Calif. And NY Climate Change Plans: A Comparison

Kevin Poloncarz was quoted by Law360 in an article about California and New York laying out plans to achieve their legally mandated climate change goals.

"Overall, they take a similar approach, where we are counting on the electricity sector to be near zero emissions and deliver emissions reductions from other sectors, specifically transportation and buildings," Kevin said. "That's a strategy that all leading jurisdictions are going to be relying on."

Like California's cap-and-trade program, some revenues raised from New York's program are specifically targeted for things like utility ratepayer protection, investment in environmental justice communities and ensuring that GHG emissions aren't simply shifted out of state instead of eliminated, Kevin said

Kevin remarked regarding the New York program, "It's really taking the California playbook and restyling it as cap-and-invest, instead of cap-and-trade. I was surprised at how closely the contours of their cap-and-invest program are to what's been done in California."