New York Climate Change Report Card: Improvement Needed for More Effective Leadership and Overall Coordination with
Local Government
Patricia E. Salkin
Climate change has rapidly become a focal point of international environmental policy debate as countries seek to develop and implement strategies to address the critical need to slow the pace of global warming. In the United States, the failure of the federal government to muster the political will necessary to deal with the challenges on a national level has placed the onus on state and local governments to assume a leadership role. As laboratories of innovation, state and local governments continue to experiment with a wide range of policies and initiatives designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote the use of renewable energy, and generally adopt sustainable development goals into plans, strategies, laws, and regulations. This Article takes a critical look at evaluating how New York, one of the largest contributors of carbon emissions, is progressing when it comes to addressing climate change. It examines a multitude of state programs and local-government initiatives and points to missed opportunities, most notably, a critical missing link of coordination among and between state and local levels of government.