New York set to ban glass skyscrapers in bid to tackle climate change

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The building of glass skyscrapers could be banned in New York as part of a bid to cut greenhouse emissions by 30 per cent.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said all-glass facade skyscrapers are “incredibly inefficient” because so much energy escapes through the glass.

The democratic mayor said buildings are the number one cause of greenhouse emissions in New York.

Mr de Blasio plans to introduce a bill which would ban the building of new glass skyscrapers and require existing glass buildings to be retrofitted to meet new stricter carbon-emissions guidelines.

The politician, who announced his Green New Deal on Monday, said: “If a company wants to build a big skyscraper they can use a lot of glass if they do all the other things needed to reduce the emissions.

“But putting up monuments to themselves that harmed our earth and threatened our future that will no longer be allowed in New York City.”

The mayor’s Green New Deal effort also includes plans to power all of the city’s operations with clean electricity sources like Canadian hydropower, mandatory organics recycling, congestion pricing, and the phasing out of city purchases of single-use plastic food ware and processed meat.

Additional reporting by Associated Press