Late last week City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced her appointees for committee chairs. The most important chairs to keep an eye on for sustainability, and building a greener city, are those for environmental protection, transportation, parks, sanitation, and resiliency. Housing, health, and finance are also important chairs that can help facilitate environmental legislation. 

As New York City begins strategizing for the new year, our new administration and Council Members have the opportunity to start making transformative investments in our environmental infrastructure and resiliency. NYLCV’s newest Policy Agenda lists what issues should be made top priority in the transportation, energy, public health, conservation, and environmental justice sectors, and highlights the legislative opportunities that will get us there. We hope to build upon our progress made last year and continue making bold policy decisions for the good of our community. Below are some of the main points made in this year’s Policy Agenda.

Read more about The New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) and NYLCV Education Fund (NYLCVEF) 2022 State Policy Agenda.

As soon as Kathy Hochul was sworn in as Governor it became clear that she would be consciously implementing an environmentally-focused policy agenda. New York State (NYS) has some of the most ambitious goals in the country, outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), and Governor Hochul has shown that she is working to ensure that those goals are met. Now, at the three-month mark of her tenure, we review some of the exciting advancements in New York State’s fight against climate change. 

The deal secures an investment of $1.2 trillion, some of which will be used to fund new climate resilience projects, such as electric school buses, EV infrastructure, zero-low emission public transit, the removal of lead pipes & PFAS to improve drinking water, and pollution remediation. These investments are part of a comprehensive effort to both build resilience against the climate crisis and completely stop it in its tracks, and it marks the largest federal investment into infrastructure in U.S. history. 

Researchers at Princeton University recently published their “Net Zero America,” offering five potential pathways charting different paces, priorities, and methods we should enact to reverse the damages of climate change.