Climate change is now accepted as a major threat to the world's viability.

ISSUE:

There is now a clear consensus among officials and scientists from both sides of the political spectrum that the greatest environmental and economic threat of our time is the warming of the earth's atmosphere (or global warming) from human activity. An overabundance of carbon dioxide (CO₂) is causing an increase in the earth's temperature by trapping heat in the atmosphere creating a "greenhouse effect."

The Northeast has been identified as particularly at risk from the effects of global warming by way of rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions, including hotter summers, more violent rain storms, and heavier snowfalls.

NYS ACTIONS:

After years of inaction from the federal government, in 2003, New York joined with seven other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states on a regional strategy to reduce CO₂ emissions from power plants, called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. In August 2006, a model set of regulations to implement RGGI was issued. Under the regulations, CO₂ emissions from power plants in the region would be capped at current levels beginning on January 1, 2009, with this cap remaining in place until 2015. The states would then begin to reduce emissions incrementally over a four-year period to achieve a ten percent reduction by 2019.

The RGGI states have agreed that at least 25 percent of a state's emissions allowances are to be dedicated to strategic energy or consumer benefit purposes, such as energy efficiency, new clean energy technologies, and ratepayer rebates. The next step is for New York State to issue its own rule that would adopt the regional model rule. Under the RGGI model rule, New York State's implementation must occur before 2009.