STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7297 IN SENATE January 16, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to declaring a climate emergency The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a 2 new section 1-0103 to read as follows: 3 § 1-0103. Climate emergency declaration and policy. 4 1. The legislature finds and declares the following: 5 (a) A climate emergency exists that threatens the state of New York, 6 the nation, and the world; 7 (b) Irrevocable damage to the environment has been caused by global 8 warming of approximately one degree celsius demonstrating that the earth 9 is already too hot for safety and justice, as attested by increased and 10 intensifying wildfires, floods, rising seas, diseases, droughts, and 11 extreme weather; 12 (c) On April twenty-second, two thousand sixteen, world leaders from 13 one hundred seventy-four countries and the European Union recognized the 14 threat of climate change and the urgent need to combat it by signing the 15 Paris Agreement, agreeing to keep warming well below two degrees celsius 16 above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temper- 17 ature increase to one and one-half degrees fahrenheit; 18 (d) On October eighth, two thousand eighteen, the United Nations 19 International Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") released a special 20 report, which projected that limiting warming to the one and one-half 21 degrees celsius target this century will require an unprecedented trans- 22 formation of every sector of the global economy over the next twelve 23 years; 24 (e) On November twenty-third, two thousand eighteen, the United States 25 Fourth National Climate Assessment ("NCA4") was released and detailed 26 the massive threat that climate change poses to the American economy, 27 our environment and climate stability, and underscores the need for 28 immediate climate emergency action at all levels of government; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD14825-02-0S. 7297 2 1 (f) According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 2 (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), global temperatures 3 in two thousand eighteen were eighty-three one-hundredths degrees celsi- 4 us (one and one-half degrees fahrenheit) warmer than the nineteen 5 hundred fifty-one to nineteen hundred eighty mean; 6 (g) World Wildlife Fund's 2018 Living Planet report finds that there 7 has been a sixty per centum decline in global wildlife populations 8 between nineteen hundred seventy and two thousand fourteen, with causes 9 including overfishing, pollution and climate change; 10 (h) According to the intergovernmental science-policy platform on 11 biodiversity and ecosystem services, human activity has already severely 12 altered forty per centum of the marine environment, fifty per centum of 13 inland waterways, and seventy-five per centum of the planet's land, and 14 it is projected that five hundred thousand to one million species are 15 threatened with extinction, many within the next few decades; 16 (i) Globally, the following records have been made according to NASA 17 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): nine- 18 teen of the last twenty years have been the hottest years; the past 19 decade was the world's hottest; 2019 was the second hottest year; and 20 the past five years each rank among the five hottest on record; 21 (j) In November two thousand nineteen, the United Nations Environment 22 Program released the Emissions Gap Report which concluded that to main- 23 tain relatively safe limits, global greenhouse gas emissions must 24 decline significantly, by 7.6 percent every year, between two thousand 25 twenty and two thousand thirty; global greenhouse gas emissions have 26 increased by 1.5 percent every year over the last decade; 27 (k) The state of New York is particularly vulnerable to the effects of 28 climate change and has already been subjected to devastating disasters 29 caused by global warming, including increasing superstorms and severe 30 flooding; 31 (l) Marginalized populations in the state of New York and worldwide, 32 including people of color, immigrants, indigenous communities, low-in- 33 come individuals, people with disabilities, and the unhoused are already 34 disproportionately affected by climate change, and will continue to bear 35 an excess burden as temperatures increase, oceans rise, and disasters 36 worsen; 37 (m) Restoring a safe and stable climate and reversing biodiversity 38 loss requires an emergency mobilization on a scale not seen since World 39 War II to attain zero greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors at 40 wartime speed, to rapidly and safely draw down or remove all excess 41 carbon from the atmosphere, and to implement measures to protect all 42 people and species from the consequences of abrupt climate change and 43 ecological destruction; 44 (n) Building a society that is resilient to the current, expected, and 45 potential effects of climate change will protect health, lives, environ- 46 ments, and economies. Resilience is best achieved by preparing for the 47 most dramatic potential consequences of climate change; and 48 (o) Justice demands climate policy that addresses the specific experi- 49 ences, vulnerabilities, and needs of the marginalized communities most 50 affected by the effects of climate change, and includes those communi- 51 ties in climate and ecological resilience planning, policy and actions. 52 2. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state of New York to 53 restore an optimal safe climate and to provide maximum protection from 54 climate change to all people and species, globally, including the most 55 vulnerable.S. 7297 3 1 3. It is the intent of the legislature that the state do all of the 2 following in furtherance of such policy: 3 (a) Convert the economy to net zero greenhouse gas emissions as quick- 4 ly as possible. 5 (b) Immediately initiate a multigenerational effort to draw down 6 greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere in as short a time as possi- 7 ble, and develop research in support of this goal. 8 (c) Immediately initiate a massive effort to restore ecosystems. 9 (d) Respond to the climate emergency based on a just transition frame- 10 work that focuses on equity, self-determination, culture, tradition, 11 democracy, and the fundamental human right of all people to clean, heal- 12 thy, and adequate air, water, land, food, education, and shelter. 13 (e) Engage the public in climate-emergency-related deliberations so 14 that citizens can see their influence on the policy and resource deci- 15 sions that impact their daily lives and their future. 16 (f) Encourage nongovernment actors to contribute to the development 17 and implementation of solutions. 18 (g) A sweeping overhaul of the economy that centers on equity and 19 justice in its solutions is vital to our future and must include the 20 following goals: dramatically expand existing renewable power sources 21 and deploy new production capacity with the goal of meeting one hundred 22 per centum of national power demand through renewable sources; build a 23 national, energy-efficient, "smart" grid; upgrade every residential and 24 industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and 25 safety; eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing, agricul- 26 tural and other industries, including by investing in local-scale agri- 27 culture in communities across the country; repair and improve transpor- 28 tation and other infrastructure, and upgrade water infrastructure to 29 ensure universal access to clean water; fund massive investment in the 30 drawdown of greenhouse gases; and make "green" technology, industry, 31 expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, 32 with the aim of becoming the international leader in helping other coun- 33 tries become greenhouse gas neutral economies and bringing about a 34 global transition. 35 (h) Support efforts for an emergency mobilization to restore a safe 36 climate in other states and at the federal and global level. 37 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.