The planet is getting hotter and will continue to do so from now on. This week the Northeast will be enduring another heat wave, the second one of the summer. The impacts of rising temperature are well-documented and increasingly obvious: health consequences, more intense storms, worsening air quality, flooding, and rising sea levels.
The intense heat defines these “waves” – three days in a row hitting 90 degrees or more – based on the overall temperature of a region. It can be hotter or cooler depending on the area where you live. For example, asphalt absorbs a lot of heat from the sun. As a result, urban areas tend to be even hotter than rural ones. Recently NASA released new thermal imaging showing just how hot it was in Phoenix, Arizona in mid-June. According to NASA, while the daily high in the city was a super-hot 106 degrees, the asphalt in the city registered between a staggering 120 and 160 degrees! Surfaces that hot can cause serious harm. The opposite was also true. Areas with large green spaces were the coolest parts of Phoenix, while those with less greenery were the hottest.
The trend line for average temperatures is up, meaning the summers will get even hotter. That’s why climate scientists have been calling for action to curtail the primary driver of global heating – the burning of fossil fuels.
Since the problem of the worsening climate is a worldwide one, the solution lies with all of us. The world’s biggest economies can and must do the most since they not only have the resources to do so, but they’re the ones who have benefited the most from the reliance on fossil fuels.
New York State is the fourteenth biggest economy in the world. It has a gross domestic product of $1.78 trillion, trailing only California and Texas within the U.S. As a result, New York is obliged to take on climate change aggressively.
That’s why five years ago New York approved legislation that set climate targets that were among the most ambitious of any in the nation. The 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (the “Climate Law”) requires New York to be powered by zero-emissions electricity by 2040, as part of a plan to phase out its greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. As an interim measure, the Climate Law requires that the state generate 70% of its electricity from renewables like solar and wind by 2030.
The Climate Law sets laudable goals, based on science. The rhetoric was there, but five years later the current reality is falling short.
In a state report released earlier this month, it looks like New York will miss its interim goal. The lack of effort should be obvious. Right now, the combination of hydroelectric power, solar, wind, and other renewables is just under 30 percent. Even that number is sort of “padded.” The overwhelming majority – nearly 80 percent – of that “clean power” is from hydroelectricity. And the state’s hydro power comes from plants that were built a long time ago. Thus, the vast bulk of renewable energy comes from power plants that were built well before the consensus on climate change emerged.
Some have argued that it’s not that the state has failed, but that New York’s goals were simply too ambitious. If so, then other states would be in the same situation. But that is not the case.
New York ranks 16th in the nation in its reliance on renewable energy. New York ranks 13th in the nation in its production of solar power, behind northeast neighbor Massachusetts (ranked 5th). Of course, differences in geography and climate can drive these rankings, but New York only generates around 5 percent of its electricity from solar, while often overcast Germany generates 10 percent.
The more likely explanation is that the state is simply being too passive and not matching the Climate Law’s mandate with a vigorous regulatory commitment. A recent report by the state Comptroller echoed that view when it identified serious weaknesses in New York’s programs to build new renewable energy sources.
Despite New York’s economic power, it falls behind in using that clout to help save the planet.
The failure is a political one, not one based on science-based goals. If New York is serious in its rhetoric about leading the charge in taking on the climate-change menace, then it needs to do the necessary work.
So far, it has not. While the goals were not set during the tenure of Governor Hochul, they are the law of the land in New York. They are goals based on science and are part of a worldwide response to the looming climate catastrophe. New York’s success or failure will be based on the work the governor does.
The climate clock is running out. We’re hurtling towards a climate point of no return. New York, the nation, the world, needs deeds, not words.