Background
Mayor Bloomberg set NYC on a sustainability course with his landmark PlaNYC in 2007. After he took office, Mayor de Blasio built on that work and released One City Built to Last in 2014, which outlined a plan to achieve the 80×50 goal. In November 2014, the City Council passed the 80×50 goal into local law.
In 2015, the Mayor released OneNYC, a plan founded on four pillars: economic growth, equity, sustainability, and resiliency. Taken together, these goals seek to build a sustainable city in the face of continuing climate change without sacrificing economic growth or leaving anyone behind.
Released the following year, Mayor de Blasio’s Roadmap to 80×50 outlined the steps that NYC must take to reduce GHG emissions 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. To identify challenges and determine how various sectors can work together to achieve this goal, NYLCVEF organized the Getting to 80×50 Policy Forum Series with the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Each forum focused on a different sector that the Roadmap identified as a priority for transformation: transportation, buildings, energy, and waste. We also published detailed background papers on each sector.
In 2019, the Mayor released OneNYC 2050—a renewed and expanded version of the 2015 plan that commits the city to carbon neutrality, among other goals. Most sustainability and resiliency goals fall under “A Livable Climate,” one of the nine volumes of the plan, but some environmental goals are included in the other volumes.
Many of the indicators and initiatives established by the 2015 plan have moved to new categories in the 2019 plan or have disappeared completely. This lack of continuity has made it difficult to monitor the city’s progress and hold our elected officials accountable. Although the NYC Climate Action Tracker is designed as an oversight tool for goals from the 2015 plan, we have made every effort to indicate if these goals have changed or been removed in the 2019 plan.
Timeline
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2013
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December 2013
PlaNYC: New York City’s pathway to deepen carbon reductions. Includes an evaluation of the technical potential of 80×50.
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2014
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September 2014
One City Built to Last: A 10-year plan to reduce emissions from buildings. Includes a commitment to 80×50.
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November 2014
New York City Council passes Local Law 66, codifying 80×50 into law.
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2015
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April 2015
OneNYC: Mayor de Blasio’s comprehensive plan for a strong, sustainable, resilient, and equitable city.
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2016
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April 2016
The first update on the 2015 OneNYC plan, called the OneNYC 2016 Progress Report, is issued, along with the One City Built to Last Technical Working Group Report.
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September 2016
Roadmap to 80×50: An assessment of what will be necessary to reach 80×50. Required under Local Law 66 and recommended by NYLCV.
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2017
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April 2017
OneNYC 2017 Progress Report: The second report on progress to date regarding goals set in the 2015 OneNYC plan.
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2018
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April 2018
OneNYC 2018 Progress Report: The third report on progress to date regarding goals set in the 2015 OneNYC plan.
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2019
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April 2019
Mayor de Blasio announces OneNYC 2050, a new strategic plan for the city. The plan, which states that New York City will be carbon neutral by 2050, is published alongside the OneNYC 2019 Progress Report.
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About NYLCVEF
The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (NYLCVEF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and engaging New Yorkers on our state’s most pressing environmental issues, including climate change, pollution and public health, and natural resource protection.