Addressing Climate Change Is Key to Our Customers’ Future

As New York State’s electric utility, NYPA embraces its historic mission to support the reliable, affordable and secure flow of electricity to its customers while buttressing economic prosperity in the state. Today, the energy landscape is changing. Low-cost, reliable power must be resilient in response to market disruptions—the most daunting of which is climate change. NYPA is committed to leading decarbonization in New York State to ensure long-term stability and affordability for our customers.

A 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that the world needs to commit immediately to a path limiting global temperature rise to 1.5° Celsius by 2040 or risk long-term catastrophic environmental and social implications. In July 2019, New York State responded to this challenge by adopting the most ambitious clean energy targets in the country with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). This legislation calls for the state’s electricity system to fully decarbonize by 2040, with a carbon-neutral economy realized by 2050. Through the CLCPA, New York State’s path to 2050 will put us on track to decarbonize more rapidly than the IPCC’s 1.5°C pathway.

Decarbonizing electricity generation is an important first step, but meeting CLCPA targets also requires aggressive decarbonization across all other elements of our economy, including transportation and buildings. The electric system must be reinforced and modernized to serve the increased demand brought about by electrification, while providing the reliable, low-cost power required to sustain and grow the state’s economy.