Countdown to Pass New York’s Landmark Climate & Community Protection Act

The countdown is on to pass the Climate and Community Protection Act, New York’s landmark climate bill. With the 2019 legislative session ending at midnight on Wednesday June 19, Gov. Cuomo and the legislature have made a deal to move this bill forward. Lawmakers should pass the Climate and Community Protection Act as if our lives and the world that we’re leaving to our children depend on it, because they do.

Watch and share our video to help spread the word about what the Climate and Community Protection Act means for the Empire State.

The climate crisis demands both ambitious long-term goals to decarbonize our electricity system and the near-term renewable energy milestones and programs needed to drive immediate progress, create local jobs and provide healthier air that New York’s families.

We are thrilled that the new Climate and Community Protection Act agreed to by state leaders heeded our call to take Gov. Cuomo’s stated goal of 6 gigawatts of solar energy by 2025, enough to power a million New York households, and give it the force of law behind it.

The bill also includes a strong commitment to serving low-income and environmental justice communities, which will help ensure New York is taking steps to build a new energy economy that is both clean and just.

I was in Albany yesterday fighting for New Yorkers alongside a broad coalition of environmental justice advocates, and we won’t stop until we achieve the bold action New York needs. While Governor Cuomo and the legislature reached a deal on the bill, it still needs to pass both the Assembly and the Senate before the session ends.

The cost of inaction is real. Families across New York are already paying the price of our fossil fuel dependence with high asthma rates and hospitalizations, unaffordable electricity bills, and outages that are leaving households and critical community services without power — and time’s running out to avert the worst impacts of a warming planet. New York needs bold action from Albany to address the climate crisis, increase resiliency, and foster further equitable opportunity in our new energy economy.

With Washington failing to act on climate, it’s up to New York to show the nation and the world what real clean energy leadership looks like.

New Yorkers: Let your elected officials know that they MUST act now to build a Million Solar Strong New York — for jobs, for justice, and for bold climate action.