There is no getting around the disappointment we’re feeling now that Governor Hochul has weakened the state’s landmark climate law. JCAN NYC, along with many other organizations pushing for climate justice, worked hard to pass the law in 2019, and to protect it from the governor’s evisceration this year.
The weakening of the law is a major setback. Rules that the state was required to release two years ago to move us toward the 2050 emissions reduction targets have been delayed until the end of 2028. Equally, if not more damaging, is a change to the accounting system that makes it appear that we’re doing better in meeting our climate goals than we are.
Despite this significant setback, there were some important victories that were only achieved because of the relentless advocacy by the state’s climate movement.
A billion dollar investment in the Sustainable Future Program is part of this budget, including $200 million to assist low income households cut their energy use through insulation and heat pumps. This investment also covers $150 million for public thermal energy networks along with $200 million for distributed solar.
The budget deal includes parts of the Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power (ASAP) Act that make it easier to connect solar to the grid.
The SUNNY bill, which legalizes plug-in solar, often referred to as “balcony solar,” was approved by the legislature and is being sent to the Governor to sign.
And, last but not least, in the final days of the legislative session, lawmakers approved a measure imposing a one-year moratorium on new data centers, which require enormous amounts of energy, drive more pollution, and raise utility bills.
As we move forward, we must not forget that we still have a climate law with ambitious goals in place—our binding target of cutting emissions by 85% by 2050 remains in effect, as does our goal to achieve 70% renewable electricity by 2030.
We’re grateful to everyone who rallied, lobbied, made phone calls and signed petitions to stop the governor from gutting our climate law and to push for measures that will move us closer to the clean energy future we urgently need.