The next NYC Mayoral election is a critical moment for climate policy, with the primary scheduled for June 12-22, 2021. Featured below are highlights about the candidates’ climate platforms with links to their websites. For additional information, check out the Climate Works for All Voter Education Guide.
Eric Adams
In order for NYC government to lead by example on climate, Adams plans to retrofit government buildings to be more energy efficient and use solar panels on city buildings. For the public, he plans to bring back NYC’s composting program. He emphasizes an expansion of green jobs, internships in the green jobs space for high school students, and building a new school focused solely on green technologies and training in this field. He also promises to purchase an electric bus fleet. Eric Adams’ transportation plan is grouped with his climate plan. He focuses on equity of access for those who currently don’t have good commuting options or are not within distance of public transit. He has laid out a number of ways in which he hopes to make New York City more walkable, bikeable, and accessible, including improvements to public transit. Adams’ plan does not currently include any commitments to reduce CO2 emissions by a specific amount within a period of time. Learn more about Eric Adams’ climate plan here.
Shaun Donovan
Donovan starts his plan with a commitment to a more sustainable, equitable, and just New York, prioritizing communities most impacted by climate change that have also been hardest hit by the pandemic. His plan aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, protect New Yorkers from climate threats like flooding, severe storms, and heat waves, and shifting to a green economy. He stresses the urgency of climate change, and commits to embedding climate change into all decisions made by the city. Donovan led the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force for his hometown, and promises to use this experience to effectively take action on climate and collaborate across local, state, and federal government. Like the Biden administration federally, Donovan would issue an all-of-government Environmental Justice Executive Order and conduct an audit of city policies through a climate and equity lens. He would also look to close Rikers Island and turn it into a wastewater treatment facility and part of the green solution. Donovan’s climate plan is broken into 8 sections: 1. Centering environmental justice; 2. Alleviating public health disparities; 3. Establishing permanent and equitable public spaces; 4. Building a green economy for everyone; 5. Taking real steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; 6. Empowering and preparing the next generation; 7. Strengthening climate resilience and disaster response; 8. Achieving zero waste. In each of these 8 areas, Donovan commits to a number of policies and programs. Learn more here.
Kathryn Garcia
Garcia’s background as a Sanitation Commissioner and working for the Department of Environmental Protection means she has had many opportunities to face climate issues in the past. She banned styrofoam and implemented the nation’s largest composting program, among other things.
Climate action is a top issue for Garcia. In her Climate plan, Garcia emphasizes a commitment to move New York City to a fully renewable energy economy with a five-borough strategy. She also acknowledges the importance of social justice to climate action. Garcia would convert Rikers Island to a renewable energy zone, reserved for harvesting renewable energy, composting, and other sustainable projects. She plans to help expand electric vehicle use, including with infrastructure to triple the availability of public car chargers. She would create green spaces, plant trees, and reduce asphalt with a focus on fighting asthma. Her other areas of climate focus are:
"Housing and Climate"
"Transportation and Climate"
"Education and Climate"
Making The Long Term Commitments We Need To Get To Zero Waste
Implementing Neighborhood-Based Resilience strategies to Storms, Flooding, and Heatwaves
Following Through on Implementing Key Environmental Justice Policies
Garcia focuses on both new programs and better utilization of existing programs, and measuring policy impacts. Environmental Justice is touched on briefly at the beginning and end of her plan. Learn more about Kathryn Garcia's climate plan here.
Scott Stringer
Stringer has a strong history of action on climate throughout his political career, including most recently as the City Comptroller. He pushed NYC to pursue the first and largest divestment of any pension system in the nation, has fought against fracking and pipelines, advocated for green jobs, and fought for federal resiliency funding.
Stringer has a 6-point plan on climate:
Launch a “Fossil Free NYC” movement to meet our climate commitments faster
Create green jobs and a greener economy to accelerate our economic recovery and build a more sustainable future
Champion environmental justice to ensure that all New Yorkers benefit from a healthier future
Promote greener, energy-efficient buildings to tackle our biggest carbon source
Support active streets and green spaces to improve air quality and physical health
Enhance resiliency programs to protect New York against extreme heat, sea rise, and storms
Scott Stringer includes in his plans meeting the goals of the CLCPA, a law JCAN helped to pass. He focuses on shifting to solar, electric, batteries, and offshore wind. On climate justice, he commits to championing the Green New Deal and working to improve air quality. Like many candidates, he has a vision for a renewable Rikers. A highly detailed version of his plan can be found here.
Maya Wiley
Maya Wiley has a community and partnership-focused approach to climate change. She looks to both create new programs and build upon existing programs from government, nonprofits, and businesses to include a greater emphasis on climate. As a Civil Rights lawyer she also comes to climate with concern about frontline communities and the way that climate exacerbates racial and economic inequities. Wiley frames the need for solutions to climate change as an opportunity to reimagine NYC. She commits to programs and policies in line with the Green New Deal. Maya Wiley lays out 4 sections to her plan:
Invest in climate infrastructure development and resiliency planning processes that improve quality of life
Develop equitable adaptation measures for both social and built infrastructure, with a focus on environmental justice communities
Pursue ambitious mitigation targets in our building, transportation, and waste sectors, including by matching or surpassing the State mandate for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040
Partner with environmental justice communities, organizations, and other community-based organizations, such as mutual aid groups, throughout our work
Her plan includes launching a citywide Green Future Force that will focus on green jobs in partnership with existing workforce development and training programs. Like many candidates, Wiley refers to plans for a renewable Rikers. Wiley’s detailed climate plan can be found here.
Andrew Yang
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang does not include his climate policies among the 8 out of 62 that he highlights as part of his vision on the policies page of his website. Of the candidates we have covered, he is the only candidate who did not attend the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Mayoral Candidate Forum co-sponsored by JCAN. Yang commits to going beyond the local requirement to reduce citywide emissions to 40% below the 2005 baseline by 2030, instead looking to match the Biden Administration’s commitment to a 50% reduction by 2030. He lays out 5 sections to his climate plan:
Shift to an 80% clean energy grid by deploying solar, expanding battery storage, siting, permitting and building transmission, and supporting offshore wind production
Reduce building energy emissions and emissions from other sources like vehicle tailpipes and waste
Protect vulnerable neighborhoods from a changing climate
Put social and racial justice at the center of the City’s climate work and make sure all New Yorkers have the skills to participate in the green economy
Educate the next generation on climate change
Read Yang’s detailed proposal here.