Plan identifies actions NYC will take in the next three years to accelerate emissions reductions in support of the global l.5° Celsius warming target

NEW YORK (TIP): In the first ever Paris Agreement-compliant plan from any city in the world, New York City has launched a program in support of the global 1.5 Celsius warming target.

“Big problems require big solutions – and New Yorkers are already hard at work to meet the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement,” said Mayor de Blasio. “In the Trump era, cities have to lead the way when it comes to fighting climate change. Hotter summers and powerful storms made worse by climate change are an existential threat to a coastal city like ours, which is why we need to act now.”

The 1.5°C plan aligns local climate actions with a goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C degrees. A 1.5°C degree outcome was agreed to in the Paris Agreement in order to limit the worst impacts of climate change. By implementing the identified prioritized set of actions across energy, transportation, building, and waste sectors by 2020, NYC will enable faster reductions of GHG over the following 30 years than even the already aggressive goals in the City’s 80 x 50 plan – a plan to reduce GHG emissions 80% by 2050. The potential for GHG reduction of all the quantified actions in the report is 10 million metric tons of C02e – or the equivalent of taking more than 2 million cars off the road by 2030.

The release of the citywide action plan, builds on announcements made earlier this month to mandate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from large buildings, and expands access to electric vehicle fast chargers in all five boroughs.  Both of these actions are included in the 1.5°C plan.

Other key actions detailed in the plan include:

• RECYCLING: Roll out city-wide single stream recycling by 2020; New Yorkers will no longer need to sort their recyclables, dramatically increasing the City’s recycling rate.
• WASTE: Accelerate the diversion of tons of organics from landfills by expanding the organics program to serve all New Yorkers with curbside or a convenient drop off location by 2018.
• BUILDINGS: In addition to creating new fossil-fuel targets for existing buildings to meet in 2030, NYC will work to implement advanced energy codes for new buildings in 2019, and very low energy design targets in all new buildings in subsequent energy code cycles.
• ENERGY: NYC will use its purchasing power to procure 100% renewable electricity for municipal operations as soon as sufficient supply can be brought online. This Fall, the City will be breaking ground on 50 new solar projects on public buildings, which will put the city a quarter of the way to the goal of 100MW of solar on public property by 2025.
• TRANSPORTATION: NYC will continue the accelerated pace of Select Bus Service implementation, fight for a tax on millionaires to modernize the subway system, and double the number of active cyclists by 2020 through the annual development of at least 50 new miles of bike network (including 10 miles of protected bike lanes). By expanding electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, the City will meet a goal for 20% of new car registrations to be EVs by 2025.
• CARBON NEUTRALITY: NYC will lead in the development of a global protocol for cities to attain carbon neutrality by 2050 in collaboration with other vanguard cities and partners.