Historic Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act Signed into NYS Law

New York, NY....Today, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) became law in New York-- an ambitious plan that sets the state’s goals of achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040 and 70 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. State Senator Jen Metzger, who co-sponsors the legislation, was an active member of the Senate’s working group on the bill. The bill was introduced by the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Environmental Conservation Committees, Senator Todd Kaminsky and Assembly Member Steve Englebright. Before this year, an earlier version had passed the Assembly three years in a row but never made it out of committee in the Republican-held Senate.

“I vowed in June that I wouldn’t leave Albany without passage of the CLCPA in this session, and I’m proud that we got it done and that it was signed into law today. We’ve got to work together to reduce the severity of climate change for the sake of our children and their children. Today, we put New York on a path to lead the nation to a clean energy economy,” said Senator Metzger.

Metzger, who first began working to address climate change nearly 30 years ago and has a background in energy policy, joined her Senate and Assembly colleagues, environmental advocates, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and climate change activist and former Vice President Al Gore at Fordham University for the signing.

In addition to requiring the state’s electricity to come from renewable, carbon-free sources, the CLCPA requires that New York, by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels and offset the remaining 15% by reforestation, carbon sequestration in soils and other actions.