New York’s nation-leading Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) set ambitious goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, starting with a 40% reduction by 2030. As we enter 2026, it can feel like 2030 is close. But as tempting as it may be for some to seek an extension on this deadline, we should not consider weakening this legislation. We must begin implementation of the primary policy vehicle that will drive reductions in carbon emissions – cap-and-invest – as soon as possible. For economic and environmental reasons, let’s move full speed ahead.
By making polluters pay for their emissions and investing the proceeds in initiatives that reduce emissions, cap-and-invest can put money into New Yorkers’ pockets – through targeted cash payments and incentives for taking actions that reduce emissions, and through the savings households can generate by taking those actions. Claims that implementing our climate law would make life less affordable for New Yorkers are not supported by the facts; they’re supported by propaganda, promoted by industries that are trying to cut their own costs at our expense. In truth, fossil fuels are what drive up costs, while clean energy and climate investments bring those costs down.
Thanks to technological advances and economies of scale, renewable energy is typically cheaper to build and operate than fossil fuels. Oil and gas price spikes are a major driver of inflation; when fossil fuel prices soar, the cost of doing business rises with them, which pushes up the cost of living. By contrast, clean energy is more stable, local and cost-effective. Our own Public Service Commission Chair Rory Christian recently noted that aging fossil fuel infrastructure, not the state’s climate law, is one of the biggest drivers of New York’s rising energy costs. As things currently stand, we are paying more and getting less. The climate crisis guarantees that pattern will worsen unless we act.
A state Supreme Court judge recently ruled that the Department of Environmental Conservation must issue the regulations to implement CLCPA mandates by Feb. 6. This should not be difficult; reporting from Politico confirms that the Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority already had draft cap-and-invest regulations ready at the beginning of last year. Further delay would harm every New Yorker and would not help families who are struggling with energy bills today. We would do better to help residents by implementing our climate law, as described above, in addition to passing other reforms that will be needed as time goes on, such as measures to make large tech companies pay their fair share for the energy they consume.
Legislators are entrusted to safeguard the health and well-being of our communities. Legislating a retreat from the CLCPA would do the opposite. It would deepen pollution and ensure that the costs of climate inaction continue to escalate. New Yorkers don’t have the luxury of waiting for climate action. We see the consequences of delay – and the costs those consequences bring with them – every year with increasing frequency: extreme heat, wildfire haze, flooded roads and rail lines, along with skyrocketing energy bills driven by our dependence on fossil fuels.
New York recognized the urgency of climate action in 2019, when we first passed the CLCPA. Ever since, fossil fuel interests have been trying to wear down our resolve to see our climate commitments through. We cannot give in to them.
