Looking at the bright lights of Times Square and listening to the revving vehicles and honking horns in snarled-up New York City, it is tough to associate it with sustainability.
As the most densely populated city in the US, with planes flying into and out from two huge airports carrying countless millions of tourists, the Big Apple appears to be as green as a red apple.
But that is only part of the city’s sustainability story.
Enter NYC’s Economic Development Corporation, whose President and CEO Andrew Kimball spoke at BizClik’s Sustainability LIVE Climate Week NYC in September.
His presentation about New York City’s Harbor of the Future was spellbinding: a tour-de-force of virtual fly-throughs, vision, sensitive regeneration and a significant nod to the past. But more of this later.
Green Economy Action Plan
First, we come to the city’s overarching Green Economy Action Plan, which hangs its hat, coat and entire wardrobe on this statement: “New York City’s green economy will host nearly 400,000 jobs by 2040, becoming the anchor of a prosperous, equitable and just future for New Yorkers.”
The GEAP is a New York-sized vision to reset the economy to give New Yorkers access to the jobs of the future, while contributing to the slowing of climate change and making NYC more resilient to global economic and climate shockwaves.
The vision statement attached to the GEAP says: “New York City has always been a leader in sustainability. Bolstered by ambitious climate policies, the average New York City household emits one-third less carbon than the typical US household.
It adds: “To remain at the vanguard of sustainability and innovation, we must support a broader green transformation, while ensuring that this massive economic opportunity benefits all New Yorkers – especially communities and neighbourhoods that have suffered from historic disparities and environmental injustice.”
What’s the Plan?
In her foreword to the Plan, Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development & Workforce, writes: “No matter the season, New York City is experiencing the impacts of a warming planet.
“It is plain to see that more extreme weather events are hitting the city with greater frequency. This is our reality, and the city of New York is confronting the challenges of climate change unlike any city in the world.”
The Plan outlines NYC’s commitment to 63 actions, identifying a path to:
- Decarbonise buildings and construction
- Develop a renewable energy system
- Enable low-carbon alternatives in the transportation sector
- Catalyse business growth, job creation and innovation in climate technologies
- Ensure an equitable green economy ecosystem.
Maria adds: “The Green Economy Action Plan builds on New York City’s spirit of resilience and the work underway across city government to offer an integrated economic development agenda and talent strategy.
“This call to action will help unlock the full potential of New York City’s economy and human capital in the urgent work of slowing climate change and creating a more equitable and resilient city.”
NYC at the ‘epicentre of the global green transition’
Andrew Kimball is a passionate and articulate advocate for NYC’s potential to lead the green revolution.
In his foreword to the GEAP, written alongside Abby Jo Sigal, Executive Director, NYC Mayor’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development, the pair write: “We are at an unprecedented moment for public and private investment in climate action and are excited to position NYC as the epicentre of this global green transition.
“With this Action Plan, the number of New Yorkers employed in the green economy could more than triple to nearly 400,000, or almost 7% of all jobs and its expected GDP output could nearly triple to US$89bn annually by 2040.”
They say a critical part of this will be the city’s ability to “transition our existing jobs and industries to a climate-conscious future” and position New Yorkers from all economic backgrounds to take advantage of emerging career pathways in the green economy.
It’s a goal! Five big commitments
The GEAP identifies five goals:
1 – Decarbonise Buildings and Construction
Including: launching and applying NYC EDC’s circular construction guidelines; developing a strategic energy master plan; piloting industrial building decarbonisation technology at Brooklyn Navy Yard.
2 – Develop a Renewable Energy System
Including: setting nation-leading targets for offshore wind; expanding 5,000 low-to-medium income homes to install solar; launching and expanding energy supply chain apprenticeships.
3 – Enable Low-Carbon Alternatives in the Transportation Sector
Including: activating public sites for EV charging; electrifying all city school buses; electrifying the Governors Island Ferry.
4 – Catalyse Innovation in Climate Technologies
Including: activating the Harbor Climate Collective; updating outdated land use rules with a City of Yes for carbon neutrality.
5 – Ensure an Equitable Green Economy Ecosystem
Including: cultivating a local offshore wind supply chain; advancing critical coastal resilience projects.
Harbor Climate Collaborative
It is impossible to do justice to the sheer breadth and depth of the GEAP without running a year-long series of articles.
The summary above gives a taste of what is planned, but it would be wrong not to give some attention to one of the signature projects – the redevelopment and regeneration of New York Harbor.
Actions include launching the Harbor Climate Collaborative along the New York Harbor with an investment of US$725m from New York City to catalyse climate education, research, innovation, commercialisation and workforce development alongside partners from the private and nonprofit sectors.
The Harbor Climate Collaborative is coordinating piloting and tenanting opportunities to best serve businesses and entrepreneurs, supporting the creation of 5,000 permanent jobs, educating and training 2,100 students, and generating US$55bn of economic impact.
It includes the development of the Center for Climate Solutions at Governors Island, a global hub that leverages that collective power of education, research, workforce development, policy development and public programming to support global communities in the battle against climate change.
The project will build on an existing community of climate-focused tenants working on Governors Island including the Urban Assembly Harbor School, Billion Oyster Project, Buttermilk Labs and Grow-NYC.
But this is just a small part of the overall vision, as Andrew explains.
Harbor of the Future
In his Sustainability LIVE Climate Week NYC presentation, Andrew outlined the Harbor of the Future vision.
This collection of projects is not a direct part of the GEAP, but has plenty of crossovers in terms of its core sustainability aims.
The plan is to drive job creation from the north shore of Staten Island all the way up to Hunts Point in the Bronx, connecting them by the fast ferry service and a “blue highway”.
Andrew says, instead of trucks driving from New Jersey to bring containers into the five boroughs, a larger percentage would move by barge and get unloaded at waterfront sites for the last mile delivery by e-cargo bike or small electric truck.
Andrew estimates the connected projects could create approximately 53,000 temporary and permanent jobs and close to US$100bn in economic impact.
Those projects include:
- The purchase of 125 acres of waterfront called Brooklyn Marine Terminal
- Developing the nation’s largest offshore wind port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal
- A new 750m sq ft cold storage food distribution centre at Hunts Points, enabling 1,000 trucks to be taken off fossil fuel and paving the way for a plan to move goods by barge from New Jersey and Brooklyn to Hunts Point.
Taken individually, GEAP and Harbor of the Future are big visions: together, they are vast.
However, from setting the bar for scraping the sky with the Empire State Building to leading the world’s economy from Wall Street, NYC has always aimed high.
To read the full story in the magazine, click HERE
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