--- title: Infrastructure Can Reduce Climate Risk. But It's Not Enough description: Adaptation will not be enough to protect us from the real costs of climate change. canonical: https://time.com/6050216/biden-executive-order-climate-risk/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-05-21T15:24:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:58:14.102Z article:section: Politics og:title: Infrastructure Can Reduce Climate Risk. But It's Not Enough og:description: Adaptation will not be enough to protect us from the real costs of climate change. og:url: https://time.com/6050216/biden-executive-order-climate-risk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98443e0ed8a64267/698a19cb4ee2624b63318ff1/GettyImages-1166089171.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Hurricane Dorian Targets Carolinas With Expected Move Northeast og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Infrastructure Can Reduce Climate Risk. But It's Not Enough twitter:description: Adaptation will not be enough to protect us from the real costs of climate change. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98443e0ed8a64267/698a19cb4ee2624b63318ff1/GettyImages-1166089171.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 05:51 video:published: 2021-05-10 section: climate topics: building retrofitting, energy efficiency, carbon emissions, carbon caps, Local Law 97, Empire State Building, low-carbon buildings, public-private partnership, regenerative braking, green building genre: documentary, explainer tones: informative, optimistic, earnest, urgent emotions: determination (medium), pride (medium), concern (low) sentiment: positive audience: policymakers, building owners, real estate professionals, climate advocates, urban planners organizations: Empire State Building, New York City, New York State, Empire Building Challenge transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Infrastructure Is Important to Reduce Climate Risk. But It's Not Enough > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6886c870-3270-4002-afb2-b3c11a1e773c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Empire State Building's Green Retrofit Was a Success. Will Other Buildings Follow Suit? [Watch (HLS stream): The Empire State Building's Green Retrofit Was a Success. Will Other Buildings Follow Suit?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ydQhS316.m3u8) (5:51)  _Published 2021-05-10. Energy usage by large, old buildings like the Empire State Building represents a huge obstacle to cities’ dreams of carbon neutrality. New York City’s buildings account for 70% of its carbon emissions, for example, and half of those emissions are produced by the largest 5% of its structures. But retrofitting old buildings to make them more energy efficient represents a formidable challenge, both from an engineering perspective and in terms of convincing owners that doing so is in their financial interest._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video examines the retrofit of the Empire State Building, which completed a phase of energy-efficiency upgrades that reduced its energy usage by more than 40% and saved over four million dollars a year. It explains how New York City's carbon caps under Local Law 97 and state emissions goals push large buildings toward retrofitting. It features building representatives describing the specific upgrades and lessons learned, and introduces the Empire Building Challenge, a public-private partnership to demonstrate low-carbon solutions in high-rise buildings. ## Key points - Buildings account for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions in New York state, and retrofitting millions of existing buildings is described as one of the most formidable climate challenges. (00:25) - New York City enacted Local Law 97, placing carbon caps on most large buildings, with fines for buildings that exceed the caps. (00:52) - The Empire State Building's first retrofit phase, completed in 2010, reduced the building's energy usage by more than 40% and saved more than four million dollars each year. (01:23) - The retrofit replaced 6,514 windows, reusing over 96% of existing materials and adding a suspended coated film and added insulation behind radiators. (02:13) - Elevators were replaced with a destination dispatch system that uses regenerative braking, generating electricity rather than just dissipating heat. (02:49) - The speaker argues that retrofitting must consider all building systems and the behavior of the occupants, stating that there is no silver bullet. (03:04) - The speaker says the city would need to retrofit about 200 buildings a day for the next twelve thousand days to meet the transformation required. (03:54) - The Empire Building Challenge selected 10 partners to demonstrate low-carbon technologies in high-rise buildings and aims to make New York a global hub for sustainable building solutions. (04:31) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:25] Iconic buildings and their symbolic role. The video opens by framing tall, iconic buildings like the Empire State Building as symbols of their cities and country. - [00:25 to 01:01] Emissions and retrofitting challenge. The speaker outlines building emissions in New York state and introduces the challenge of retrofitting old buildings alongside New York City's carbon caps. - [01:01 to 01:23] State policy and the Empire State template. State lawmakers aim to make New York a leader in large-scale retrofitting, and the Empire State Building is presented as a model. - [01:23 to 02:02] Results and the leasing strategy. The retrofit's energy savings and cost savings are reported, along with the building's repositioning as an energy-efficiency leader to attract tenants. - [02:02 to 03:04] Specific retrofit measures. Details cover window replacement, radiator insulation, a rebuilt chiller plant, and elevator upgrades with regenerative braking. - [03:04 to 04:08] Lessons learned and scale of need. The speakers stress a whole-building, occupant-aware approach and describe how many buildings must be retrofitted daily. - [04:08 to 05:51] Empire Building Challenge. The state's emissions targets and the public-private partnership with ten selected partners are presented as a path to replicable low-carbon solutions. ## Key quotes - [01:23] interviewer: "In 2010, the Empire State Building completed the first phase of an extensive retrofit within a decade." - [02:00] Empire State Building representative: "There's no Silver Bullet. It's silver, Buckshot, it's lots of different pieces that work together." - [03:04] Empire State Building representative: "There is no shortcut. You have to look at all the systems in a building, and you have to look at the behavior of the human beings that occupy that building" - [03:54] speaker: "we need to be retrofitting 200 buildings a day every day for the next twelve thousand days." ## Questions this video answers - What did the Empire State Building's first retrofit phase achieve? [01:23] - What is New York City's Local Law 97 and what does it require? [00:52] - What specific upgrades were made to the Empire State Building? [02:13] - Why is retrofitting old buildings considered a formidable challenge? [00:38] - What is the Empire Building Challenge? [04:31] - What state emissions reduction goals are set for 2030 and mid-century? [04:18]  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 21, 2021 3:24 PM UTC  Sandbags sit in front of a business to block floodwaters during Hurricane Dorian in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sept. 5, 2019. Sandbags sit in front of a business to block floodwaters during Hurricane Dorian in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sept. 5, 2019. Luke Sharrett—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 21, 2021 3:24 PM UTC In communities across the country, the increasingly visible effects of climate change have launched a race to adapt with new infrastructure. Miami Beach has built water pumps and elevated roads. California has created new rules requiring fire proof materials for new homes at risk of wildfires. Charleston, S.C. is planning to raise its sea wall—as are many other places. But often lost in this infrastructure discussion is the reality that adaptation—even paired with aggressive emissions reduction at a global scale—will not be enough to protect us from the financial costs of climate change. Some communities will inevitably need to relocate; others that stay will pay the price of living with new and more frequent weather extremes. All of this results in a toll on financial wellbeing on both the individual and a societal level that cannot be fixed with new infrastructure alone. On Thursday, after spending the past several months touting his [infrastructure plan](https://time.com/5951505/biden-climate-change-infrastructure/) as a landmark investment in tackling climate change, President Joe Biden recognized the mounting costs associated with a warming planet with a new executive order. The directive mandates that agencies across the federal government address the risks climate change poses to the financial health of Americans as well as the U.S. financial system. “Our modern financial system was built on the assumption that the climate was stable,” Brian Deese, Biden’s chief economic adviser, told reporters on Thursday. “Today, it’s clear that we no longer live in such a world.” Biden’s order is wide ranging. The directive calls on federal regulators to craft new lending rules to address the risk posed to homeowners by climate change. It requires the federal government to evaluate how climate change may hit its own budget, and pushes for new rules requiring companies to publicly disclose how climate change is making them vulnerable. The order restores an Obama-era directive requiring the federal government to determine where costly flooding is expected to occur. The list goes on. The unprecedented move is the first step in a long process that leaves the details up to policymakers. But when implemented, these measures should provide new clarity and transparency about where climate risk lies within the U.S. economy—and help shape where and how communities choose to adapt. It comes at a critical moment as the costs of climate change begin to stack up. Last year, the U.S. experienced 22 climate-related disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damage. The U.S. has experienced more than $1 trillion in damages from climate disasters over the last 15 years, according to [data](https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2020-us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historical#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20United%20States,NOAA%20map%20by%20NCEI.) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Still, identifying the future costs of climate change remains a challenge—we know there’s a growing problem, but its scale and exact contours are difficult to measure, particularly at the local level. On a global scale, climate change could reduce the value of financial assets by as much as $24 trillion by the end of the century, according to a [report](https://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/us2-5-trillion-of-the-worlds-financial-assets-would-be-at-risk-from-the-impacts-of-climate-change-if-global-mean-surface-temperature-rises-by-2-5c/) from the London School of Economics. That makes investments in climate-related infrastructure difficult to plan. When done right, infrastructure investments play an important role in mitigating this financial risk. Over the years, [various](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/why-it-s-time-to-invest-in-climate-resilient-infrastructure/) [analyses](https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/01/11/every-$1-invested-in-disaster-mitigation-saves-$6) have found that infrastructure investment pays big dividends: $1 invested in climate-resilient infrastructure saves many more dollars in reduced disaster costs. It just has to be the right infrastructure. Local governments have been trying to figure out what that looks like for years. In the coastal city of Charleston, where the number of flooding days increased 750% between 1980 and 2020 and flooding is expected to cost nearly $750 million this year, city leaders are caught between their own infrastructure push and the reality that it may [make sense, in some cases, to simply retreat](https://time.com/5953380/climate-housing-crisis/). The city has launched a number of ambitious infrastructure programs, including a system of tunnels and pumps to remove water from areas prone to flooding, an elevation of the downtown sea wall to protect from rising seas and a rethinking of many drainage systems. And yet the city has also embarked on a program to buy out homes in areas that are so vulnerable to flooding they will soon be uninhabitable, paying homeowners and then razing their houses. The federal government can help fund and guide these local initiatives, and the Administration has made the case that Biden’s infrastructure plan is necessary as a climate adaptation measure. If passed by Congress, the plan would build public housing with resilience to weather disasters in mind, construct new water infrastructure and renovate roads and bridges to withstand climate-fueled extreme weather. But to make sure good money isn’t thrown after bad, measures to evaluate where and how the costs of climate change are stacking up are not only a logical compliment, they are critical. ## Transcript [00:02] One of the tallest buildings in the world are iconic and symbolic [00:08] for both the cities in the countries where they're being built. [00:11] the energy of the Roaring Twenties is manifested in the Empire [00:16] State Building the representation of not just the city of New York, [00:21] but the whole country as a whole [00:25] buildings are responsible for about a third of the greenhouse [00:29] gas emissions in New York state. [00:32] And we have millions of old building retrofitting existing [00:38] buildings is probably one of our most formidable, [00:43] climate challenges for icons of urban life are at the center [00:48] of policies to slow climate change in 2019. [00:52] New York City, enacted, local on 97. [00:54] Which place is carbon caps on most large buildings within [00:58] years. The city will find buildings for exceeding. [01:01] Those caps in at the state level lawmakers are hoping to make [01:05] New York, a leader in large-scale retrofitting. [01:10] 90 year old Empire State Building provides a template for environmentally [01:14] conscious Renovations. That's the one that people are looking [01:17] at and what did they do, and how are they measuring themselves [01:21] against that building? [01:23] In 2010, the Empire State Building completed the first phase [01:26] of an extensive retrofit within a decade. [01:30] The retrofit /. [01:31] The building's energy usage by more than 40% and its save the [01:35] high-rise more than four million dollars each year. [01:37] We moved to a [01:40] Program to reposition the building in a dynamic way as a leader [01:45] in Energy. Efficiency building health and indoor Environmental [01:49] Quality is way to differentiate to attract better 10 better [01:53] credits longer lease terms. [01:55] There's no Silver Bullet. [01:56] It's silver, Buckshot, it's lots of different pieces that work [02:00] together. [02:02] Return, a tremendous amount of work with our tenants to do things, [02:06] like lower the energy used to just go see what the lady equipment, [02:09] heating ventilation and air conditioning. [02:13] One of the things that we did was to retrofit all of the windows [02:16] in the building of 6514 windows, we were used over 96% of the [02:23] existing materials, be added of heinous suspended coated film [02:28] which manages he came in the summer and heat loss in the winter [02:31] the added insulation behind Oliver. [02:34] Radiators we have created the entire Central which is a chiller [02:38] plant. [02:41] Reused the shells of these giant machines and we got it done [02:46] and rebuild them on site. [02:49] We decided to replace our elevators with the destination, [02:53] dispatch type of system, which actually uses regenerative [02:57] braking instead of just friction breaking the generates [02:59] heat. It generates electricity, [03:03] There is no shortcut. [03:04] You have to look at all the systems in a building, [03:06] and you have to look at the behavior of the human beings that [03:09] occupy that building these are lessons that we learned that [03:12] not everyone was yet, you know? [03:15] We, we intend to inform policy or successful practice and also [03:20] help other building owners to get to the point where we are and [03:23] hopefully to get some wipes, the Empire State Building did a decade [03:33] ago was pioneering, and really lead a Green Building movement [03:40] and this needs to continue. [03:43] And we actually need to even go further and deeper. [03:49] We think about all the buildings we need to retrofit the, [03:54] the big ones, and the small ones we need to be retrofitting [03:59] 200 buildings a day every day for the next twelve thousand [04:05] days. [04:08] The magnitude of the transformation that we need in our economy, [04:12] really does require action at every level of government. [04:18] Are goals in the state or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [04:22] 40% by 2030 and 85% by mid-century. [04:31] the Empire Building Challenge is a first-of-a-kind, [04:35] public-private partnership to make New York, a global hub for [04:40] low-carbon and environmentally Sustainable Building Solutions, [04:44] we selected 10 Partners who we will work through in this public-private [04:50] partnership to demonstrate low-carbon Technologies, [04:54] low carbon Solutions in high-rise buildings through these early [05:00] demonstrations, we will start to learn more about how a building [05:05] owner Ken decarbonise a high rise building, [05:12] We will only be successful if we actually show that those low [05:17] carbon Solutions, whether it's low-carbon buildings or carbon-free [05:22] power grid that that is a better system for people that's [05:27] better that create Economic Opportunity and it's a better [05:30] system that other entities want to replicate whether it's throughout [05:34] the country whether it's throughout the globe but that's the [05:38] transformation that that we need. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6050216/biden-executive-order-climate-risk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6050216/biden-executive-order-climate-risk/"},"headline":"Infrastructure Is Important to Reduce Climate Risk. 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