Climate and Community Protection Fund Passes Senate Environmental Conservation Committee
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***: May 22, 2023
Contact: Marie Scarles, marie@nyrenews.org, (646) 389-8429
Web: @NYRenews | www.nyrenews.org
New York State — In response to the Climate and Community Protection Fund passing through the NYS Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, the NY Renews coalition released the following statement:
On behalf of our coalition’s more than 360 organizational members and the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers we represent, NY Renews thanks the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee and Chair Senator Harckham for passing the Climate and Community Protection Fund (CCPF).
The Fund is a milestone in the path toward fulfilling the mandates of the 2019 Climate Law and directing benefits to frontline communities statewide—particularly Black, brown, indigenous, and working-class communities—for climate crisis mitigation and resiliency, clean-energy infrastructure and planning, and more.
If passed in both houses of the state legislature, the Fund would direct on-budget climate funds and future revenue from the state’s Cap and Invest Program back to families, communities, and small businesses to lower energy bills, increase energy efficiency in buildings, provide job training and support for impacted workers in fossil fuel industries, as well as direct grants to community organizations for grassroots-led renewable energy planning projects. The CCPF’s passage will represent a bold new era for New York State; the people of New York will be better prepared to meet the crisis head-on.
We look forward to working with the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee to pass the Fund in the coming days, and for the CCPF to pass both houses, bringing the promise and the commitment of the state’s Climate Law to life for our families, communities, and future generations.
###
NY Renews is a coalition of more than 360 environmental justice, community, faith, labor, and multi-issue organizations fighting for just climate policy for New Yorkers. We are the force behind the nation's most aggressive climate law, the NY State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, enacted in 2019. The Climate, Jobs & Justice Package is the next step in our fight for climate justice in New York.