The New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) today released its 2024 NYC Council Environmental Scorecard, in which Council Members and the body as a whole are evaluated based on their support of environmental bills in the previous year and whether those bills passed. We are pleased to report that the Council prioritized several of the policies and proposals that NYLCV highlighted in our annual NYC Policy Agenda, and ultimately passed eight of the twelve bills that appear on the Scorecard.
“While we are still far from where we need to be to fully address the climate crisis, the New York City Council made meaningful progress this year on several NYLCV priorities,” said NYLCV President Julie Tighe. “We applaud Speaker Adams and the Council for advancing measures to increase transit-oriented development and reform parking mandates, as well as promote electric vehicles and composting.”
The full 2024 scorecard is available here.
We look forward to working with the Mayor and City Council in 2025 to implement all of the environmental bills that have been passed in the last several years and, critically, to restore full funding to front-line environmental agencies like the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Environmental Protection.
NYLCV thanks the Council Members who sponsored bills in 2024 that became law, including Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Chair of the Housing and Buildings Committee, who sponsored the renewal of the a tax abatement program (J-51) to help buildings comply with the city’s building decarbonization law (LL97); Council Member Justin Brannan, who sponsored a bill requiring parking garages to install EV charging stations; Council Member Sandy Nurse, who helped pass legislation to install rooftop solar on city-owned buildings; and Council Member Gale Brewer, who helped pass a bill to establish composting facilities for plant waste in parks.
We also thank Zoning and Land Use Committee Chairs Kevin Riley and Rafael Salamanca for advancing the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, and all Council Members who voted in favor of that critical measure.
We especially commend Speaker Adrienne Adams for her leadership in securing this win while also delivering a $5 billion investment to support affordable housing, NYCHA repairs, tenant protections, and critical infrastructure upgrades.
Included below are details from some of the Council’s environmental wins in 2024:
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- City of Yes for Housing Opportunity: A citywide zoning text amendment introduced by the Department of City Planning to address the City’s housing shortage. Environmental components include, but are not limited to, lifting mandatory parking requirements, legalizing transit oriented development on qualifying sites, and allowing accessory dwelling units.
- Solar canopies in certain parking lots: Mandates that the Department of Citywide Administrative Services create a pilot program to install solar canopies at no less than 1 city-controlled parking lot where such a canopy would be cost effective in each borough. In addition, for each city controlled parking lot at which a solar canopy is installed, DCAS would be required to install at least 5 electric vehicle chargers with a minimum charging capacity of 6 kilowatts.
- Establishing composting facilities in parks: This bill requires the Department of Parks and Recreation to establish at least 1 compost facility for plant waste within 2 parks in each borough on or before July 1, 2026; at least 1 compost facility within 3 parks in each borough by July 1, 2027; and at least 1 compost facility within 5 parks in each borough by July 1, 2028.
- Installation of solar PV systems on city-owned property: This bill requires the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, in coordination with other relevant agencies, to install 150 megawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on the roofs of city-owned buildings and other city-owned property by the end of 2035. DCAS would be required to complete at least 100 megawatts worth of installations by September 1, 2030. Installations would be prioritized in disadvantaged communities.
- Information about bicycle and other micromobility activity: This bill would require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to publish on its website information about current bicycle and micromobility ridership activity in the City. DOT would also be required to include a description of its projects to enhance the safety and movement of bicycles and other micromobility devices on the streets and bridges under its jurisdiction, and to study bicycle use data, crash data, and other data to determine such projects.
- Improving paved medians through planting of vegetation or use of stormwater management: This bill would require the Commissioner of Transportation, in collaboration with the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation and the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, to improve at least 1 mile of paved medians every 2 years until 2046. These improvements must include adding planted medians, tree beds, or stormwater infrastructure. The Commissioner of Transportation will prioritize these improvements in high priority investment areas.
- Electric vehicle charging equipment in open parking lots and parking garages: This bill requires owners of parking garages and open parking lots with 10 or more spaces that are licensed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to install Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) in 20% of parking spots and ensure 40% of parking spots are capable of supporting EVSE by January 1, 2035. For parking garages and open parking lots not licensed by DCWP, various agencies would be required to conduct a study and issue a report no later than two years after the effective date of this local law to recommend the required level of EVSE installation.
Here are some additional highlights from our 2024 Scorecard:
- The average citywide Council score was 88%;
- Bronx Council Members scored 89.6% in 2024, a drop from 93% in 2023;
- Manhattan rose to 98% in 2024, up from 95% in 2023;
- The scores of Brooklyn and Queens both rose, with Brooklyn increasing its score by nine points to 89% in 2024, and Queens up 3 points to 86% in 2024.
- Staten Island rounds out the bottom of the list with a 58%, however that’s a notable increase from its 40% in 2023;
- Of the 51 members of the NYC Council, 24 received a perfect score
We look forward to working with Council Members in each borough to pass strong environmental laws in 2025 and improve their scores in the process.
About the Scorecard
Our New York City Council Environmental Scorecard is our primary tool for holding Council Members accountable for their work on the environment. In consultation with our partners from environmental, environmental justice, public health, and transportation groups, we identify priority bills that have passed and those we believe have a chance of becoming law for inclusion in our scorecard. We then score each Council Member based on their support of these bills.