New York Unlikely to Hit 2030 Climate Goals, State Report Concedes

New York is not on track to achieve one of its chief, legally mandated climate goals, according to a new state report .

The state Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act , passed in 2019 and hailed then as a nation-leading law, requires New York to source 70% of its electricity from renewables like solar and wind by 2030. But the state will likely not achieve that benchmark by the deadline.

Instead, the report acknowledged, New York could hit that 70% mark by 2033.

Why the delay? The report pointed to the global market and economic conditions, notably logistics and supply chains affected by “geopolitical tensions.” The report also cited inflation and high interest rates as factors that undermined the financial viability of renewable projects.

“It’s still worthwhile to push as aggressively as fast as we can for these goals. With fighting climate change… every little bit counts,”said Patrick McClellan, state policy director for the New York League of Conservation Voters.

“We hope that this is kind of a wake-up call for the state — not that I think that they weren’t aware, obviously, there were these problems — but they probably need to be pushing harder,” he added.

While the lack of timely progress does not come as a complete surprise for those tracking the state’s progress, it brings a finer point to the challenges involved with moving away from burning fossil fuels, the major contributor to climate change.

Key Deadlines Missed

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s interim 2030 target was supposed to put the state on a path to have zero-emissions electricity by 2040, a deadline also mandated by the law. A failure to green the grid in time could jeopardize slashing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, which must fall 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 — and 85% by 2050 — as the climate law stipulates.

As of 2023, just seven years away from the 70% target deadline, renewables generated just under 30% of New York’s electricity, according to the state grid operator . Including nuclear power, a zero-emissions energy source, that total hits about 50%.

Plus, the delayed transition to a greener grid makes other climate efforts harder to realize. For instance, large New York City buildings face caps on their emissions under Local Law 97. The concept of emissions, in the law, counts not only direct exhaust from any fuels used by occupants’ stoves, heaters or boilers, but also the emissions connected to the electricity the building uses, wherever it was generated. A dirtier grid means those buildings will have a harder time complying with those caps.

For months, the state has failed to meet key benchmarks under the climate law, with recent developments further imperiling those 2030 goals.

In October, the state rejected developer requests for increased funding for a series of solar and wind projects that together represented about a quarter of the projected 2030 electric needs. The developers said they needed the boost to make up for increased costs, mostly from inflation, but the state Public Service Commission denied the requests in order to protect ratepayers, they said at the time.

Many developers backed out of their contracts, including for two major offshore wind projects. Offshore wind projects were poised to significantly move the needle toward the clean energy goals.

Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, a renewable energy industry group, said the projects, even with canceled contracts, are still moving forward and just need to be rebid for new contracts with the state.

“Certainly the contract cancellation was a challenge, but happily, it’s a paperwork challenge. It’s not a three-dimensional, real world challenge, if you will,” she said. “In all cases, the projects are doing fine. They’re still out there in the real world doing permits and contracts and all the studies they have to do.”

New York, through its State Energy Research and Development Authority, has solicitations out for additional offshore wind projects (and other renewables) and is also investing $700 million in offshore wind ports, infrastructure and manufacturing to help boost the sector.

Spokespersons for NYSERDA and the PSC indicated the state would consider several other possible actions to advance progress.

Higher Energy Demand

Another challenge for rapidly scaling up renewables is simply keeping pace with growing demand.

Energy-guzzling projects like data centers and microchip plants (and to a lesser extent, electric cars and electric heat pumps) increase how much electricity is needed overall in the state. As the electric need grows, so too does the amount of renewables necessary to hit that 70% goal.

New York’s grid operator predicted a gap in available power by the summer of 2025, due to higher energy demand and fossil fuel-powered plants coming offline but not being replaced fast enough with new generation.

McClellan pointed out the state must accelerate renewables in order to retire fossil fuel plants, like the highly polluting peakers which fire in times of high energy need and are located overwhelmingly in and around low-income, non-white communities that already bear higher pollution burdens.

“We have an air quality alert, and everyone’s going to be cranking the air conditioning because of the heat wave, and that means that all these peakers in Astoria and the South Bronx are going to be going in full blast and making the air quality issues much worse,” he said.

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker. DONATE to THE CITY

The post New York Unlikely to Hit 2030 Climate Goals, State Report Concedes appeared first on THE CITY - NYC News .