Since the enactment of Philadelphia's commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing laws in 2019, over a staggering $100 million in C-PACE financing has been secured by property owners to make their commercial real estate properties more environmentally sustainable. While the initial 2019 laws provided many benefits to owners, recent updates to C-PACE laws have vastly expanded the availability of and eligibility for C-PACE financing, resulting in more property owners taking advantage of Philadelphia's C-PACE laws and using C-PACE financing to fund sustainability projects for their commercial properties. This article explores some of the recent updates to Philadelphia C-PACE laws and how commercial property owners have and continue to leverage C-PACE financing as a viable tool in their sustainability efforts.

In 2019, Philadelphia enacted the building energy performance program (BEPP) to address energy inefficiencies of buildings as predominant contributors to the city's carbon footprint and as part of the city's larger effort to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Under BEPP, "tune-ups" are generally required for all nonresidential buildings with indoor floor space of at least 50,000 square feet. Tune-up requirements include inspections of and corrections to building systems with the aim of meeting certain efficiency standards outlined by BEPP. The deadline for implementing the tune-ups varies on a sliding-scale based on building size, and while limited exemptions to the requirements do exist, tune-up requirements apply vastly to commercial buildings across Philadelphia. The result is that Philadelphia's commercial property owners are facing significant costs associated with compliance. One option property owners can use to address these costs is C-PACE financing.