"The law required a state agency to issue major regulations more than a year and a half ago, and it had no excuse not to, the court found."
"New York is violating its climate law — and doesn’t get a pass because implementing the law is “complicated,” a judge found Friday.
The 2019 law, which remains one of the most ambitious in the country, gave the state Department of Environmental Conservation until the start of 2024 to issue regulations that would “ensure” New York meets its binding greenhouse gas emissions targets. More than a year and half later, it has not — a fact that Ulster County Supreme Court Judge Julian Schreibman said was “undisputed” in the case.
Schreibman gave the DEC until Feb. 6 to issue regulations that comply with the law, called the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
“While DEC notes that it has taken other, commendable regulatory steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it candidly concedes that the impact of those regulations would fall far short” of the targets set out in the law, which requires the state cut emissions 40% from 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2050, Schreibman wrote."
Colin Kinniburgh reports for New York Focus October 29, 2025.
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