Ahead of Gov’s State of the State, NY Renews Launches Campaign Demanding Strong Cap, Trade & Invest Program, Producing Billions in Climate Revenue Starting in the 2025-26 Budget
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
January 13, 2025
Contact: Devyn Fusaro | (909) 610-9814 | devyn@nyrenews.org & Lisa Thomas | lisa@alignny.org | 347-415-6431
Web: @NYRenews | www.nyrenews.org
Ahead of Governor Hochul’s 2025 State of the State speech, the statewide 370-member NY Renews coalition announced a campaign to achieve what’s needed to meet the State’s climate commitments. The Fund Climate Campaign demands a strong cap, trade and invest program that, starting this year, will produce billions in annual climate funding, and ensures those funds are spent effectively and fairly. Today, NY Renews held a mass organizing call with coalition members from across the state detailing a newly-released report on the program from NYC-Environmental Justice Alliance and Resources for the Future. A recording of today’s virtual action can be found here (passcode: D6XC7$NM). A mass in-person mobilization will kick off the NY Renews campaign in Albany on January 22.
The FY 2025-26 NYS budget will likely be the first one where the cap-trade-and-invest system—“CTI”, or what the Governor is calling “NYCI”— generates billions in annual revenue that will flow into the Climate Action Fund (CAF), which NY Renews advocated for and was passed in the 2023 state budget. The draft regulations to implement NYCI are late and must be issued soon to meet this promise.
Funds from the Climate Change Superfund Act, which Gov. Hochul signed in December, will not be available until 2028 and will not flow through the Climate Action Fund. In comparison, funds from CTI can start flowing this year, as soon as regulations are adopted and the program is implemented.
“The program to cap pollution must be implemented now so it will start generating money this year that we can use to make it affordable and thus possible to start electrifying homes and fixing the damage from years of fossil fuel pollution,” said Stephan Edel, NY Renews Executive Director.
“It was important that Gov. Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act, but it’s essential to also implement Cap, Trade, and Invest properly. Climate Change Superfund gets fossil fuel companies to pay to repair the damage already done by the use of those fuels. CTI is about avoiding future damage by reducing future pollution,” said Blair Horner of NYPIRG. “We urge Gov. Hochul to issue strong CTI draft regs as soon as possible.”
“Our report out today shows that rather than being overly cautious, Governor Hochul can help New Yorkers save more money and improve public health by implementing an ambitious pollution cap program that produces more revenues, resulting in greater benefits, including more money savings for New York families, improved health, and less pollution,” said Eunice Ko, Deputy Director, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA).
New York’s “Cap, Trade, and Invest” program sets a cap on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that is permitted to be emitted in New York.
Proposed by Gov. Hochul in January 2023, it is intended to help NYS achieve the emission reduction mandates of our landmark Climate Law by requiring polluters to pay “to pollute,” reducing the amount allowed every year.
The payments will create billions of dollars of revenue that will be directed to the Climate Action Fund to fund and implement climate and environmental projects, programs and policies; assist New Yorkers with affordable energy and transportation; and support thousands of good jobs statewide.
Draft regulations for implementation of the program were due months ago.
“To actually reduce pollution, the final regulations must not include loopholes or handouts for the fossil fuel industry. Limits on pollution should be strict. The price to pollute must be high enough to generate the investments our communities need,” said Leslie Vasquez,
Environmental Justice Organizer at The Point CDC.
NY Renews is calling for final regulations on New York’s emissions cap-trade-and-invest program to hold the fossil fuel industry and other polluters accountable by:
Ensuring polluters pay their fair share for polluting our climate and communities.
Requiring the reduction of emissions in line with the Climate Act.
Setting guardrails on how emissions are reduced.
Including protections for disadvantaged communities like facility-specific caps and a ban on trading.
Prohibiting loopholes or handouts that create pollution hotspots and sacrifice zones, as seen in other States with market-based approaches.
Prioritizing mechanisms that improve energy transition affordability for New Yorkers.
The Fund Climate Campaign is about ensuring New York state spends climate-related revenues where it matters in order to tackle the climate crisis, protect our health, and create jobs. There are three main pillars to the Fund Climate Campaign in New York:
Upgrade existing homes by using revenues generated through CTI to improve living conditions and electrify at the same time. This will allow us to cut pollution, make homes safer and healthier, save energy and reduce utility bills, and create jobs.
Fund a community-directed grant program to empower communities to design and implement community-led pollution reduction projects. We are fighting to ensure that energy planning is truly democratic and puts communities in the driver’s seat.
Apply three spending criteria to all programs to ensure that projects address:
Climate: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and health-impacting co-pollutant emissions, and/or further community climate resilience.
Jobs: Create good, family-sustaining jobs with gold-star labor standards.
Justice: Prioritize funding for projects and programs proposed by residents, local governments, and organizations in state-designated Disadvantaged Communities (DACs).
“The Fund Climate Campaign is about ensuring New York state spends money effectively and where it matters: increasing affordability, decreasing pollution, improving housing, and prioritizing communities that have suffered the most from pollution, disinvestment, and the burdens of burning fossil fuel,” said Ethan Gormley, Climate Justice Organizer, Citizen Action of New York.
“Now that Governor Hochul has signed the landmark Climate Change Superfund Act, fossil fuel companies must pay for a share of the costs to repair the damage done by past emissions from burning those fuels. Nevertheless, the Governor must also implement the Cap, Trade, and Invest program properly so as to minimize future damage by reducing future emissions,” said Michael Richardson of Third Act Upstate New York. “We call on Governor Hochul to expedite the publishing of the CTI draft rules with meaningful price caps and protections for disadvantaged communities.”
“The Fund Climate Campaign will direct investments to marginalized communities to begin repairing past and current harm against our health and well-being. This funding also creates access to green jobs, increasing community wealth for BIPOC folks in our community by expanding projects like PUSH Buffalo's Sustainability Workforce Training Center (SWTC). This funding can actually help reduce pollution and environmental harm. Finally,any final regulations must not include loopholes or handouts for the fossil fuel industry. Limits on pollution should be strict. The price to pollute must be high enough to generate the investments our communities need." Rev. Dr. Majadi Baruti, Climate Justice Organizer, PUSH Buffalo
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NY Renews is a coalition of over 380 environmental justice, faith, labor, and community groups, and the force behind the nation’s most progressive climate law. We fight for good jobs and climate justice for New Yorkers statewide.