By 2024, all new homes in New York State will be powered with renewable, clean power such as solar or wind power, or hydroelectricity. By 2030, one-third of all passenger vehicles in the state will be electric. By 2050, landfills will be used sparingly as waste is diverted from them.
This, according to Peter Iwanowicz, the Executive Director of Environmental Advocates New York and a member of the New York Climate Action Council. He presented New York’s climate plan, drafted by the council, in a Zoom meeting Wed. Jan. 12.
Entitled The Climate Act: Creating the Roadmap for Meeting NY’s Ambitious Climate Goals, the presentation provided a brief analysis of the long-awaited plan for New York State to implement New York's clean energy and greenhouse gas emission goals set forth in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019.
Iwanowicz said New York State should lead the nation on environmental initiatives and innovation, stating the federal government has been lagging behind for years.
“The nation needs New York climate leadership,” Iwanowicz said. “National leadership is lacking in climate change progress.”
Since the pullback from the Kyoto Protocols under President George H.W. Bush, the pullback from President Barack Obama’s climate change initiatives by his successor President Donald Trump, and the slowdown under current President Joseph Biden, Iwanowicz said New York State is set to lead.
The New York State Climate Act will ensure that 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by 2030, with all greenhouse gases eliminated by 2050.
Iwanowicz said the state must commit $10 billion for this act to bear weight.
“Many legislators may be shrinking from the cost, but we must find the political will to do this. It will be costly if we don’t act,” he said.
A draft plan that will guide the state when implementing the regulations is open to public comment for the first three months of the year. This will be followed by a period of education and outreach to state agencies and the public. The New York State Climate Action Council will write the plan's final draft by the end of 2022.
Iwanowicz said the process will not be an easy one and said he would appear at all public hearings.
“Only 20 percent of us are supporters of climate change policies. We need broad support,” he said. “The faster we move away from greenhouse gas emissions, the less we lose in healthcare with people getting sick and even dying.”
Iwanowicz said this makes good economic sense, suggesting that hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be created by the climate act.
“Failing to act now will cost us $90 billion by 2050,” he said.
The event was co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County & Sustainable Saratoga.
Find the opportunity for public comment on the draft plan here.