New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a leading contender in the city’s 2021 mayoral contest, has released an ambitious climate change agenda that would codify several aspects of the Green New Deal in the United States’s largest city.
Stringer released the 34-page proposal on Sunday, vowing in a Twitter thread to make New York City “the national leader in the fight against climate change.”
“The climate crisis requires bold and urgent action,” he tweeted. “My climate plan lays out bold but achievable goals that will deliver a future for our city that is fossil fuel-free, green, sustainable, and resilient.”
Today I’m proposing a sweeping climate plan that would make New York City the national leader in the fight against climate change.
The climate crisis requires bold and urgent action.
This is why I’m running—and what we all owe our children.
Read here:https://t.co/igF13keW3P
— Scott Stringer (@scottmstringer) January 10, 2021
My climate plan lays out bold but achievable goals that will deliver a future for our city that is fossil fuel-free, green, sustainable, and resilient.
We’re running out of time.
This is our moment to be daring about setting a new trajectory for our city and our planet.
— Scott Stringer (@scottmstringer) January 10, 2021
Stringer’s proposed measures include a ban on all new fossil fuel infrastructure and funding for electric buses and subway improvements. The provisions are in line with the stances of the comptroller who previously partook in climate marches, which he called “a message to our dysfunctional federal government that we’re not going to be pushed out of our planet.”
The far-left Green New Deal platform will likely be received well in the city where a crowded field of mayoral contenders is currently racing to the left on climate change. Among the mayoral hopefuls adopting the climate package’s proposals is Maya Wiley, a contributor for MSNBC.
“The Green New Deal is about a vision for good jobs for all of us, a healthy environment. I for one am very grateful for a big vision and we should be trying to figure out how to get there,” she tweeted.
The Green New Deal is about a vision for good jobs for all of us, a healthy environment. I for one am very grateful for a big vision and we should be trying to figure out how to get there. #PresidentialDebate2020
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) September 30, 2020
Another contender, Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur whose “Yang Gang” propelled him to national fame during the 2020 presidential campaign, stopped short of embracing the Green New Deal but has expressed support for robust climate change proposals.
“Climate change is an existential threat facing our society and we need to make changes in order to save our country and our planet,” he tweeted in December 2019.
Climate change is an existential threat facing our society and we need to make changes in order to save our country and our planet. #DemDebate #YangGang
— Andrew Yang???? (@AndrewYang) December 20, 2019
The proposal’s core ideas are not met with universal acclaim. The Republican Party of New York has frequently criticized the Green New Deal as a job-killing set of policy ideals.
“The radical green new deal @AndrewCuomo and NY Dems just enacted will only mean one thing: expect a lot more green to come out of your pocket for energy costs,” the party’s official Twitter account warned in 2019.
The radical green new deal @AndrewCuomo and NY Dems just enacted will only mean one thing: expect a lot more green to come out of your pocket for energy costs. https://t.co/ApmltsBWV7
— New York GOP (@NewYorkGOP) June 26, 2019
