Climate change

We have an obligation to future generations to protect this city and to be leaders in fighting climate change. It’s not only our duty, it’s an opportunity to make our city better for everyone. We need to get back on track.

Kathryn has been at the front lines of fighting climate change for her entire career

At the Department of Environmental Protection, she rid the city of #6 heating oil, one of the dirtiest and most damaging fuels. She went on to launch the City’s first electronic waste recycling program, ban styrofoam and build the nation’s largest food scraps recycling program to send zero waste to landfills. She passed reform to eliminate 8 million miles of garbage truck traffic from NYC streets every year.

Kathryn’s bold vision for New York City would transform every sector and move New York City to a fully renewable energy economy starting on day one.

We can win the war against asphalt and asthma and make NYC a green oasis. From planting new trees in the South Bronx to curb air pollution to creating renewable energy jobs and renovating schoolyards in East New York, our Green New York City future will right past wrongs.

We are surrounded by water – adapting to the realities of climate change isn’t optional. That means a comprehensive five borough approach with the right resiliency strategies for every community. We must protect New Yorkers against flooding, extreme heat, and air pollution.

Climate action can’t be separated from social justice. Every action we take will be measured and held to the only standard that makes sense–are we protecting our most vulnerable communities?

Climate Change

HIGHLIGHTS

Move to a fully renewable energy economy
Maximize offshore wind generation and distributed solar power
Convert food waste into energy
Expand protected bike lane network by 250 miles
Convert Rikers into a renewable energy zone
Green New Deal for NYCHA
Install 3,000 electric car chargers across the city
Green every single school roof
Electrify more than 10,000 school buses to protect our youngest lungs
Restore, expand and mandate curbside organics recycling
Create a first of its kind framework for all 520 miles of City coastline
Execute, staff and fund climate policy within resilience districts
Double the number of green jobs in the city in 10 years

Move New York City to a fully renewable energy economy starting on day one

Convert Rikers into a renewable energy zone and expand green infrastructure citywide. Rikers Island is the ideal location to harvest renewable energy with solar panels, large battery storage, composting sites, and electric charging stations for the City’s fleet.
Triple the availability of public car chargers, and incentivize New Yorkers to install charging infrastructure at home with parking discounts and property tax rebates. Develop additional grid capacity to be able to expand the use of electric vehicles for our heavy- duty City fleet--including Sanitation vehicles.
Create and implement a plan to maximize offshore wind generation.
Work with state authorities and utility companies to build new transmission lines to bring in renewable energy from Canada and upstate New York and integrated battery storage to reduce reliance on peaker plants.
Incentivize all New Yorkers and property owners to invest in distributed solar power and reap the financial and climate benefits for the long-term
Convert food waste into energy to power our green future, expanding the successful model at Newtown Creek.

Win the war against asphalt and asthma and make NYC a green oasis

Replace 100 blacktop schoolyards with brand-new green spaces, starting with neighborhoods more than a half mile from a park – and open them to the public on weekends for more opportunities to play, exercise, and gather.
Renovate 100 parks in communities hit hardest by COVID-19 and emphasize expanded plantings and new trees.
Launch a “Green Boulevard” program in all five boroughs that pairs complete streets with new blue belts, ground plantings, and trees to reduce asphalt
Green every single school roof--and pair with a curriculum to teach students about botany, energy efficiency, and environmental stewardship.
Improve air quality and cool heat vulnerable neighborhoods by planting 1 million trees over 8 years prioritizing areas with high rates of asthma, including the South Bronx and East New York.
Create a new “Natural Roofs” program that combines green roofs with solar panels on City buildings – to make solar panels more efficient and reduce overall energy use - and cover all outdoor City parking lots with solar panel canopies.

Housing X Climate

40% of all city carbon emissions come from burning fossil fuels for heat and hot water in buildings--we will incentivize electrifying those systems to transform oil and gas to highly efficient heat pump technologies.
Implement Local Law 97 aggressively and emphasize carbon savings, not fines. Explore a first of its kind carbon trading program for buildings and incentivize smaller buildings that aren’t covered to upgrade with transparency requirements.
Implement the Green New Deal for NYCHA. Decarbonize buildings with every major capital project. Install efficient and reliable electric heat pumps and geothermal systems instead of dirty fossil fuel boilers. Install solar panels on more than half of NYCHA buildings within five years. Creating distributed battery infrastructure where it’s needed most.
Expand job training and readiness programs for NYCHA residents that lead directly to employment in renewable energy, including more funding for successful programs like Green City Force.

Transportation X Climate

Triple the availability of public car chargers, and incentivize New Yorkers to install charging infrastructure at home with parking discounts and property tax rebates.
Electrify more than 10,000 school buses to protect our youngest lungs and ensure the MTA bus system is electric by 2040.
Develop additional grid capacity to be able to expand the use of electric vehicles for our heavy duty City fleet--including Sanitation vehicles.
Implement a zero-interest loan program to help small businesses—from ice cream trucks to florists—buy small-scale, electric, pedestrian-safe delivery vehicles to replace diesel vans.

Slash commuting rights for non-critical staff, eliminate “chauffeur privileges” for Commissioners who don’t need them, and reduce vehicle trips by using new technologies, including remote monitoring and drones.
Push for the adoption of congestion pricing.
Rapid implementation of the Commercial Waste Zones plan to realize the benefit of removing 18 million miles of Sanitation truck traffic from NYC streets every year.

Education X Climate

Green every single school roof. Green roofs improve air quality, enhance insulation, increase building energy efficiency, reduce the urban heat island effect, absorb stormwater--and provide amazing opportunities to engage youth in green education and recreation.
Replace 100 blacktop schoolyards with brand-new green spaces, starting with neighborhoods more than a half mile from a park – and open them to the public on weekends for more opportunities to play, exercise, and gather.
Electrify more than 10,000 school buses to protect our youngest lungs.
Our public education system should prepare every graduate for a job in NYC’s green economy. Retool the City’s existing workforce programs to support “Green Collar” jobs and recruit from neighborhoods most impacted by a legacy of environmental racism. Expand programs like Green City Force that literally build a bridge to a long term career in green jobs--and provide participants with all the resources they need to be successful.

Make the long term commitments we need to get to Zero Waste

Restore, expand and mandate curbside organics recycling. NYC had the nation’s largest curbside organics collection program before the budget was slashed; we will bring it back immediately and make it mandatory when service is available citywide.
Open compost facilities across the five boroughs to increase in-city processing capacity and create education opportunities.
Tackle food waste and fossil fuel reduction by converting food scraps into electricity to power homes, expanding a model that has already been successful at Newtown Creek.
The key to getting garbage off our streets is to approach the problem by focusing on waste reduction; we will finally follow through on developing a framework for an urban save as you throw program.
Pursue EPR so that the product manufacturers are responsible for the end of life of the items they design and manufacture.
Ensure all City purchasing fully requires the use of recycled and post-consumer materials for construction and equipment contracts.

Implement neighborhood-based resilience strategies to storms, flooding and heatwaves

Successful implementation of complex projects, programs, or policies is often the product of good coordination. Through a district approach, existing organizations and projects will benefit from a governance structure that breaks down silos and elevates community voice by bringing the scale of activities closer to those who are most affected by them.
We will give residents the tools to plan and implement local resilience projects with City agencies. In some neighborhoods (Edgemere, Lower Manhattan) we don’t necessarily need more “planning” - we just need to fully fund and execute resiliency strategies we already have in place.

Protect against future flooding with a real framework for all 520 miles of City coastline with the same focus on the Rockaways and the South Shore of Staten Island as the southern tip of Manhattan.
Work with DOT and ConEd to bring our most vulnerable utilities underground.
Expand green infrastructure and our free air-conditioner program to mitigate the health effects of extreme heat

Follow through on implementing key environmental justice policies

Endorsed by

–The New York League of Conservation voters and Streets Pac

Media Coverage

POLITICO

Garcia also rolled out new green initiatives, including converting 150 million square feet to green infrastructure, decarbonizing the New York City Housing Authority and reallocating 25 percent of car space into space for people by 2025.

THE CITY

Former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia wants to move on stalled existing plans to protect neighborhoods from flooding.

AMNY

Mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia is proposing making 10,000 school buses fully electric.

GOTHAMIST

A centerpiece of [Garcia’s] plan includes an idea that environmental advocates have pushed for years: requiring school buses, whose gas and diesel emissions have been linked to respiratory illnesses in children, to be fully electric. Approximately 150,000 city school children ride yellow school buses daily.