Philadelphia, PA

City Overview

Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the United States, and one of the most historically significant cities in the country as the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence. The city is home to about 1.6 million residents, with a metropolitan area of over six million people. The city’s building stock, which is older and smaller as compared to other major cities, accounts for almost 70% of Philadelphia’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2021, Philadelphia committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, which includes working towards 100% clean electricity and reducing emissions from buildings. 

Philadelphia Programs, Policies, and Strategies

In 2021, the City released the Climate Action Playbook, which serves as a guide for continued action on climate in Philadelphia. The City continues to implement two key building energy policies: the Building Energy Benchmarking Program and the Building Energy Performance Program, which require large buildings to report their annual energy performance to the City annually and implement low-cost tune-ups to improve their energy performance. In July 2024, the City released the Energy Poverty Alleviation Strategy, a roadmap for ensuring that all Philadelphians, but especially the City’s historically marginalized and vulnerable communities, can participate in and benefit from Philadelphia’s clean energy transition.  

Creating a fair, multi-decade decarbonization strategy to achieve carbon neutrality in Philadelphia will require a strategy for protecting and supporting workers. In 2021, the City released the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) Business Diversification Study, which assesses potential decarbonization pathways that would allow PGW, which is the City’s municipally-owned gas utility, to operate in a low-carbon future while thriving financially and protecting its 1,600-person workforce. From 2022-2023, BEI, in partnership with the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, conducted a follow-up study, titled Philadelphia Building Decarbonization Workforce Impacts And Opportunities, to assess the costs and skillset alignments of various decarbonization pathways with the existing gas utility workforce. The report finds that by deploying multiple fossil fuel-free technologies, including large-scale district geothermal networks, and collaborating closely with the existing workforce, the City can create new economic innovation opportunities for PGW and career paths for its workers.

In 2024-2025, BEI continues to support the City to advance Philadelphia’s just transition to a clean energy future. This includes supporting the City to implement multiple federally-funded programs, while navigating changes and uncertainties at the federal level. Philadelphia is also participating in Community Climate Shift, a groundbreaking initiative to change the way local governments and community organizations collaborate to advance policy, and was selected for the Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities (BASC) initiative to drive transformative climate and equity solutions in 25 cities across the U.S. BEI will be working closely with City staff and local partners to support research needs and build coalitions that will be critical for accelerating progress in the coming years. Through these efforts, the City will help reduce local energy burdens, improve indoor and outdoor air quality, and create good-paying jobs for Philadelphians.