Six years ago, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hosted a chaotic press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower to announce the city’s commitment to its version of the Green New Deal.
The mayor, whose term ended in 2022, planned to achieve this through the Climate Mobilization Act, which later passed the city council and aims to cut municipal emissions 85 percent by 2050. Shortly before de Blasio was scheduled to speak, however, Trump Tower employees began blasting music to drown him out. Reporters were forced to shout questions over the vocal stylings of Tony Bennett.
Six months into the second Trump administration and the theatrics surrounding de Blasio’s 2019 announcement seem almost quaint. Although New York’s climate goals remain among the nation’s most ambitious, the city has struggled to fulfill them.
While transportation emissions are down about 10 percent since de Blasio announced the Climate Mobilization Act, those from buildings — which account for roughly 70 percent of the city’s total, due largely ... Read more
