Plan identifies actions NYC will take in the next three years to accelerate emissions reductions in support of the global l.5° Celsius warming target
In fulfillment of Mayor de Blasio’s June executive order to adopt and commit the City to the principles of the Paris Agreement, the Mayor today, in coordination with MOS and City agencies, released 1.5°C: Aligning New York City With the Paris Climate Agreement. The plan lists actions the City will take in the next three years to accelerate greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions and put the city on a path to deep de-carbonization. This is the first Paris Agreement-compliant plan from any city in the world. You can read the full plan online here.
“Big problems require big solutions – and New Yorkers are already hard at work to meet the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Mayor de Blasio. “In the Trump era, cities have to lead the way when it comes to fighting climate change. Hotter summers and powerful storms made worse by climate change are an existential threat to a coastal city like ours, which is why we need to act now.”
The 1.5°C plan aligns local climate actions with a goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C degrees. A 1.5°C degree outcome was agreed to in the Paris Agreement in order to limit the worst impacts of climate change. By implementing the identified prioritized set of actions across energy, transportation, building, and waste sectors by 2020, NYC will enable faster reductions of GHG over the following 30 years than even the already aggressive goals in the City’s 80 x 50 plan – a plan to reduce GHG emissions 80% by 2050. The potential for GHG reduction of all the quantified actions in the report is 10 million metric tons of C02e – or the equivalent of taking more than 2 million cars off the road by 2030.
The release of the citywide action plan, builds on announcements made earlier this month to mandate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from large buildings, and expands access to electric vehicle fast chargers in all five boroughs. Both of these actions are included in the 1.5°C plan.
Other key actions detailed in the plan include:
RECYCLING: Roll out city-wide single stream recycling by 2020; New Yorkers will no longer need to sort their recyclables, dramatically increasing the City’s recycling rate.
WASTE: Accelerate the diversion of tons of organics from landfills by expanding the organics program to serve all New Yorkers with curbside or a convenient drop off location by 2018.
BUILDINGS: In addition to creating new fossil-fuel targets for existing buildings to meet in 2030, NYC will work to implement advanced energy codes for new buildings in 2019, and very low energy design targets in all new buildings in subsequent energy code cycles.
ENERGY: NYC will use its purchasing power to procure 100% renewable electricity for municipal operations as soon as sufficient supply can be brought online. This Fall, the City will be breaking ground on 50 new solar projects on public buildings, which will put the city a quarter of the way to the goal of 100MW of solar on public property by 2025.
TRANSPORTATION: NYC will continue the accelerated pace of Select Bus Service implementation, fight for a tax on millionaires to modernize the subway system, and double the number of active cyclists by 2020 through the annual development of at least 50 new miles of bike network (including 10 miles of protected bike lanes). By expanding electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, the City will meet a goal for 20% of new car registrations to be EVs by 2025.
CARBON NEUTRALITY: NYC will lead in the development of a global protocol for cities to attain carbon neutrality by 2050 in collaboration with other vanguard cities and partners.
The plan comes less than four months after Mayor de Blasio signed Executive Order 26 committing NYC to the principles of the Paris Agreement, in the face of the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the international accord. The order directed city agencies to work with the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (MOS) to identify the necessary citywide actions each agency needed to take to align NYC with a 1.5°C trajectory. These actions are included in the plan. To date, the NYC 2016 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory, included in the plan shows a reduction of 15 percent relative to the 2005 baseline.
“In the face of federal inaction on climate change, it is now more important than ever for cities like New York to step up to fulfill the Paris Agreement,” said Daniel Zarrilli, Senior Director for Climate Policy & Programs and the Chief Resilience Officer in the NYC Mayor’s Office. “This new plan accelerates New York City’s deep decarbonization efforts locally in order to align with the global effort to limit warming to only 1.5°C as outlined in the Paris Agreement, and is the first such city plan in the world to do so. Thanks to C40 for their support and partnership in achieving this milestone on the path to a more sustainable and resilient city and planet.”
“Reducing the city’s greenhouse gas emissions is critical to keep the worst impacts of climate change at bay,” said Mark Chambers, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. “We know this is possible, and we know we have to work faster. The plan released today builds on the ambitious work we’ve already started, and demonstrates how New York City will continue to work aggressively to act locally, even as we think globally to create a healthy and thriving NYC.”
"Mayor de Blasio is leading the way towards a more sustainable future. Today’s commitment builds on the City's continuous work to mitigate the impact of climate change, while investing in innovative technologies and policies that strengthens New York City’s position as a global citizen and as a great place to live,” said NYCEDC President James Patchett.
