{ "schemaVersion": "1.0.0", "constitutionVersion": "1.0.0", "createdAt": "2026-08-12T00:00:00Z", "description": "Append-only Evidence Passport records. Old revisions are immutable; corrections create a new revision and preserve the previous permalink.", "entity": { "type": "project", "id": "boston-berdo", "title": "BERDO: Boston's Building Emissions Caps", "canonicalUrl": "https://1001smartcities.org/projects/boston-berdo/" }, "currentRevisionId": "2026-08-22-evidence-baseline", "revisions": [ { "id": "2026-08-22-evidence-baseline", "createdAt": "2026-08-22T14:12:00Z", "effectiveAt": "2026-07-26", "changeType": "baseline", "summary": "Created the first structured Evidence Passport with 9 claims and 8 source dossiers.", "preparedBy": { "type": "automation", "label": "AI-assisted evidence preparation", "humanApproved": false }, "review": { "status": "unreviewed", "by": null, "date": null, "note": "Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither." }, "changes": [ { "operation": "add", "path": "/evidencePassport", "summary": "Added claim-level evidence mapping and source dossiers." }, { "operation": "add", "path": "/revisionHistory", "summary": "Established a permanent, hash-addressed baseline revision." } ], "snapshotHash": "sha256:0202f87acfb49833afb1ab5a54eb1c36fa69b13b60ed07744367181c71e5b0a2", "snapshot": { "asOf": "2026-07-26", "projectFingerprint": "sha256:756dad1a71a7937fa9bc34f8c0cc96c498d96085cd93b5a02f9d393b169e7a19", "assurance": { "status": "unreviewed", "scope": "evidence-passport-revision", "statement": "AI-assisted structural preparation. This revision has not been reviewed by a human or subject-matter expert.", "machineChecks": [ "schema", "publication-diff-contract", "material-project-fingerprint", "claim-text-drift", "source-reference-resolution", "complete-source-dossier", "snapshot-hash" ] }, "projectState": { "status": "live", "outcome": "ongoing", "evidenceGrade": "official", "timeline": { "started": 2013, "ended": null } }, "governance": { "operator": "City of Boston Environment Department, with the BERDO Review Board", "actorTypes": [ "city-government" ], "fundingModel": "public", "fundingDescription": "City of Boston; the Equitable Emissions Investment Fund was seeded with $3.5M of municipal money and is to be sustained by alternative compliance payments and fines", "cost": null, "ownership": null, "decisionRights": null, "exitConditions": null }, "claims": [ { "id": "clm-99fd8b874f8b8322", "field": "snippet", "text": "Boston's 2013 ordinance made large buildings report energy and water use every year and take an energy assessment or reduction action every five.", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-a451efe57c0ca471" ], "supportNote": "The article states the 2013 ordinance 'requires covered buildings to report energy and water use annually and undertake either an energy assessment or energy reduction action every five years' — matches the entry's description of the original 2013 requirement.", "caveat": null, "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-066b12b13d50789e", "field": "snippet", "text": "A rewrite signed on 5 October 2021 turned reporting into a binding standard:", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-a451efe57c0ca471" ], "supportNote": "Confirms the signing date: 'Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey signed an [Ordinance...] into law on Oct. 5, 2021.' The article (about the ordinance's decline-to-zero emissions trajectory) supports that this rewrite created binding emissions limits rather than only a reporting duty.", "caveat": "The source documents the signing date and the zero-emissions trajectory it created; it does not use the phrase 'turned reporting into a binding standard' verbatim — that framing is the entry's own summary of the shift from a reporting-only law to one with enforceable limits.", "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-1711c1acbf547157", "field": "snippet", "text": "non-residential buildings over 20,000 square feet and residential buildings with 15 or more units face declining limits reaching zero by 2050,", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-314cd83e52fc21ea", "src-a451efe57c0ca471" ], "supportNote": "The city's BERDO page states coverage as 'Non-residential buildings that are 20,000 square feet or larger' and 'Residential buildings that have 15 or more units,' with 'declining limits to net zero by 2050.' Holland and Knight separately confirms the trajectory: the ordinance requires emissions to decline 'on a linear or better basis to reduce emissions 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.'", "caveat": "One line on the city's own BERDO page states the larger-tier threshold differently ('25,000+ sq ft or 35+ residential units'), which the entry's own source note flags as inconsistent with every other source and with the city's own fine bands (35,000 sq ft / 35 units) and treats as a likely typo. The 20,000 sq ft / 15-unit figures used here match the BERDO page's main coverage description and the Equitable Emissions Investment Fund and Review Board pages, but the primary source itself is not fully internally consistent.", "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-8a3960e3ddff5c32", "field": "snippet", "text": "and pay $234 per tonne over the line into a dedicated fund the Review Board directs", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-ec337c1b51187988", "src-9292b4aba57aa40a" ], "supportNote": "The 'My building' page states verbatim: 'ACPs are payments of $234 for every metric ton of CO2e' a building is above its limit. The Equitable Emissions Investment Fund page confirms Alternative Compliance Payments feed this specific fund: it 'will continue to be supported through BERDO fines and Alternative Compliance Payments.'", "caveat": "The fund's official name is the 'Equitable Emissions Investment Fund' — neither this page nor any other listed source calls it an 'environmental justice fund' verbatim. The label is the entry's own paraphrase; it is thematically supported by the fund's stated priority for 'low-income communities and communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted by air pollution' and by the Review Board's reserved seat for the City Council's Environmental Justice, Resiliency and Parks Committee, but the exact term does not appear on the fund's own page.", "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-7474b824828eec5b", "field": "snippet", "text": "The first compliance year is 2025,", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-314cd83e52fc21ea", "src-7eecbcc9a3bbd069" ], "supportNote": "The BERDO page states larger covered buildings comply from 2025 (smaller covered buildings from 2030), and the deadline-extension announcement states directly: 'This is the first year that the largest building owners in Boston are required to comply with BERDO emissions standards.'", "caveat": null, "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-57e0e48bb90f4205", "field": "snippet", "text": "but the Review Board moved its reporting deadline from 15 May to 15 August 2026.", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-7eecbcc9a3bbd069" ], "supportNote": "The announcement states the extension 'gives building and property owners three additional months — until August 15 — to report their buildings' annual building and water use,' and that those buildings 'have until August 15 to complete third-party verification and demonstrate compliance with the emissions standard.'", "caveat": "The source documents the new 15 August deadline and that it was pushed back by 'three additional months'; it does not itself write out '15 May' as the original date — that figure is arithmetic (15 August minus three months). The announcement also frames the extension as tied to an upcoming public-comment period on flexibility rules, not purely as an administrative slip.", "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-a8573e3417341e2c", "field": "impact", "text": "Reports for the first compliance year, 2025, were not due until 15 August 2026 after the Review Board extended the deadline by three months", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-7eecbcc9a3bbd069" ], "supportNote": "Same announcement as above: the extension gives owners 'three additional months — until August 15 —' to report, and those buildings 'have until August 15 to complete third-party verification and demonstrate compliance with the emissions standard.'", "caveat": null, "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-8b965789800671b7", "field": "impact", "text": "The Equitable Emissions Investment Fund, seeded with $3.5M of city money, awarded $750,250 in 2024 and $750,000 in 2025, and allocated up to $600,000 for 2026", "statementKind": "quantitative", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-9292b4aba57aa40a" ], "supportNote": "The Fund page states it 'was initially seeded with $3.5 million from the City,' lists 2024 awards totaling '$750,250,' 2025 awards totaling '$750,000,' and: 'For the 2026 application cycle, the Review Board has allocated $600,000.'", "caveat": "These figures are the City's seed capital plus Review-Board-decided grant allocations — not Alternative Compliance Payments or fines collected from over-limit buildings. The Fund page itself says the fund will only 'continue to' be supported by ACPs/fines going forward; none of these disbursed totals is described as ACP-funded.", "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } }, { "id": "clm-a34cf431f0803ce5", "field": "lesson", "text": "sends the money to a dedicated fund the Review Board directs", "statementKind": "descriptive", "textMode": "verbatim-from-project-record", "mappingStatus": "mapped", "sourceRefs": [ "src-9292b4aba57aa40a", "src-b2532c237e239665" ], "supportNote": "Same underlying fund as the snippet claim above: ACPs and fines are directed to the Equitable Emissions Investment Fund, whose Review Board includes a seat for the City Council's 'Environmental Justice, Resiliency, and Parks Committee' and which prioritizes 'low-income communities and communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted by air pollution.'", "caveat": "As with the parallel snippet claim, no source calls it an 'environmental justice fund' by that exact name — the official name is the Equitable Emissions Investment Fund. The label is a reasonable paraphrase of its stated purpose, not a quoted term.", "interpretation": { "added": false, "interpolation": false, "note": "The passport copies the published claim and its recorded source mapping without adding a conclusion." } } ], "sources": [ { "id": "src-314cd83e52fc21ea", "title": "City of Boston — Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure", "url": "https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/berdo", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "boston.gov", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "claim-evidence", "claimRefs": [ "clm-1711c1acbf547157", "clm-7474b824828eec5b" ], "temporal": { "publishedAt": null, "updatedAt": null, "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "record-date-only" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Primary source for coverage: residential buildings with 15 or more units, non-residential buildings 20,000 square feet or larger, and qualifying tax parcels; declining limits to net zero by 2050; larger buildings comply from 2025, smaller covered buildings from 2030; MA Class I RECs generated January 2024 to June 2026 may be used against the 2025 standard through 31 October 2026. Caution: this page states the larger tier as '25,000+ sq ft or 35+ residential units', which contradicts every other source and the city's own fine bands (35,000 sq ft / 35 units) and reads as a typo — the entry avoids that number.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-ec337c1b51187988", "title": "City of Boston — My building is above its emissions limit, what can I do now? (updated 10 July 2026)", "url": "https://www.boston.gov/news/take-action-if-your-building-may-be-out-compliance-berdo", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "boston.gov", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "claim-evidence", "claimRefs": [ "clm-8a3960e3ddff5c32" ], "temporal": { "publishedAt": null, "updatedAt": "2026-07-10", "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "record-date-only" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Carries the alternative compliance payment rate verbatim: 'ACPs are payments of $234 for every metric ton of CO2e.' Also lists the four flexibility measures — blended emissions standard, building portfolio, individual compliance schedule, short-term hardship compliance plan, plus a streamlined hardship route for affordable housing, small businesses and nonprofits — with a 1 September 2026 application deadline.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-7eecbcc9a3bbd069", "title": "City of Boston — reporting deadline extended (15 April 2026)", "url": "https://www.boston.gov/news/building-carbon-emissions-reporting-deadline-extended-free-technical-support-offered-building", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "boston.gov", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "claim-evidence", "claimRefs": [ "clm-7474b824828eec5b", "clm-57e0e48bb90f4205", "clm-a8573e3417341e2c" ], "temporal": { "publishedAt": "2026-04-15", "updatedAt": null, "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "publication-and-record-dates-recorded" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "The load-bearing currency source: 'This is the first year that the largest building owners in Boston are required to comply with BERDO emissions standards', and those buildings 'have until August 15 to complete third-party verification and demonstrate compliance with the emissions standard.' Also the city's framing that 'just 5 percent of buildings in Boston account for 40 percent of the city's carbon emissions', which is kept out of the entry text as an advocacy figure.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-b2532c237e239665", "title": "City of Boston — BERDO Review Board", "url": "https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/berdo-review-board", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "boston.gov", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "claim-evidence", "claimRefs": [ "clm-a34cf431f0803ce5" ], "temporal": { "publishedAt": null, "updatedAt": null, "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "record-date-only" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Supports the board: nine volunteer members, six nominated by community-based organisations, two by open nomination, one seat for the Chair of the City Council's Environmental Justice, Resiliency and Parks Committee. Powers to accept or deny flexibility applications, direct the fund, and issue violation notices. Slide decks, recordings, approved minutes and an approved-flexibility-measures spreadsheet are published; the board voted the 2026 deadline extension. The spreadsheet would give a count of hardship plans granted, but the December 2025 minutes PDF would not render for extraction, so no usage count reaches the entry.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-9292b4aba57aa40a", "title": "City of Boston — Equitable Emissions Investment Fund", "url": "https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/equitable-emissions-investment-fund", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "boston.gov", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "claim-evidence", "claimRefs": [ "clm-8a3960e3ddff5c32", "clm-8b965789800671b7", "clm-a34cf431f0803ce5" ], "temporal": { "publishedAt": null, "updatedAt": "2026-06-04", "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "record-date-only" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Source for every fund figure: 'initially seeded with $3.5 million from the City' and to 'continue to be supported through BERDO fines and Alternative Compliance Payments'; $750,250 to three organisations in the 2024 cycle, $750,000 to four in 2025, and $600,000 allocated for 2026. The money granted so far is the city's seed, not cap revenue. Awards are decided by the Review Board, not by the Environment Department.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-a451efe57c0ca471", "title": "Holland and Knight — Boston passes ordinance targeting zero emissions (October 2021)", "url": "https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2021/10/boston-passes-ambitious-ordinance-targeting-zero-emissions", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "hklaw.com", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "claim-evidence", "claimRefs": [ "clm-99fd8b874f8b8322", "clm-066b12b13d50789e", "clm-1711c1acbf547157" ], "temporal": { "publishedAt": "2021-10-07", "updatedAt": null, "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "publication-and-record-dates-recorded" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Dates the two instruments apart: the 2013 ordinance required annual energy and water reporting plus an energy assessment or reduction action every five years; the City Council passed BERDO 2.0 unanimously on 22 September 2021 and Acting Mayor Kim Janey signed it on 5 October 2021. Also the 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050 trajectory, and that the $234 rate is reviewed every five years.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-93a3f70d8874663f", "title": "Facilities Dive — what to know about BERDO (23 August 2024)", "url": "https://www.facilitiesdive.com/news/what-to-know-about-berdo-bostons-building-performance-standards-law/725082/", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "facilitiesdive.com", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "background", "claimRefs": [], "temporal": { "publishedAt": "2024-08-23", "updatedAt": null, "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "publication-and-record-dates-recorded" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Independent trade reporting that the payment goes 'into an equitable investment fund', and the city's own projection that around 70 percent of buildings subject to the 2025 standard 'should be fine and don't need to do anything'. Gives penalty bands of $300 to $1,000 daily for emissions violations and $150 to $300 for reporting failures; those bands attach to different offences in different sources, which is why no fine figure is carried in the entry text.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } }, { "id": "src-37435b39b99ab722", "title": "Analyze Boston — BERDO reported energy and water metrics", "url": "https://data.boston.gov/dataset/building-emissions-reduction-and-disclosure-ordinance", "publisher": { "name": null, "domain": "data.boston.gov", "classification": "not-classified" }, "sourceType": "web-page", "language": "und", "role": "background", "claimRefs": [], "temporal": { "publishedAt": null, "updatedAt": null, "sourceCheckedAt": null, "recordLastVerifiedAt": "2026-07-26", "dossierCreatedAt": "2026-08-22", "retrievedAt": null, "status": "record-date-only" }, "locator": { "type": "descriptive-source-note", "value": "Confirms the disclosure half is real and continuous: annual reported metrics published from 2015 through 2025, with compliance maps and data dictionaries. Also the pre-amendment coverage, described by the city as buildings '35,000 square feet and above or 25 units or above' for 2021 and earlier.", "exact": false }, "preservation": { "archiveUrl": null, "archivedAt": null, "contentHash": null, "status": "not-captured" } } ], "coverage": { "claimsTotal": 9, "claimsMapped": 9, "sourcesTotal": 8, "sourcesUsedByClaims": 6, "sourcesWithPublicationDate": 3, "sourcesWithArchive": 0, "sourcesWithExactLocator": 0, "sourcesWithContentHash": 0 }, "limits": [ "Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.", "Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.", "A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.", "The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim." ] } } ] }