Environmental Organizations Tell Court that New York Must Implement Its Delayed Climate Law

(New York, NY — June 5, 2025) — New York State has failed to take the required steps to meet its greenhouse gas pollution limits, threatening the health and safety of communities and the environment.

The environmental organizations Environmental Defense Fund, Riverkeeper, and Save the Sound court submitted an amicus — or "friend of the court” — brief Wednesday evening in support of a claim that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has violated its legal obligations, jeopardizing the state's climate goals and endangering public health, particularly in communities disproportionately affected by pollution.

The initial petition, filed in March by Citizen Action of New York, PUSH Buffalo, Sierra Club, and WE ACT for Environmental Justice, sued New York State for delaying regulations under the state’s landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (“CLCPA” or “Climate Law”).

Wednesday’s filing supports the organizations’ allegations that DEC’s failure to adopt regulations that ensure compliance with statutory emissions limits by a January 1, 2024 deadline violates the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act. The law requires New York to achieve statewide greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050, below 1990 levels.

“New York’s climate law is clear that strong standards must be adopted to ensure that the state meets its greenhouse gas pollution limits,” said Erin Murphy, Director & Sr. Attorney, Clean Air & Energy Markets at Environmental Defense Fund. “This is about a legal obligation to implement programs that will deliver cleaner air, lower energy bills, and more resilient communities across New York State.”

“Climate change is one of the most urgent issues facing New York, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s failure to put regulations into effect that will achieve necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions leaves the health and safety of New Yorkers and our environment in jeopardy,” said Riverkeeper Legal Fellow Casey Hellman. “DEC is obligated to comply with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and take action to reduce emissions, benefitting our communities, our waters, and the entire state.”

“DEC’s continued failure to release the necessary and mandatory regulations to ensure compliance with the Climate Act makes it more difficult by the day for New York to succeed in meeting its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals,” said Dara Illowsky, New York Staff Attorney at Save the Sound. “DEC is also required to prioritize rules and regulations that address the long history of environmental burdens disproportionately imposed on marginalized communities, by maximizing reductions of other harmful air pollutants in state-designated disadvantaged communities. Here, the agency has also failed.”

New York’s climate law requires that at least 35% of climate investments flow to projects and programs that benefit disadvantaged communities. The state’s preliminary analysis found that, by implementing a climate program like cap-and-invest, these communities “would experience health benefits that exceed their fraction of the population in all regions,” including “greater annual-average reductions in PM_2.5 concentrations” and “reduced asthma incidence and emergency room visits.” Failing to implement programs and regulations to meet the climate law’s requirements denies New Yorkers the cleaner air, lower energy bills, and more resilient communities they deserve.