The state Legislature is set to approve major rollbacks to New York’s landmark climate law on Tuesday after a monthslong pressure campaign from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who argued that meeting the state’s emissions-cutting mandates would increase costs for residents.
The legislation included in the state budget will eliminate a requirement that New York cut its greenhouse-gas emissions 40% by 2030, which was part of the state’s 2019 climate law. It will be replaced by a new target — a 60% cut by 2040.
But unlike the current law, the new 2040 target wouldn’t be a mandate. Instead, the bill would require the state to achieve the 60% cut only “to the maximum extent feasible” and in a “cost-effective” way. In other words, the state is scrapping a legal requirement in favor of a goal with wiggle room.
An existing benchmark to cut 85% of emissions by 2050 will remain in place.
The changes in the budget come seven years after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers approved the 2019 law that supporters hailed as one of the nation’s strongest, in large part because of its strict mandate to cut back on greenhouse gases.
But Hochul has spent months leading the effort to roll back the law, arguing that it would have hit New Yorkers in the pocketbook had changes not been made. Some Democrats in the Legislature fought back but were unable to hold off the measure in the budget, which is now nearly eight weeks late.
“It is really very unfortunate that today we are backsliding on some of that legislation that many people fought so hard to pass,” Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Bronx Democrat, said on the Assembly floor Tuesday. “I think it's a mistake, and I think that people down the road will pay for this dearly.”
The budget bill, which lawmakers began debating Tuesday afternoon and are expected to approve later in the day, would make a handful of significant changes that would make it easier for the state to meet its climate goals.
That includes extending the current 20-year timeframe to track the damage that greenhouse gases have on the environment to 100 years. The change will de-emphasize the effects of methane, a main component of natural gas that has a potent effect on the climate but breaks down more quickly than carbon dioxide.
The legislation would also remove a clause in the law that counts emissions from fossil fuels imported into New York as part of the state’s own carbon accounting. That will reduce the emissions counted from natural gas that travels through the recently approved Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline — a line that will bring gas extracted from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to New York.
Construction of that pipeline started last month with a ceremony headlined by Trump administration officials. New York state regulators repeatedly denied permits for the project in the past — but Hochul reversed course last year.
Hochul has argued the accounting changes will align New York with most states and the Paris Climate Accord, which relies on a 100-year timeframe. She’s also laid blame on President Donald Trump, whose administration has fought to block wind-energy projects that are key to the state meeting its renewable energy goals.
Ken Lovett, a spokesperson for the governor, said Hochul “has made clear her top priority is keeping the lights on and costs down for all New Yorkers.”
“While reckless policies coming out of Washington D.C. continue to bring unprecedented challenges, the commonsense reforms Governor Hochul fought for in this year's budget protect New York's status as a climate leader, while prioritizing affordability for New Yorkers,” he said in a statement.
Hochul’s administration issued a memo in February that estimated the average New York City household could see its natural gas bill increase by $2,300 annually by 2031 if that law wasn’t changed. The same memo estimated gasoline prices would increase by at least $2 a gallon.
But environmental advocates pushed back against the memo, which they argued was based on unreasonable assumptions about how the state would try to meet its climate mandates.
The Business Council, the state’s largest business lobby, is a major backer of the climate-law changes, which the group argues will keep costs in check for its members. Under previously proposed regulations, some businesses would have had to purchase credits from the state in order to exceed a state-mandated pollution limit under a program known as “cap and invest.”
"We believe these reasonable and necessary amendments will help businesses and consumers who are struggling with affordability issues, while also allowing the state to continue to make meaningful climate progress,” Business Council spokesperson Patrick Bailey said in a statement.
A coalition of environmental nonprofits — including the New York League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, and Environmental Defense Fund — roundly condemned the changes on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the groups said the governor and Legislature have passed amendments that damage the state’s place as a climate leader nationwide.
Advocates argued that the state is scaling back its emissions targets as the effects of climate change worsen. The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest in recorded history, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
“Despite what the governor seems to think, sweeping the climate crisis and rising energy costs under the rug does not make them disappear,” Earthjustice New York Policy Advocate Liz Moran said.
Once Hochul signs the budget bill into law, her administration will be required to come up with new regulations by 2028 to put the state on a path toward reaching its new emissions goals. State agencies will be required to consider a cap-and-invest program, but could decide on some other emissions-cutting program instead.
Under the 2019 law, Hochul’s administration was required to approve regulations by the start of 2024, which led environmental organizations to sue when the deadline came and went. The lawsuit remains on appeal, but the new law will effectively make the case moot.
