Four Earth Day Goals for New York’s Next Climate Policy

For Earth Day 2026, I’d like to suggest four goals for the next chapter of New York’s climate policy that will blend the need to invest in our long-term clean energy transition with the critical need to meet the economic concerns of millions of New Yorkers. 

First, the next chapter of climate policy should accelerate our transition to cleaner, more reliable and more affordable energy in ways that the prior law did not.  

The original CLCPA simply did not translate into shovels in the ground for the projects that we need to successfully transition to clean, renewable energy over the long run. Since its passage in 2019, New York has installed 11,050 megawatts of onshore wind, solar and battery storage, despite a legislative mandate to get 70% of our electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. In contrast, Texas has no discernible climate policy, but has installed roughly 69,000 MW of onshore wind, solar and battery storage in the same period.

A climate policy that actually puts shovels in the ground will create economic opportunities and jobs throughout the state in the short term and get us to the clean energy future we want in the long run. 

Second, we need solutions that help New Yorkers pay their energy bills and live more affordably now. 

As of December 2025, nearly 1 out of every 5 New York residential energy customers were at least two months behind on their utility bills (that’s more than 1.3 million families), with arrears totaling $1.85 billion. Implementing the long-overdue Cap-and-Invest program could help here. Revenues from California’s version of the Cap-and-Invest program have returned up to $356 annually to the state’s utility customers since 2014.

A climate policy that puts money in people’s pockets is an affordability policy at a time when New Yorkers desperately need it.

Third, our next chapter of climate policy should improve public health, which will also help affordability.  

With the Trump administration rolling back clean air standards, it’s even more important that our climate policies address New Yorkers’ health concerns and costs.

We need climate programs that provide sufficient, stable funding and market signals to accelerate the reduction of diesel emissions in asthma-choked communities, puts EV charging in low-income communities and communities of color where the private sector isn’t going, and creates near-term reductions in pollution that is linked with asthma and other health impacts.  

A climate policy that reduces health costs will also be an affordability policy.  

Fourth, we need to put our organic waste to work.  

New York has more than 20 million people, and our farms rank fifth in the nation for milk production. Our people and cows create methane emissions that should be captured, diverted from landfills and converted into clean firm, baseload energy to help us meet our rapidly growing electricity demand, reduce our reliance on fossil gas, accelerate the closing of our dirty peaker plants and create economic opportunities for farms and municipalities across the state. The CLCPA’s original accounting didn’t distinguish between biogas and fossil gas, and future climate policy should fix this.

Summing up, New York’s climate policy can’t succeed if it’s just goals and dates. We need to invest in the clean energy needs of the future, while also meeting the needs of New Yorkers where they are right now – concerned about their energy bills, concerned about their families’ health and concerned about economic opportunities and jobs in their communities. If our next chapter of climate policy can meet these needs, New York will once again lead the way to an affordable, healthy, sustainable and successful climate future. 

Happy Earth Day!