NY Renews on the 5th Anniversary of the Climate Act: State Leadership Falling Short in Meeting NY’s Climate Mandates
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***: July 18, 2024
Contact: Marie Scarles, marie@nyrenews.org, (646) 389-8429
New York — On the 5th anniversary of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s passage, the NY Renews coalition released the following statement:
The state’s most recent report makes clear what advocates have been saying for years: New York State is falling far behind in its legal mandate to reach 70 percent renewable energy by 2030. Governor Hochul and state Assembly leadership should be using their power to meet the renewable energy target to protect the lungs and lives of New Yorkers statewide. Instead, Gov. Hochul recently torpedoed New York City’s congestion pricing plan and has yet to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act into law, while the state Assembly left the NY HEAT and Just Energy Transition Acts (JETA) unpassed.
The state can—and must—protect New Yorkers from ever-rising energy costs by passing NY HEAT; retire fossil fuel plants, like the highly polluting peakers overwhelmingly located in and near low-income, BIPOC communities; and accelerate renewable development via New York’s public power authority. The nearly 400 organizational members of the NY Renews coalition will continue fighting to get the state back on track to meet our CLCPA targets, fund major climate justice initiatives across the state, and push state leadership to take seriously the climate and environmental justice crisis and address it at scale.
Background:
A new state report shows that New York is falling behind on one of its primary, legally mandated climate goals. The nation-leading Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed in 2019, requires New York to acquire 70% of its electricity from renewables like solar and wind by 2030.
The report points to economic conditions and supply chain issues as core to the delay, as well as rising inflation and interest rates undermining the financial feasibility of renewable projects. However, under the Hochul administration, state leadership has failed to commit to its own climate goals, undermining programs that would help New York transition off of fossil fuels, like NY HEAT; build renewable energy and jobs hubs by transitioning peaker plants, like JETA; and making major corporate polluters pay for climate damages to raise money for resiliency projects statewide, like the Climate Change Superfund Act.
There is plenty that New York can do to meet our CLCPA targets; it’s a matter of political will, not technical or economic possibility.
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NY Renews is a coalition of more than 380 environmental justice, community, faith, labor, and multi-issue organizations fighting for just climate policy for New Yorkers. We are the force behind the nation's most progressive climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. We fight for good jobs and climate justice for New Yorkers statewide.