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­New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act Unpacked

A year ago, New York State enacted the country’s most ambitious statutory governance to address climate change. Based on the name alone, New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA or the Climate Act) sounds like it’s really going to… lead the way on climate policy and benefit communities. But what does that look like? What are its goals and how will they be accomplished? New York State provides access to a wealth of information from all of the council meetings and advisory panel meetings. However, it can be overwhelming to wade through dozens of reports, which is why we’ve done some of that for you. So, what’s in the Climate Act?

Background

The 2019 Climate Act provides the framework for New York to become a leader in the clean energy economy transition. At the highest level, the Climate Act aims to transform the New York economy and industry and integrate more sustainable operations, cleaner fuels, improved energy efficiency, and, ultimately, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all sectors while also benefitting New Yorkers. While five other U.S. states have adopted 100 percent clean energy targets, New York’s law is considered the most ambitious as it covers all economic sectors, including transportation, building emissions, manufacturing, agriculture, among others.

Benefits

In addition to driving the carbon emissions reduction, the Climate Act aims to generate benefits for New Yorkers, such as:

• Cleaner Air. Reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions creates a healthier community with fewer incidences of respiratory illnesses that could lead to premature deaths.
• Green Jobs. The Climate Act will create jobs across the state as new, clean infrastructure is developed and existing infrastructure is updated.
• Energy Savings. Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption with, for example, electric heat pumps and smart thermostats, will result in lower utility bills for New Yorkers.
• Environmental Justice. Two important components of the Climate Act are the Climate Justice Working Group and the Just Transition Working Group, which are working to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to the same opportunities while New York transitions to a carbon-neutral economy.

Major Provisions & Goals

By and large, the Climate Act eschews vague promises like “reduce emissions,” and instead sets measurable goals with specific timelines. CLCPA’s key provisions include:

• Net Zero Emissions by 2050
  - The CLCPA commits New York to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions, covering all sectors of the economy and even including imported fuels and electricity from other states.
  - 40 percent emissions reductions from 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent emissions reductions by 2050.
  - The remaining 15 percent can be either directly reduced or offset through projects that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
• Aggressive decarbonization targets of the electric sector for the next thirty years:

The Climate Action Council & the Scoping Plan

• What’s the plan? CLCPA establishes the Climate Action Council, made up of the heads of different state agencies, experts appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, the temporary President of the Senate, and the minority leaders in both houses of the New York legislature.
• Who is drafting the plan? The Climate Action Council is responsible for drafting the Scoping Plan that must be approved within the first two years for the bill signing (the bill was signed in July 2019, so the first draft Scoping Plan is due in the summer of 2021). The Scoping Plan will “identify and make recommendations on regulatory measures and other state actions” to meet the emissions reduction targets mandated by CLCPA. Then the draft Scoping Plan will be subject to public hearing and comment, and by the third year, the Council must submit a final Scoping Plan to the New York Legislature.
• What are the areas of focus? The Council established six advisory panels that are focused on: Agriculture and Forestry, Energy Efficiency and Housing, Energy-intensive and Trade-Exposed Industries, Land Use and Local Government, Power Generation, and Transportation. The advisory panels hold meetings focused on opportunities within their areas of focus and formulate recommendations for reaching the Climate Act goals.
• Any action on the Climate Action? Yes! Since the initial meeting in March of this year, the Climate Action Council has met four times (as of November 27, 2020), with one more meeting planned before the year ends. These meetings have largely laid the groundwork for future efforts. As you can see in the below slide from the August 24, 2020 meeting the Advisory Panels are now submitting their recommendations, and from there they’ll be integrated into the existing analysis to become the first Scoping Plan.
• How does this stay relevant over time? After the first Scoping Plan is approved, the Council is responsible for updating it at least every five years.
• Ok, but will it be consistent? The Scoping Plan will then be incorporated into the New York’s energy plan and will inform the actions of the state’s regulatory agencies. All state agencies are required to assess whether their actions are consistent with the state’s emissions reduction goals.

Source: August 24, 2020 Climate Action Council Meeting, Slide 24

Environmental Justice

As mentioned above, the CLCPA provides for the creation of a climate justice working group, consisting of representatives from environmental justice communities to develop criteria to identify which geographic areas qualify as disadvantaged communities disproportionately burdened by pollution. Notably, no less than 35% of clean-energy funding will be spent in such communities, with a goal of 40% spending, as mandated by CLCPA.

Let’s Dive In

Energy and Environmental Economics (E3) was tasked with analyzing New York’s decarbonization opportunities and identifying pathways toward net-zero emissions. E3 presented their findings and recommendations in the Climate Action Council meetings, where they highlighted two potential pathways toward achieving the Climate Act goals:

1. High Technology Availability Pathway. Maintains “natural” end-of-life asset replacement schedule while electrifying and improving efficiency. Also uses advanced biofuels, carbon capture and storage (CCS), bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and natural and working lands carbon sink to remove carbon.
2. Limited Non-Energy Pathway. Accelerates electrification with increased new sales and early retirements of older fossil fuel vehicles and equipment, including further displacement of fossil fuels with advanced biofuels. Relies more on energy sector reductions in emissions in the event that non-energy reductions are limited and natural and working lands can’t contribute as much.

E3 identified that meeting the CLCPA’s carbon-neutral targets requires focus on all “four pillars of decarbonization”, which includes energy efficiency and conservation, decarbonizing electricity supply, switching to low-carbon fuels, and negative emissions.

“Our analysis found that achieving deep decarbonization with existing technologies is feasible and New York State can ultimately reach CLCPA’s long term goal of carbon neutrality by mid-century,” said Kush Patel, Partner, E3. “However, reaching this goal requires immediate and consistent action to transform the existing energy system and drive major investments in new infrastructure across all sectors.”

Switching to low-carbon fuels will help reduce emissions in areas where electrification is currently challenging (e.g. freight transportation, aviation, marine, and industrial applications). From the consumer side, shifting to electric vehicles, purchasing more efficient household appliances, and energy efficiency household improvements are also key. Decarbonizing the built environment is one of the more challenging tasks for the state — over 70% of CO2 emissions in New York City comes from the buildings — and one seeing plethora of initiatives at the state level.

Electrifying Transportation & Improving Grid Reliability
In the transportation industry, New York needs both a major shift to zero-emissions vehicles across all vehicle classes and a buildout of charging infrastructure that can mitigate range anxiety. As transportation is electrified, additional strain is placed on the energy system because EVs increase the electric load and draw from the grid as opposed to relying on fossil fuels. Therefore, utilities have to ensure reliability of the grid and decarbonization of energy generation in parallel. New York is rapidly investing in renewable energy sources like wind and solar, energy storage deployment and integration is still dramatically behind the levels required to maintain the reliability of the grid. Some studies suggest that renewable energy sources will need to be complemented by more reliable resources like large-scale hydro resources, renewable natural gas (RNG) or synthetic fuels like hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and nuclear power.

Non-Energy System Emissions

Some emissions come from outside the energy system. Landfills and farming contribute gases to the atmosphere as a natural part of their processes. The Climate Act working groups will focus on methane emissions mitigation and the replacement of harmful refrigerants (HFCs) with climate-friendly substances.

Carbon Removal

It is not enough to prevent future emissions; the longer we stall on comprehensive climate action, the more carbon already emitted into the atmosphere will need to be removed. A variety of carbon capture technologies will need to be deployed at scale — from traditional carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), to direct air capture technologies and natural carbon removal through carbon sinks. (New York has a natural carbon sink in the form of 20 million acres of forest, which could provide 23–33 million metric tons (MMT) CO2e of negative emissions.) Negative emissions technologies will all be vital to reaching carbon neutrality, with an estimated 27–37 MMT needed by 2050.

Starting at Home

The GreenNY Council, a multi-agency working group, was formed to serve as a resource for state agencies to lead by example and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and increase efficiency. This holistic program works with state facilities to help them meet the climate and sustainability goals outlined in the Climate Act. In the 2018–19 fiscal year, for example, almost 10 million kWh of solar energy were generated for agency use, a 10% increase from the previous year.

Conclusion

The Climate Act is a colossal initiative that touches almost every aspect of life. The goals outlined within are commendable and inspiring. They put New York at the forefront of emissions reductions and renewable energy usage in the country. We’re in early days still, so many initiatives are still in their exploration and development phases. In the next year or so, we’ll start to see more detailed, formal plans about how to actually make the changes that have been recommended. From there, it will be all about implementation, following up the ambitious plans with effective action.