will be the same, so only register for one of the options. Participation will be capped at 20 participants for each. For the in person focus group, food and drink will provided and free parking is available in the lot behind the library. Gift cards will also be given to each participant for their time!

Resident Focus Groups

Resident Focused

We are hosting focus groups with Columbus residents to understand what they would like Columbus to create to support the improvement of buildings that they live and work in and the energy that they use. We are looking to have a strong turnout from residents who live in large, multifamily buildings, but all are welcome. Please note that these meetings will be the same, so only register for one of the options. Participation will be capped at 20 participants for each. For the in person focus group, food and drink will be provided and free parking is available in the lot adjacent to the building. Gift cards will also be given to each participant for their time!

Please reach out to Cassie Johnson, CJJohnson@columbus.gov or Eric Porr, ETPorr@columbus.gov with any questions. 

Public Meetings

We are hosting a Public Meeting on March 3rd, 6-7:30p at Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (111 Liberty St., Suite 100, Columbus, OH 43215). All are welcome. Food and drink will be provided and parking is available for free in the lot behind the building. When parking in MORPC's parking lot, please be sure to park in a MORPC visitor space or in a space marked with a yellow “M”. Handicapped parking is available at the side of MORPC’s building. Electric vehicle charging stations and indoor bicycle parking are available. 

Register here: https://us.openforms.com/Form/9d137cb0-592a-421c-977d-a02f1fa78985

Healthy Buildings Advisory Group

Healthy Buildings Advisory Group

From July – November 2025 Columbus convened an advisory group which comprised of broad range of building industry organizations from the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors that represent a diversity of perspectives and expertise.

Ordinance Development Process

Ordinance Development Process

  1. Establish and meet with a Healthy Buildings Advisory Group.
  2. Host public meetings, including focus groups with representatives from impacted buildings, to collect feedback on policy design.
  3. Compile feedback and create draft policy language.
  4. Share draft policy with the public for feedback.
  5. Summarize feedback and finalize policy language.
  6. Pass legislation adopting the policy.  

Resources

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