Through its partnership with the Better Buildings Challenge, the District of Columbia is committing to a multi-pronged action plan to reduce energy consumption in over 65 million square feet of city and privately held buildings in the downtown core by at least 20 percent by 2021. The District has set forth an energy efficiency and renewable energy agenda and has invested in long-term incentive programs that will support a public-private collaboration and ensure that Washington is a national leader in the energy efficiency economy. The District has made a series of commitments on its own 300+ buildings that will demonstrate leadership from the top, among them completing energy audits, implementing a showcase retrofit and investing at least $4 million in the next five years on energy efficiency measures.

The District has long-term commitment to energy efficiency programs and policies that support the Better Buildings Challenge, including a benchmarking and disclosure regulation for over 3,000 private commercial buildings, making the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) a one-stop shop for the District's energy efficiency solutions and resources and the creation of energy efficiency financing tools targeted at commercial building owners. These financing tools and products will provide at least $225 million in competitively-priced capital to commercial owners over the next nine years to fund energy efficiency improvements. The DowntownDC Business Improvement District ("BID") and the DowntownDC ecoDistrict have accepted the Better Buildings Challenge in partnership with the District of Columbia and Mayor Muriel Bowser.