District 5 Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari and her staff are introducing a way for Atlanta neighborhoods to fight against the urban heat island effect and help lower energy costs through the recent adoption of the “cool roofs” ordinance—25-0-1310—on June 2, 2025.
This legislation amends the City of Atlanta Building Code to add a new section of roof reflective materials that can be used in new buildings or a complete roof replacement. These roof reflective materials, which are lighter in color, will help buildings adsorb less heat. The asphalt grey roof tiles common on most buildings around Atlanta play a role in creating what’s called an urban heat island effect, where urban areas can be up to 10 degrees hotter than areas outside of the city due to an abundance of heat-absorbing materials like concrete and asphalt.
“Our research has shown that if the city reached 80 percent cool roofs it would lower the city’s overall temperature by two and a half degrees,” said District 5 Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari. “We also showed that because of cool roofs and the effects that they have they will actually lower utility costs. And because of reduced HVAC usage this type of roofing, while cost neutral, will also pay for itself in the first two to five years.”
This ordinance marks Atlanta as the first U.S. city to address both commercial and residential roofs. This is because the ordinance specifically names steep slope roofs, usually found on residential homes, while similar ordinances in other U.S. cities only name flat roofs, which is more common on commercial and manufacturing buildings. Bakhtiari discusses the details of the ordinance in a recent interview with NPR’s On Point from WBUR Boston.
The Atlanta City Council District 5 office worked with various city departments and subject matter experts for a year before introducing the legislation during the May 19, 2025, Atlanta City Council Regular Session meeting. Their legislative research included working with advocacy groups to understand the impact heat-absorbing materials have on the health of those that live and visit urban areas during periods of extremely high heat.
Since the ordinance’s adoption, the District 5 office is currently working with the Department of City Planning to compile a list of approved reflective roof materials. Once that list is complete, they will be working with the Home Builders Association over the year to build demand for reflective roof materials which will create a more readily available supply of materials in Atlanta.
