Viewpoints: State climate plan delivers sensible roadmap for future

By Anne Reynolds, Executive Director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York

First printed in the Buffalo News, January 17, 2023

Climate news these days is a seemingly nonstop barrage of depressing stories. The recent oil spill of the Keystone Pipeline; the disastrous leak of methane gas in Pennsylvania; extreme weather events around the world; drought and fire in the American West; continued dependence on fossil fuels; health problems stemming from poisoned air, particularly in historically disadvantaged communities.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to focus on a plan of action?

Because of the work of the New York Climate Action Council, putting in the arduous, often unnoticed efforts to establish an efficient and equitable clean energy transition and set an example for the rest of the world, New York has a plan of action. New Yorkers should know this.

The members of the Climate Action Council, established in 2019 by the New York State Legislature, met 31 times since March 2020, had dozens of committee meetings, and held 11 public hearings. They produced a document that lays out the steps and best practices to reduce the pollution that causes climate change – and meet emissions reductions required by New York law – while encouraging economic development and promoting environmental justice; essentially an economy-wide clean energy roadmap.

The final Climate Scoping Plan, approved in December, is comprehensive and ambitious, an impressive piece of work, backed by extensive technical analyses.

But if this plan is to succeed, our climate goals must become construction goals. And, quickly.

There are signs of clean energy construction already. New York has awarded more than 100 long-term contracts for wind, solar and offshore wind projects since 2017. Four major transmission line projects, one offshore wind project and approximately 18 grid-scale wind and solar projects are under construction now. New York has the most community solar projects of any state in the country, and we have reached 4,000 megawatts of installed community, rooftop and other small-scale solar projects. However, that rate of construction will need to accelerate under the Climate Scoping Plan.

And you know what that means? Jobs. Good jobs. Family-sustaining green jobs – jobs that can provide New Yorkers with a salary to potentially lift up generations of families. All the wind and solar power jobs supported by New York must pay prevailing wage. The most recent Clean Energy Industry Report cites 165,000 New York jobs in 2021 in the clean energy industry, from wind and solar power, to building weatherization and installing vehicle-charging infrastructure. As New York implements the Climate Scoping Plan, those numbers will grow, and the plan includes specific actions to develop the workforce we will need and ensure a just transition. New Yorkers should know this.

The plan also makes the connections between the work to build clean energy and the issues of social and environmental justice. Not just because it is a recipe for a successful plan, but because New York’s climate act requires it. The plan requires that at least 35% of funds dedicated to this transition be invested in newly defined “disadvantaged communities,” which have long suffered from climate injustice. The goal is for those who have been most harmed by past policies to benefit as we move forward. New Yorkers should know this, too.

The scoping plan isn’t just about jobs and addressing historical wrongs. It recommends building wind and solar power plants; rebuilding our grid and building car-charging infrastructure; investing in public transit and electrifying vehicles; and weatherizing, modernizing, and electrifying millions of buildings. It looks forward five years, 10 years and beyond to tackle technological challenges and find solutions that will set us up for success.

Because, as New York’s energy transition becomes more real and more active, we all must connect some important and diverse issues. That is, you can’t be for renewables and not care about strengthening the transmission grid, because we need an enhanced grid to get the renewable power projects built and delivered. We cannot decarbonize buildings without recognizing the demands that will place on the grid. As electric vehicles and electric heat add to demands for power, the time of year when there is peak electricity use will shift, and we will need even more power overall. And we need to be open to new clean technologies – even those that haven’t been commercialized yet – but only if they hold promise for helping us meet our goals at the best price, while protecting and improving the health of New Yorkers.

New Yorkers need to know that when they turn on their light switch or get to work or go to the hospital, the state’s electric system is safe, reliable and supported. These considerations are included and addressed in the plan. Maintaining the reliability of the electric system is already a 24/7 job, year-in and year-out, for the New York Independent System Operator (which operates New York’s grid and electricity markets) and several other agencies, like the New York State Reliability Council. This work will continue, and if long-term projections ever indicate a future concern, implementation of New York’s plan should, and will, adjust.

New York’s Climate Scoping Plan recognizes and addresses all these issues: economic, social, and technological. This is not to say implementing it will be easy. But at the dawn of 2023, and as the state begins to translate the plan into action and turn our climate goals into construction goals, New York just might become a place that can inspire the world.

If a company is planning a solar project in Niagara County, or a wind project in Lewis County, or a battery storage project in the Hudson Valley, or an offshore wind project connecting to the grid on Long Island or in New York City, those developers may not feel like their work is on the world’s stage. But it is. Similarly, companies trying to install car-charging infrastructure or provide electric school buses likely don’t feel like the world is watching. But it is.

Because the world needs to see a place that is rapidly greening its grid while staying economically sound and stable. It needs to see a place where more and more solar and wind power is successfully operating and the grid remains safe and reliable, and where new, comfortable, and modern buildings are required to be all electric. While it will be neither quick nor simple, New York is aiming to be that place.

New Yorkers should know that our state can be the place that moves past the doom-and-gloom of the news, one that takes full responsibility for its fair share of its impact on the Earth so that future generations can grow and thrive.

Anne Reynolds is the executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York and a member of the state Climate Action Council.