Robert Polin on Clean Energy Investments for NY State

Updated June 19 2019

Last Tuesday, June 11, hundreds of protesters stormed the halls of the New York State Capitol building in Albany, filling the lobby, the staircases, the space outside Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office. They demanded that the legislature finally pass the Climate and Community Protection Act. 

This week the New York Senate, the New York Assembly, and Governor Cuomo reached an agreement to pass it!  

The Climate and Community Protection Act would transition our entire economy off of fossil fuels by 2050, invest in the communities most impacted by the climate crisis, and ensure that green jobs pay fair wages.

The agreement to pass the Climate & Communities Protection Act calls for New York to eliminate 85% of its overall planet-warming emissions by 2050, while offsetting or capturing the other 15%.

The deal mandates 35% of state energy funding go to low-income, polluted communities, but sets a goal of investing 40%. The final legislation requires all state-financed energy projects to pay union wages.
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The International Panel on Climate Change or IPCC says that the world has only 12 years left to address climate destabilization effectively before climate change becomes unstoppable.

Governor Cuomo has set renewable energy goals for New York state, but critics say they don't go far enough -- and NY has already blown by interim goals without meeting them.

Several years ago, NY Renews, a coalition of 125 environmental, labor and community groups, crafted the Climate and Community Protection Act, with the goal of making New York fossil fuel free by 2050. 

The Act passed the NY state assembly for the last 3 years running, but was stopped in the Senate by Republican John Flanagan, who bottled it up in committee.

Now, with the Democrats holding power in both chambers of the NY legislature, the measure has passed and Governor Cuomo has pledged to sign it.

To address how to implement the Climate and Community Protection Act, NY Renews has written a companion bill called the Climate and Community Investment Act. 

The group commissioned economist Robert Pollin of UMass-Amherst to write a study outlining how the state can reach the Act's goals; what it would cost and how it would be paid for. It's called CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENTS FOR NEW YORK STATE.

Host Francesca Rheannon talked with Bob Pollin recently about his study of how to implement the proposed Climate and Community Investment Act.

Listen here