Decarbonizing Municipal Buildings

The City of Saint Paul owns and operates more than 150 buildings totaling over 2.4 million square feet. Together, these facilities use more than 227,000 MMBtus of energy and produce 12,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.

During 2025, the City of Saint Paul developed a Municipal Buildings Decarbonization Plan that defined a roadmap for how the City could reach carbon neutrality in its building operations by 2030.

The City has already reduced its building-related emissions by 46% between 2015-2024, and will ramp up decarbonization efforts over the next five years by increasing energy efficiency, electrifying priority buildings, and expanding the use of renewable energy as outlined in the roadmap.

Roadmap to Carbon Neutral Municipal Building Operations

Improving Energy Efficiency in City Buildings

The City of Saint Paul is tracking energy use for its city-owned and operated properties using the  B3 Benchmarking platform, which helps the City identify opportunities for improving the energy performance of municipal buildings.

Investments in building improvements - such as LED lighting retrofits or upgrading HVAC systems with more efficient equipment and controls - are decreasing energy consumption and saving money on utility costs for City departments. Many of these energy efficiency projects in the past were paid for with the City's Green Energy Fund.

Here are some examples of energy efficiency and decarbonization projects previously completed at City buildings:

•  Leading with Efficiency: City of Saint Paul's Fire Station Upgrade (2026)
• Community/Recreation Center Lighting Projects Summary (2023)
• Public Works: Field Validation of Lighting Retrofit with HVAC Integration (2021)
• City Buildings Lighting Project Summary (2018-2021)

Designing More Sustainable Buildings

The City of Saint Paul is also incorporating energy efficiency and other sustainability measures during the design and construction of new facilities, as well as during large renovation projects, by aligning with guidelines under the Saint Paul Sustainable Building Ordinance.

These case studies summarize the sustainable features of previous City of Saint Paul renovation and new construction facilities:

• North End Community Center Sustainability Overview (2025)
• LEED® Certification:  Saint Paul Fire Station Headquarters
• LEED® Certification:  Saint Paul Western District Police Station
• B3 Case Study:  Arlington Hills Community Center
• B3 Case Study:  Como Park Aquatic Center
• B3 Case Study:  Richard H. Rowan Public Safety Training Center
• B3 Case Study:  Sun Ray Library