Along with Sustainable Westchester, we recently presented a Gold Certificate recognizing the Town of Bedford in Westchester for being a leader in greening the town’s municipal fleet of vehicles pursuant to our Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Pledge.

Together with The Nature Conservancy in New York, NRDC New York, and Audubon NY, NYLCV president Julie Tighe testified before the New York State Assembly about the need for urgent action this session on climate. She stated that we must reduce our net greenhouse emissions as close to zero as we can and that climate legislation should include carbon-neutrality and a clean electric grid.

In December 2018, most of the Transportation and Climate Initiative states committed to developing a clean transportation policy by the end of 2019. But New York was not part of that commitment. NYLCV joined other advocacy groups in Our Transportation Future to press for New York to act and advocate for the best approach to address emissions from the transportation sector.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is embracing solar power in a new initiative that will help fight greenhouse gas emissions and give the authority a new income stream to improve public transit. It plans to lease more than 10 million square feet of its rooftop space to solar power generating companies.

The new single-use bag law gives counties and cities the option to opt-in to a five-cent fee for paper bags, which would further reduce litter and solid waste pollution and substantially lower carbon emissions from producing paper bags. Some local governments in New York have already voted in favor of the fee, while others have either opposed it or are still deliberating.

We analyze some of the policy responses that could together help solve the recycling crisis.

Governor Cuomo recently announced a proposal for stricter regulations on ozone standards. The proposed regulations include restrictions on emissions and increased controls on New York’s dirtiest power plants, called peaker power plants, which produce exceedingly harmful emissions during the ozone season.

As more school districts are looking to electrify their bus fleets, they are struggling to afford the costs associated with electric school buses. One solution is the Pay As You Save system. The model would allow utilities to invest in the charger and battery for a bus.