Climate Action Council Extends Deadline for Public to Comment on Draft Scoping Plan to July 1

Extension Builds on More Than 18,000 Comments Received Following 11 Public Hearings and Answers the Call for Additional Time to Review Scoping Plan

June 1, 2022

New York State’s Climate Action Council (CAC) Co-Chairs, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) President and CEO Doreen M. Harris and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos, today announced the extension of the public comment period deadline for the Draft Scoping Plan to July 1, 2022. The Draft Scoping Plan, released on December 30, 2021, provides several scenarios informed by proposed policies and actions to help New York meet its ambitious climate directives as part of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). The extension is based on significant feedback following 11 public hearings - nine in-person and two virtual - and builds on the more than 18,000 public comments received to date. The Climate Action Council is working to meet the Climate Act goals and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature by the end of the year as part of the Final Scoping Plan. New Yorkers are encouraged to review and comment on the Draft Scoping Plan by July 1, 2022.

Climate Action Council Co-Chairs, NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said, “As Co-Chairs of the Climate Action Council, we are pleased to partner with all Council members committed to finalizing the Scoping Plan by seeking outcomes in our climate planning work that will best realize benefits for all New Yorkers. Today we are announcing an extension of the comment period on the Draft Scoping Plan to ensure more New Yorkers have the opportunity to make their voices heard during this important process.”

To read the Draft Scoping Plan, visit https://climate.ny.gov . New Yorkers are encouraged to submit comments via the online public comment form , via email at [email protected], and via U.S. mail to Attention: Draft Scoping Plan Comments, NYSERDA, at 17 Columbia Circle, Albany, NY 12203-6399. Comments on the Draft Scoping Plan can be submitted through Friday, July 1, 2022.

Additionally, the public is also encouraged to participate in public hearings being held by DEC, in partnership with NYSERDA to receive input on the Draft Disadvantaged Communities Criteria  and advance the finalization of the criteria to help guide the implementation of the State's Climate Act. New York's Climate Justice Working Group (CJWG), which consists of representatives from environmental justice groups from across the State and representatives of several State agencies, developed the draft criteria for identifying disadvantaged communities and voted to release it for public review. All persons, organizations, corporations, and government agencies are encouraged to attend the public hearings and to submit oral or written comments. More information on the public comment process and the full hearing schedule can be found on DEC’s website .

The Draft Scoping Plan was released for public comment on December 30, 2021 as required pursuant to the Climate Act. Public input received in response to the issuance of the Draft Scoping Plan will be used by the Climate Action Council to help develop the Final Scoping Plan, which will be posted online and delivered to the Governor and the Legislature by January 1, 2023, as required under the Climate Act. DEC will release legally binding regulations to ensure the realization of the Climate Act’s required emissions reductions by January 1, 2024, as set forth in the Climate Act, informed by the Scoping Plan’s recommended strategies.

For more information on the Draft Scoping Plan, please visit the Climate Act website .

New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Act

New York State's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieve its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy wide carbon neutrality. It builds on New York's unprecedented investments to ramp-up clean energy including over $33 billion in 102 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce buildings emissions, $1.8 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $1.6 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Combined, these investments are supporting nearly 158,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector in 2020, a 2,100 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011 and a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Under the Climate Act, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities, and advance progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.