Governor Hochul Issues New Executive Order During Climate Week Announcing Nation-Leading Sustainability Operations

 

Sustainable Goals Will Fight Climate Change, Accelerate New York's Transition to a Green Economy, and Prioritize Disadvantaged Communities

Commits New York State to 100 Percent Renewable Energy in State Operations by 2030

State Agencies, Representing an Estimated $50 Billion in Investments, Have Committed To Achieving Net Zero Investment Portfolios by 2040

Supports New York's Ambitious Climate Goals To Achieve 40 Percent Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2030, and 85 Percent Reduction by 2050

Read the Executive Order Here

 Governor Kathy Hochul today signed a nation-leading Executive Order to accelerate efforts to make State operations more sustainable. As New York commemorates Climate Week, Executive Order 22 builds upon progress made by the GreenNY Council to continue streamlining the administration of the State's lead-by-example sustainability and climate directives and sets new goals for the environmental performance of State agencies. Governor Hochul also announced that State agencies and authorities, representing an estimated $50 billion in investments, have committed to achieve net zero in their investment portfolios by 2040. This bold action ensures New York State's financial resources are aligned with its clean energy and decarbonization obligations as enacted in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

"New York is already leading the nation on climate action, and with this Order, we are creating the roadmap to help other states follow suit," Governor Hochul said. "With these new commitments, we are stepping up our approach to environmental stewardship with new and ambitious goals to shift toward renewable energy, invest in electric vehicles, and drastically reduce waste and toxic substance use - all while protecting our state's most disadvantaged communities. As a global financial capital, New York is in a unique position to combat climate change, and my administration remains committed to leading the fight by aligning our investments and operations with New York State values."

Through the Executive Order, the GreenNY Council will ensure that State agencies follow best practices in green purchasing and in their operations by issuing new green purchasing specifications and operational directives. The Order will be administered by the GreenNY Council, a multi-agency working group co-chaired by the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Division of the Budget, the Office of General Services, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the New York Power Authority. Required annual reporting from agencies and authorities will help ensure that the goals of the Order are achieved.

The Order covers the following targets and goals:

• 100 percent of the electricity used in State operations will come from renewable energy (as defined by the Clean Energy Standard) by 2030.
• 100 percent of light-duty non-emergency vehicle fleets will be Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035 and 100 percent of medium and heavy-duty vehicle fleets will be ZEVs by 2040.
• 11 trillion BTUs of energy savings will be achieved by 2025 through the BuildSmart 2025 program.
• Restricting new State facilities that enter design and permitting starting in 2024 from using infrastructure that can be used for the combustion of fossil fuels.
• Waste disposal will be reduced 10 percent every five years until reaching a goal of 75 percent lower than a 2018-19 Fiscal Year baseline, which will include a combination of strategies to divert materials from landfills, increase recycling, and enhance composting and other reuse of organic materials.
• The use of single use plastics will be eliminated in State operations.
• The use of toxic substances will be reduced in State operations.
• Habitats maintained by State agencies and authorities will be enhanced, including support for native pollinators.
• Climate resiliency at State facilities will be increased.

The Executive Order takes action to ensure that State operations do not have a disproportionate burden on disadvantaged communities by directing the GreenNY Council to determine what State facilities are located within disadvantaged communities and directing agencies and authorities to then prioritize facilities that are located within these communities for sustainability upgrades to reduce the potential impacts on the communities in which they are located.

The Executive Order will also ensure that State operations do not have a disproportionate burden on disadvantaged communities by prioritizing sustainability upgrades for State facilities in these communities.

In addition to the Executive Order, agencies and authorities submitted action plans this month outlining their path to a net zero investment portfolio. The action plans include frameworks and strategies for evolving portfolio construction, including plans to increase investment in sustainable solutions. This fulfills the Governor's directive in her 2022 State of the State address. Further detail on agency and authority net-zero investment portfolio action plans can be found on their websites.

New Yorkers can read the Executive Order here and other ways that State government is leading by example on the GreenNY website.

New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

New York State's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieve its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy wide carbon neutrality. It builds on New York's unprecedented investments to ramp-up clean energy including over $35 billion in 120 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce buildings emissions, $1.8 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $1.6 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Combined, these investments are supporting nearly 158,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector in 2020, a 2,100 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011 and a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Under the Climate Act, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities, and advance progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.