Heather Leibowitz
Environment New York
New York, NY– Today, the Climate and Community Protection Act of 2017 (A8270) has officially been introduced in the Assembly. The bill makes our state climate pollution reduction and clean energy commitments legally binding across all sectors including energy, buildings, and transportation, setting a path to 100% clean renewable energy by 2050.
Heather Leibowitz, Director of Environment New York, issued the following statement:
“When it comes to fighting global warming, the most important thing New York can do is lead. This bill would put our state at the very tip of the spear. It would show the rest of the country and the world that we are committed to do what it will take to protect our communities and our climate, and accelerate towards a future powered by 100 percent clean, renewable energy.
“New York’s leadership is more important than ever, especially after President Trump rejected the Paris Climate Agreement last week.
“As Hurricane Sandy reminded us in 2012, we are vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate. And it’s not just Sandy. In an online map (Hitting Close to Home) our researchers found that since September 2010, New York experienced 11 weather- disasters, including severe storms, tornadoes, floods, tropical storms, snow and ice storms, and droughts.
“2016 was the hottest year on record for the globe, breaking records last set in 2014 and 2015. The need for ambitious action is only growing more clear.
“New Yorkers should all support this bill. It is the ambitious action we must take.
“We can do this. We already have the technology we need to shift our entire economy to 100 percent renewable energy and eliminate carbon pollution. We could power the nation ten times over with available wind resources and 100 times over with our nation’s solar potential alone.
“The action we’ve taken so far through programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have proven that reducing pollution is good for our health, good for our communities and good for our economy.
“Let’s take the next step.
“We thank Assmeblymember Steve Englebright for sponsoring this bill and we look forward to working with the New York State Legislature and Governor Cuomo to make it law.”