Just Transitions & Energy

Our nation's dependency on fossil fuels and unchecked energy consumption continues to have important environmental justice implications, including the siting of power plants and other energy infrastructure. NYC-EJA has collaborated with several partners to ensure that energy planning and economic development in NYC are conducted equitably, and that low-income and communities of color not continue to bear an overwhelming burden.

NY Renews

NY Renews is an unprecedented statewide cross-sector alliance of over 400 environmental, justice, faith, labor, community groups, and other advocates from across New York State working together to demand healthy communities, good jobs, 100% clean, renewable energy, environmental justice, and worker protection. Co-founded by NYC-EJA, NY Renews is the driving force behind one of the nation's most progressive and ambitious climate action laws, the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), passed in 2019. Unofficially known as NYS's "climate law", the CLCPA – which mandates a 100% net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 – creates a Just Transition energy policy by including strong protections for communities on the front lines of the climate and environmental crisis and provides important tools to ensure racial and economic equity in applying emission reduction policies. The CLCPA created the category of "disadvantaged communities", which now requires NYS to commit 35-40% of the state's total clean energy funding to these disproportionately vulnerable frontline communities (NYC-EJA and one of our members UPROSE both had our Executive Directors appointed to NYS's first-ever Climate Justice Working Group which created the disadvantaged communities criteria.) The CLCPA inspired President Biden's climate laws, including Justice40.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act set a mandate for greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050. The law directs the Department of Environmental Conservation to promulgate regulations to meet these mandates. NYC-EJA supported polluter fees and facility-specific caps to achieve these goals, but NYS, through the Climate Action Council, established by the climate law to produce an implementation plan, has proposed an emissions cap, trade and invest scheme to meet the targets. If New York is to move forward with cap-trade-and-invest it is critical that they get it right. NYC-EJA is advocating for a program that builds in protections for environmental justice communities to avoid pollution hotspots and harm in communities by limiting trading, offsets, and setting facility-specific caps. To learn more about the Cap-Trade and Invest proposed program, click here.

Governor Hochul has slow-walked the rollout of the cap-trade-and-invest regulations. They were required to be in place by the beginning of 2024, but we are still waiting on the release of draft regulations. This has become a pattern with the Hochul administration when it comes to implementing the climate law, backing off the 2030 renewable energy mandate, rolling back offshore wind investments and attempting to weaken the statute.

For more information or to get involved, visit the NY Renews website.

REVitalize

REVitalize is a collaboration between NYC-EJA, PUSH Buffalo, The POINT CDC, We Stay/Nos Quedamos and UPROSE, to address the opportunities and challenges associated with community energy planning and community-owned renewable energy and energy storage. As part of this process, REVitalize seeks to create a replicable planning model where local grassroots organizations carry out baseline research to identify their community's energy needs, articulate goals and objectives to address them, and identify resources for implementation. NYC-EJA provides technical assistance to the four community-based organizations in developing their plans. NYC-EJA and REVitalize partners facilitate dialogues with public officials and agencies to target and dismantle state regulatory barriers to community-co-owned renewable energy projects, as well as articulate policy and programmatic recommendations to inform future government-community partnerships and support community-based energy planning. As of 2025, PUSH has several rooftop projects interconnected, Nos Quedamos has two solar canopies operational, and recently, UPROSE launched Sunset Solar at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, a 600 kW project currently under construction, which represents NYC's first community-owned solar project.

PEAK

When energy demand in New York City spikes above normal levels, highly polluting power plants known as "peakers" fire up in the South Bronx, Sunset Park, and other environmental justice communities, spewing harmful emissions (i.e., NOx, SOx, PM2.5) into neighborhoods overburdened by pollution – communities that are also emerging as among the most hard-hit by the deadly respiratory virus COVID-19. The PEAK coalition—UPROSE, THE POINT CDC, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), and Clean Energy Group (CEG)— came together to end the long-standing pollution burden from power plants on the city's most climate-vulnerable people. This coalition is the first comprehensive effort in the U.S. to reduce the negative and racially disproportionate health impacts of a city's peaker plants by fighting to replace them with renewable energy and storage solutions. Our collaboration brings technical, legal, public health, and planning expertise to support organizing and advocacy led by communities harmed by peaker plant emissions. Together with communities, we are advocating for a system of localized renewable energy generation and battery storage to replace peaker plants, reduce emissions, lower energy bills, and make the electricity system more resilient in the face of increased storms and climate impacts. Visit our PEAK Coalition website and read our 2020 report "Dirty Energy, Big Money" here.

Beginning in 2025, we have seen a number of policy pronouncements from the Hochul Administration that threaten PEAK's progress. The Public Service Commission, in response to federal rollbacks to clean energy development, has halted several transmission projects necessary to facilitate future offshore wind or solar interconnections. The New York Power Authority has slow-rolled its mandate to phase out publicly-owned peaker power plants and pivoted, under the direction of Governor Hochul, towards developing costly nuclear power. At the same time, aging fossil fuel power plants are facing difficulties in maintaining good repair. In response to the combined onslaught of Artificial Intelligence and cryptocurrency-related data centers that have put an increasing strain on the electricity grid, the New York State Independent System Operator and other grid managers have floated the idea of repowering retired power plants.

Renewable Rikers

The Renewable Rikers vision emerged from conversations about the post-carceral future of the island, led by survivors of Rikers who advocated for its closure in partnership with environmental justice leaders. Renewable Rikers is led by a coalition of criminal justice, environmental justice, and environmental advocates. In 2021, the Renewable Rikers coalition pushed the NYC Council to pass the Renewable Rikers Act, which creates a framework for a gradual transfer of jurisdiction of Rikers Island from the NYC Department of Correction (DOC) to the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). The law also mandates two feasibility studies on the island's potential to generate and store renewable energy and host a wastewater treatment plant, thereby reducing related emissions generated by polluting infrastructure in environmental justice communities. Under the Act, DOC will be prohibited from operating jails on the island after August 31, 2027. Renewable Rikers can demonstrate how to actualize a Just Transition in NYC. The vision is a world where communities long victimized by both the carceral state and environmental racism can finally see a measure of true justice on the horizon.

However, the Adams Administration has evinced hostility to the closure of Rikers Island almost from its inception. Throughout his tenure, Mayor Adams has repeatedly missed every scheduled deadline to transfer control of the island's land from the DOC to DCAS. The Adams Administration has also worked to undermine the role of the Rikers Advisory Committee, a group established by legislation to guide the island's transition from carceral to sustainability uses, and which is required to include New Yorkers formerly incarcerated at Rikers.

To learn more, visit the Renewable Rikers website and read the factsheet.

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

NYC-EJA co-leads an effort alongside Northeast members of the Climate Justice Alliance and other allied organizations in engaging Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's (RGGI) Third Program Review process. As a coalition, we expressed serious concerns about cap-and-trade systems, urged RGGI to adopt a zero-emissions cap by 2040, ensure proportionate investments go to environmental justice communities, and investigates whether RGGI program is leading to disproportionate emission reductions across RGGI participating states.

NYC Offshore Wind EJ Table

New York's landmark Climate Act mandates that 9GW of offshore wind be developed by 2035. Working alongside UPROSE, NYC-EJA is working to ensure that the development of the offshore wind industry and its associated "green gold rush" will be the critical force needed to help uplift communities burdened by polluting power plants and become a long-term investment that equitally benefit environmental justice communities.

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Accomplishments

In March 2025, in response to Con Edison's proposal to increase electric rates by 11.4% to raise an additional $1.6 Billion in revenues and increase the utility's profit by $190 million, PEAK hosted "Unpacking the ConEd's 2025 Rate Hikes" to break down the components and regulatory processes for public input and how the PEAK Coalition plans to challenge unjust rate hikes.
NYC-EJA worked with Councilmember Sandy Nurse to pass Local Law 99 of 2024, which codifies the City's targets to install 100 MW of solar energy capacity on public properties by 2030 and 150 MW by 2035, with priority installation intended in EJ communities.
In 2024, following continued advocacy by NYC-EJA through the Climate Works for All coalition, the City increased staffing at the Department of Buildings specifically to support the implementation of Local Law 97. Our years of advocacy for more staff led to $4 million added to the City's budget for 30 new staff positions at the Department of Buildings.
In 2023, through the Climate Works for All coalition, NYC-EJA successfully advocated for the passage of Local Law 77, which requires the NYC Department of Buildings to release regulations on limiting the use of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to comply with our building decarbonization legislation Local Law 97, which would reduce emissions in the biggest polluting sector in NYC-buildings.
In June 2023, REVitalize welcomed its newest partner, NYC-EJA member WE STAY/Nos Quedamos, which is developing rooftop and deployable solar and battery projects in the South Bronx.
In May 2023, PEAK celebrated the start of the Peaker Rule, a NYS Department of Environmental Conservation regulation that will curb peaker plants from operating during the hottest months of the year. The Peaker Rule directly led to the voluntary retirement of several peaker plants.
In fall of 2023, after years of advocacy and subsequent litigation process, NYC-EJA and the PEAK Coalition led a successful campaign to deny NRG Astoria from repowering their peaker plants, and led to the sale of the property to an offshore wind developer for interconnecting clean energy.
In April 2022, New York Power Authority (NYPA) released the Small Clean Power Plant Adaptation Study in consultation with PEAK Coalition, confirming the technical possibility of transitioning NYPA peaker plants in New York City individually to battery storage by 2030. NYPA subsequently issued an RFP to begin the process of transitioning some of their peaker plants off fossil fuels.
In December 2021, PEAK celebrated the withdrawal of the Article 10 process by Eastern Generation LLC on the Gowanus Repowering Project, which will replace old and harmful peaker plants in Sunset Park with new sets of fossil fuel generators to continue polluting the community. This news comes as PEAK Coalition and allies pressured to deny NRG's Astoria plant repowering by New York State DEC, citing CLCPA mandates. Eastern Generation's decision to build battery storage capacity is consistent with PEAK's goal to retire all New York peaker plants with renewable generation and storage. Read the press release here.
In October 2021, NYSDEC rejected the Title V air permit for Astoria Gas Turbine Power, LLC, effectively halting Astoria Replacement Project. This decision removes the threat of pollution that would result in public health impacts to environmental justice communities. The decision by DEC cites the project's non-compliance with the requirements of the CLCPA, the first ruling of its kind citing the 2019 legislation. The PEAK Coalition and allies joined the over 6,600 public comments calling for DEC's rejection of the permit. Shout out to our allies in the NY Renews coalition for ushering in a new era with the CLCPA!
In February 2021, due to the continued advocacy of NYC-EJA and our allies Freedom Agenda, The Lipman Commission, NRDC, NYLPI, and others, the City Council passed the Renewable Rikers Act, a slew of legislation aimed at ending the carceral use of Rikers Island and transforming it to sustainability and resiliency purposes.
In October 2020, PEAK announced its groundbreaking agreement with the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to work towards replacing the state authority's existing NYC peaker plants with renewable energy and battery storage. The partnership will collaborate to "evaluate the potential to replace NYPA's existing peaker units, augment and otherwise install renewable and battery storage systems at NYPA's New York City sites and surrounding communities."
In response to the COVID-19 economic and public health crisis of 2020, Climate Works for All is building broad coalition support for a climate, jobs and justice stimulus plan to put frontline communities of color back to work. Read our 2020 report: An Equitable Recovery: Creating 100,000 Climate Jobs for Frontline Communities of Color.
In May 2020, PEAK released its first publication titled Dirty Energy, Big Money which brought to light that over the last decade, an estimated $4.5 billion of ratepayer money—in the form of what are called "capacity payments"—have gone to the owners of the city's polluting peaker plants, simply to keep peakers online in case they may be needed.
NYC-EJA staff and allies were appointed to various advisory committees for the CLCPA, including the Power Generation, Transportation, Land Use and Local Government, Waste, and Energy-Intensive and Trade-Exposed Industries Advisory Panels.
Implementation of the CLCPA will be overseen by the Climate Action Council, and the definition of disadvantaged communities will be determined by the Climate Justice Working Group, to which NYC-EJA's Executive Director has been appointed.
NY Renews had a landmark victory in 2019 with the passage of the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (originally CCPA), which sets NY on a path to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, requiring 85% emissions reductions economy-wide. This historic law also centers racial and economic justice by requiring that 35-40% of State spending on clean energy and energy efficiency benefit disadvantaged communities.
In 2019, thanks to grassroots efforts by Climate Works for All, NYC passed the Climate Mobilization Act, a suite of progressive climate policies that included the Dirty Buildings Law, Local Law 97 – which requires that NYC's largest and most polluting buildings reduce their energy usage drastically, creating good, green jobs in the process.
In response to NYC-EJA's and other allies advocacy efforts, Power NY mandates (for the first time) the development of environmental impact analyses and mitigation that prevents any net increases to an environmental justice community's total local air pollution levels before a power plant siting can be approved.
In 1995, NYC-EJA launched the City's first green jobs training program, then known as the Minority Workers Training Program. NYC-EJA is a co-founder of the New York City Apollo Alliance and is a partner in their living wage green jobs campaign in NYC; at the State level, NYC-EJA works with the Center for Working Families on NYS green jobs strategies.