Maya Wiley for Mayor
Maya Wiley for Mayor
Maya Wiley for Mayor
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MAYA WILEY ROLLS OUT ‘COMMUNITY FIRST CLIMATE ACTION PLAN’ TO MEET THE MOMENT AND HOLISTICALLY ADDRESS CITY’S CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES

Wiley’s Plan Will Create Citywide Green Future Force Program And Office of Transport And Public Space Management To Ensure New Yorkers Are At The Center Of A New Era Of Climate Resiliency, Green Space Expansion, And Record Investment In Infrastructure and Sustainability

Brooklyn, NY – Today, Maya Wiley released her Community First Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive plan to ensure that New York has the right roadmap to rectify the environmental injustices of today and invest in the sustainable and community-centered future of tomorrow. Developed in conjunction with climate and environmental justice leaders, and through impacted communities as part of the campaign’s People’s Assembly process, Wiley’s vast plan will address environmental injustices faced by communities of color, invest in green jobs and infrastructure, and ensure her administration centers their approach to climate resiliency around communities across the city. As Mayor, Wiley will look to tackle climate change with the intersectional approach needed to bring about real change, and focus her efforts on working with inter-agency coalitions, community groups, activists, and business leaders to ensure that all New Yorkers are protected from climate change and will benefit from our changing environment and economy.

“New Yorkers know we are at risk. Rising sea levels and environmental injustices pose extreme danger to our city. We also know that the fight for climate justice is intertwined with the struggles for economic and racial justice. It is no coincidence that Asthma Alley in Mott Haven is near the warehouses and highways, where residents are 21 more times likely to get asthma from pollution than other New Yorkers,” said Maya Wiley. “As Mayor, I plan to address the challenges we face with the scope they each need, and my vision to fight against climate change is no different. I stand alongside advocates and activists and oversee record investment in addressing environmental inequity and injustice, sustainability and green infrastructure, and climate resiliency.”

Wiley’s Community First Climate Action Plan acknowledges that New York City can achieve and surpass its ambitious commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels. Wiley’s Administration will expand the powerful mitigation and adaptation initiatives already in progress, and create visionary new programs that will reshape the day-to-day experience of living in our City. These include launching a city-wide program called, The Green Future Force that will put New Yorkers to work on sustainability and resiliency projects, expanded opportunities for renewable energy production and ownership across the City, and the creation of an Office of Public Space Management, which will give our streets back to New Yorkers by reallocating road space to walking, cycling, and community gatherings, reimagining the very structure of our city.

Specifically, Wiley’s climate plan will:

  • Invest in climate infrastructure development and resiliency planning processes that improve quality of life by:
    • Tackling air and water pollution by dramatically increasing the amount of both green space and open space, and aggressively enforcing the City’s existing local laws that protect against air pollution and lead contamination;
    • Launching a city-wide Green Future Force, in partnership with existing workforce development and training programs;
    • Redesigning green economic development so that it not only generates green jobs and high-quality career pathways, but also creates wealth and community ownership for individuals, families and communities;
    • Creating a new Office of Public Space Management, tasked with permanently reallocating road space to walking, cycling, community gathering, and green urban design projects;
    • Recognizing and strengthening the intersection of care work and climate work, through increased investment in low-carbon, people-centered jobs and infrastructure
  • Develop equitable adaptation measures for both social and built infrastructure, with a focus on environmental justice communities, which experience disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards, and increased vulnerability to those hazards, and are primarily low-income and communities of color;
  • Pursue ambitious mitigation targets in our building, transportation, and waste sectors, including by matching or surpassing the State mandate for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040;
  • Partner with environmental justice communities, organizations, and other community-based organizations, such as mutual aid groups, throughout our work.

Wiley’s plan pushes for large-scale infrastructural justice and job creation to tackle both COVID-19 and climate change, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs through New Deal New York, partnering with environmental and climate justice groups, and focusing on community health and resilience throughout our plans. A Wiley administration will not only create green jobs and high-quality career pathways, but will also pursue policies and programs that make individuals, families and communities investors and owners of the renewable energy economy, not just consumers and workers.

Wiley’s administration will tackle these challenges – like every other – through partnerships and programs aimed at improving environmental health, using everything from energy policies, infrastructure investments, and zoning and land-use decisions to achieve healthier communities. This means planning with communities and building on local innovations. A full plan can be viewed here.