NORTHAMPTON — A new building code kicks in citywide next Monday that effectively bans the use of fossil fuels in any new buildings or renovations of existing structures in Northampton.

The City Council on Jan. 16 unanimously approved an ordinance that spells out the change, making Northampton one of only 10 communities in Massachusetts to take such measures, and the only one in the western part of the state.

The new code is required for Northampton to participate in the Municipal Fossil Fuel Free Building Demonstration Program, a state-sponsored pilot that allows select cities and towns to enact measures to cut fossil fuels completely for new buildings. All other municipalities in the program are located in affluent suburbs of Boston or on Martha’s Vineyard: Acton, Aquinnah, Brookline, Cambridge, Concord, Lincoln, Lexington, Newton and Arlington.

Under the proposed new building code, all new buildings or renovations to existing buildings will be required to be all-electric, with any use of fossil fuels prohibited. Although new heating systems installed in buildings would have to meet the new guidelines, “like-for-like” replacements of existing fossil fuel equipment, such as a boiler with another boiler, would be permitted.

Several exceptions are in place already for certain types of buildings and facilities, including research labs, hospitals and medical offices, as well as outdoor cooking and heating appliances and emergency generators. Historical buildings are also exempt if following the ordinance “would change the historic fabric of the building,” according to Ben Weil, director of the city’s Climate Action and Project Administration