Governor Hochul’s “Future Energy Economy Summit” Fails to Include Climate Justice Speakers; Saves Seats for Business Interests Opposed to NY’s Climate Law
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***: September 3, 2024
Contact: Marie Scarles, marie@nyrenews.org, (646) 389-8429
New York State — In response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s “Future Energy Economy Summit” in Syracuse, New York, on September 4th and 5th, the NY Renews coalition issued the following statement:
Five years after New York State passed the most progressive climate law in the country, New York Governor Kathy Hochul continues to fail in her responsibility to implement the law or adequately engage climate justice stakeholders. Instead, her upcoming Future Energy Economy Summit, which focuses on renewable energy deployment, will include a speaker from a business group that has opposed the Climate Law and will not include any speakers from climate justice organizations.
NY Renews, the coalition behind the law’s passage, wrote Governor Hochul requesting speaking slots for NY Renews leadership, members of the state’s Climate Justice Working Group, and internationally recognized climate scientist Professor Robert Howarth, a member of the Climate Action Council that spent more than two years creating a Scoping Plan laying out how the Climate Law would be implemented. The Governor or her team has not answered that request.
If climate and environmental justice groups are not participating stakeholders in implementing the state’s Climate Act, corporate interests will whittle down our powerful climate law. Climate and environmental justice communities must be at the table as we build the renewable energy economy of the future.
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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.