New York is way behind on its climate goals. So how can the state catch up?
Gothamist asked experts, advocates and lawmakers how the state can realize the promise of the ambitious Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law in 2019.
The law requires greenhouse gas emissions to be cut across all sectors by 40% in the next five years and by 85% in 2050. It also calls for the state to run on 70% renewable energy by 2030 and zero-emissions energy by 2040.
The act is a master plan for the state to reach a sustainable economy. But more than five years after its passing, key aspects of the law – including enforcement mechanisms, administrative reforms and major green energy projects – have yet to be implemented. The state’s Public Service Commission projected that the state is three years behind its climate goals – and that was before President Donald Trump began pursuing his deregulation agenda.
According to a 2024 report by the state’s environmental agency, New York has only reduced its carbon emissions by around 9%. New York’s power statewide is about one-third renewable. In New York City, the grid is only 5% renewable, running mostly on natural gas.
But experts and politicians insisted that all hope is not lost.
“There's a lot of low-hanging fruit that is out there,” said New York state Sen. Pete Harckham. “We're in far worse shape than we were then from a climate perspective in that the damage from climate change is far worse than anyone predicted five years ago, so that's only more impetus that we need to try and advance our climate goals and not relax them.”
Gothamist spoke with 30 experts, lawmakers and advocates about how the state could get its climate goals on track. Here are seven of their ideas.
Launch a climate enforcement tool
The Cap and Invest program would provide the mechanism for enforcing the state’s climate law – and it has yet to get off the ground. The state’s climate law requires the the Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to set an annual cap on greenhouse gas pollution, which declines until the zero emissions goal is reached in 2050. Under cap and invest, the largest polluters, such as fossil fuel plants and energy providers, will have to pay for how much pollution they create over the limit.
“ The first thing is to launch the Cap and Invest program,” said Michael Gerard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “It gives companies up and down the supply chain an economic incentive to try to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
The money collected from fines would go toward decarbonizing the state’s economy, like funding for energy-efficient appliances and electrification.
“ It is crucial that we move forward with cap and invest – to both signal New York state is not walking away from either this crisis or its responsibility,” said New York state Sen. Liz Krueger.
Implementation of the program still appears a long way off, and legal challenges are likely to delay it further. The Cap and Invest program was ready for public review last year, but Gov. Kathy Hochul delayed its release, saying in January that relevant agencies were still working on the details. The state’s environmental agency released draft regulations in March for reporting emissions.
Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies
The New York Home Energy Affordable Transition Act is intended to expedite the retirement of the state’s gas system and end subsidies that fuel its ongoing expansion.
Experts said that many laws on the books incentivize development of fossil fuel infrastructure, even as the state’s climate law requires it be retired. The HEAT Act seeks to better align gas industry regulations with the goals of the climate law. As one example, current law requires utility companies to supply gas to any customer living within 100 feet of a gas line who requests it – and existing customers subsidize the cost. The bill’s backers say the arrangement drives up customers’ costs while incentivizing the expansion of the gas system. Eliminating the rule would, in theory, facilitate the transition to cleaner energy sources like heat pumps and electric stoves.
The bill has passed the state Senate twice, and has yet to pass the Assembly.
“ New York HEAT Act is on the one hand, a climate bill because it will reduce emissions, but it's also a bill to protect utility customers from skyrocketing energy costs, which is something that's very much on people's minds,” said John Raskin, president of Spring Street Climate Fund.
Build homes near transit
Transportation is the state’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, making up about a quarter of the state’s climate pollution. But switching every vehicle on the road to electric would put an unsustainable strain on the grid. So, experts said the state should focus on building housing near public transit. One way to do this is to incentivize large housing developments within walking distance of train stations served by Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road, Buffalo Metro Rail, Amtrak and the Staten Island Railway. Apartment complexes could be built on or over station parking lots.
In 2023, developers completed a $76.8 million affordable housing project at the Metro-North Harrison station. The original 3.3-acre site of 598 parking spaces was transformed into Avalon Harrison, which includes four buildings with 143 apartments in total and 27,000 square feet in retail space. The plan also added 160 additional parking spaces.
A similar effort is underway near two Metro-North stations under construction in the Bronx, though the plan has encountered some local opposition.
The New York City metropolitan area is home to about two-thirds of the state's population. The more people who use public transit instead of a car, the better.
Daniel Zarrilli, former chief climate policy adviser for New York City, said the state should build in the suburbs – not just within the five boroughs.
“ There's an insatiable demand to live here, but it's so unaffordable because we haven't built enough,” Zarrilli said. “ Using the regional rail network, and building more housing that leverages that sort of transit-oriented development is not just a New York City thing.”
Data backs him up. New York City residents produce one-third of the emissions of the average American per capita.
Drill deep for heat
As wind projects face logistical and bureaucratic delays, alternative forms of clean energy are needed to fill the gap. Geothermal energy is heat from the earth emitted through naturally occurring subsurface steam and hot water. Those energy sources can be tapped for electricity or direct heat to buildings.
New York City already has buildings that use geothermal energy, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral, FDNY Rescue Company 2 in Brownsville, Brooklyn and P.S. 62 on Staten Island. The $70 million elementary school is the city’s first net-zero educational facility, heated and cooled by 80 wells drilled beneath the athletic field.
Experts said New York needs more of those projects. In urban areas, thermal networks have an added bonus of recycling heat from sources where it isn’t needed, such as a wastewater treatment plant, and redistributing it to a residential building.
“My big grocery store refrigeration is exerting a ton of hot air from their refrigeration section that can be captured and the next door neighbor wants to take a shower, or the next door neighbor has a business that runs a sauna and needs that hot water – you are able to share your heat,” said Kim Fraczek, director of Sane Energy, a renewable energy advocacy group. “You can expel it or bring it in depending on what temperature you need in your home or business.”
In 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul approved legislation to make it easier to drill deeper for geothermal energy sources. The state’s climate law includes geothermal energy as one of the pathways to clean heating.
But realizing geothermal energy’s potential won’t be easy. A geothermal-powered building planned for Greenpoint saw construction costs rise by 6%. The developer told Lendlease.com that he will recoup the costs within 20 years.
There are also environmental impacts. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, geothermal energy also comes with risks, including contamination of water supplies.
Wire highways
The state’s grid will need to at least double its energy capacity to facilitate a complete shift to electrical energy. This will require a lot more transmission lines. But securing permits for construction of new power lines is often an uphill battle due to local opposition.
One workaround is to build transmission lines along highways or underneath medians where the state already owns the property. Co-locating utilities within expressway right-of-way is common practice in other states. Under the Biden administration, the federal government released guidance to state transportation agencies encouraging use of highway property for clean energy, including transmission lines.
Leveraging thoroughfare lands can potentially streamline the permitting process and reduce environmental impacts.
The Champlain Hudson Power Express clean energy project linking Quebec to Astoria, Queens utilizes highway right-of-way for its transmission lines. But Marguerite Wells, executive director Alliance for Clean Energy NY said New York has not realized the full potential of its freeway lands.
“Just put a cable underneath the median and carry on with life because the alternative is crossing through neighborhoods and forests and making new disturbance where there is none,” said Marguerite Wells, executive director of Alliance for Clean Energy NY. “They go everywhere. You can follow a road this way and that way to anywhere you need to go.”
More batteries in buildings
Experts said buildings and fire codes make battery storage for residential solar installations in New York City very difficult.
Currently, power from solar panels in the city goes directly to the grid and offsets the owner’s energy costs. Also, battery storage is not tax-exempt like other energy infrastructure and equipment.
Solar battery storage could allow residential buildings to store power from their own panels. Potentially, batteries could help New York households become energy independent by producing and storing their own power. Experts said such an achievement would appeal to many New Yorkers and incentivize them to install rooftop solar.
About two-thirds of New York City’s roofs are suitable for solar power, according to a New York Times analysis of a 2011 CUNY study that found solar could cover nearly half of peak demand during the day.
“Finding a safe way to encourage behind the meter storage is another tool in helping to make our electric grid more resilient, more distributed and to shave the sort of peak loads straining the grid,” Zarrilli said. “We're way behind on this.”
Last year, the governor released findings from an interagency fire safety working group that reported no injuries or release of toxins from battery storage systems.
Raise standards for NY vehicles
The clean fuel standard, also known as the low-carbon fuel standard, would set targets for reducing carbon emissions of transportation, without forbidding or favoring any type of fuel. The policy would implement a cap and invest-style system where fuel providers, suppliers and distributors that meet the standards get credits that can be sold to suppliers who exceed emissions. For example, a trucking company with an electric fleet with a charging facility could earn credits for its cleaner fuel.
The New York League of Conservation Voters estimated that the MTA could generate as much as $25,000 per electric bus per year. The MTA has 265 electric buses, according to a January press release, which could bring in about $6.6 million in non-fare revenue. Each bus reduces emissions by about 200,000 pounds annually. By 2040, MTA plans to electrify all 5,784 buses in its fleet, resulting in a reduction of more than 1 billion pounds of carbon annually.
“It would incentivize moving to renewable fuels and electric vehicles and electric charging infrastructure,” said Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. “It would be paid for by the fossil fuel industry because they would be exceeding the standards that would also be declining over time to move us towards a clean transportation system.”
California, Oregon and Washington states have adopted a clean fuel standard. In California, the policy has resulted in a 60% reduction of fossil fuel use.
A bill for a clean fuel standard has passed the state Senate twice, but never in the Assembly.
