Buildings have become a primary focus in the effort to stop climate change, and government authorities are leading the way.

A new federal grant program is designed to help state and local jurisdictions raise standards for building energy efficiency and carbon emissions.

Earlier this month, the Department of Energy (DOE) took the initial steps in this program. On April 3, the DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs issued a Request for Information and Notice of Intent regarding $1 billion in funding for technical assistance. It will be provided to states and local governments to help them develop building energy code improvements with an emphasis on carbon reduction.

The funding was appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act. Section 50131 of the law sets aside the funding for states and local governments to update their building codes and achieve net-zero energy emissions.

The grant funding is divided into two pools. In the first one, $330 million is available for states and local governments to adopt the most recent energy codes. These are contained in the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) for residential buildings and the ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1–2019 for commercial buildings.

In the second pool of funds, $670 million is available for states and local governments to adopt codes that meet or exceed the zero energy provisions in the 2021 IECC code or other codes and standards with equivalent or greater energy savings.

The RFI announcement is intended to gather feedback from those stakeholders who will be affected by the program before the DOE finalizes the process for making the funds available. Comments will be accepted until April 26.

The funding awards will support states and local governments in all manner of preparing standards to improve energy-efficiency and reduce emissions from buildings. This includes adopting, implementing and enforcing the latest model zero energy codes.

Through this program, the DOE hopes to “raise the floor” on building standards and encourage code setting government agencies to become more innovative and embrace the latest and highest standards.

The standards ultimately are intended to help government at all three levels meet the nation’s long-term strategy of achieving net-zero energy emissions by 2050.

State and local governments are on board with this goal. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that cities and states across the country have adopted goals to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, and many are in varying stages of adopting building performance standards to help them reach those goals.