What Is the CLCPA? New York’s Climate Law and the 35% Rule

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, known as the CLCPA, is New York’s 2019 climate law that commits the state to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a renewable and eventually zero-emission electricity grid, and a legal guarantee that a large share of clean-energy spending flows to disadvantaged communities. Signed on July 18, 2019 and codified as Chapter 106 of the Laws of 2019, it is one of the most ambitious state climate statutes in the country and reaches almost every sector of the economy.¹

What the Law Requires

The CLCPA sets two kinds of hard deadlines: one for emissions across the whole economy, and one specifically for the electricity grid.

On emissions, Article 75 of the Environmental Conservation Law caps statewide greenhouse gas pollution, measured in carbon dioxide equivalents. By 2030, total emissions cannot exceed 60 percent of estimated 1990 levels, a 40 percent cut. By 2050, the ceiling drops to 15 percent of 1990 levels, an 85 percent cut.² These limits cover transportation, buildings, industry, agriculture, and electricity generation.

The law also contemplates net-zero emissions across all sectors by 2050. The gap between the 85 percent direct cut and net zero can be closed through qualifying offset projects, but offsets cannot account for more than 15 percent of the 1990 baseline, must offset at least as much pollution as the source emits, and should be located in the same county and within 25 linear miles of the source “to the extent practicable.”³ Agricultural emissions from livestock are excluded from the enforceable limits, though the state’s planning document still addresses the sector.

On the electricity grid, Public Service Law Section 66-p sets two milestones. By 2030, at least 70 percent of statewide electricity must come from renewable sources like wind, solar, and hydropower. By 2040, the entire electrical system must be zero-emission.⁴ The 2040 target is broader than the renewable mandate because it includes any technology that does not produce greenhouse gases during operation, which can mean nuclear power or green hydrogen alongside wind and solar.

The Public Service Commission oversees the grid transition and has a built-in safety valve. After a hearing, it can modify utility obligations or even the targets themselves if the program threatens service reliability, impairs existing obligations, or causes a significant increase in customer arrears or disconnections.⁵ The statute itself does not impose specific penalties on utilities that miss the targets; enforcement runs through regulatory oversight and program design rather than fines.

Layered on top of the statutory targets are capacity-specific goals adopted through planning: at least 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035, 6,000 megawatts of distributed solar by 2025, and an energy storage target that the Public Service Commission raised to 6,000 megawatts by 2030.⁶

Who Writes the Rules

Setting a target is not the same as hitting one. The CLCPA assigns that work to two bodies.

The Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for turning the emissions caps into enforceable rules. Section 75-0109 required DEC to adopt regulations within four years of the law’s effective date, after consulting with the Climate Action Council, environmental justice groups, regulated businesses, labor unions, and the public. Those regulations must include legally binding emission limits or performance standards for significant sources, such as gasoline and diesel vehicles and oil- or gas-burning furnaces, and must be designed to minimize costs and maximize total benefits. Compliance activities cannot cause a net increase in co-pollutants or disproportionately burden disadvantaged communities, and DEC must prioritize cuts in those communities rather than relying on statewide averages.³

The Climate Action Council is the 22-member body the CLCPA created to design the overall strategy. Twelve seats belong to state agency heads or their designees, including the commissioners of transportation, health, environmental conservation, labor, and agriculture, plus the chairs of the Public Service Commission, NYSERDA, the New York Power Authority, and the Long Island Power Authority. The remaining ten are appointed by the Governor and legislative leaders, and all non-agency members must have expertise in areas like environmental justice, labor, public health, or regulated industries.⁷

The Council’s central product was a Scoping Plan, adopted in late 2022, that lays out recommended policy changes, technology deployments, and regulatory actions across every major sector.⁸ The plan is not advisory window-dressing. DEC’s regulations must “reflect, in substantial part, the findings of the scoping plan,” giving the document real regulatory weight.³ Updates require a supermajority Council vote.

The 35 Percent Rule for Disadvantaged Communities

One of the CLCPA’s defining features is a legal floor on where clean-energy money goes. Section 75-0117 requires state agencies, authorities, and entities to direct their clean energy and energy efficiency spending so that disadvantaged communities receive at least 35 percent of overall program benefits. The aspirational target is 40 percent. The rule covers housing, workforce development, pollution reduction, low-income energy assistance, transportation, and economic development, and it does not apply retroactively to funds that were already contracted or committed when the provision took effect.⁹

Who counts as a disadvantaged community is decided by the Climate Justice Working Group, created under Section 75-0111, which includes environmental justice and frontline-community representatives. The Group built criteria from environmental burdens, public-health indicators, and socioeconomic factors, then applied them at the census-tract level. A parallel individual component covers low-income households, so benefits reaching those households count toward the targets even outside designated tracts.¹⁰

The law also pushes beyond averages into neighborhood-level pollution. Section 75-0115 directed DEC to install community air monitoring in disadvantaged areas with high exposure to toxic and criteria air pollutants, especially near hospitals, schools, and daycare centers, and to use that data to develop targeted community emissions reduction programs.¹¹

Cap-and-Invest

The largest new program flowing from the CLCPA is a cap-and-invest system being designed by DEC and NYSERDA. The state would set a declining annual cap on greenhouse gas pollution, and large emitters and distributors of heating and transportation fuels would have to buy allowances for the emissions tied to their activities.¹²

Governor Hochul has outlined five design principles. At least 30 percent of proceeds would go to consumers through a Consumer Climate Action Account to offset cost increases. Two-thirds would fund clean energy investments, job creation, and economic development. Disadvantaged communities would receive priority investment, and the program would be built so it can eventually link with carbon pricing systems in other states.¹²

The greenhouse gas reporting regulation that underpins the program is final, but the cap-and-invest program itself is still in development. Legislation to repeal Section 75-0109 and effectively end the program has been introduced, which makes cap-and-invest the most politically contested piece of the CLCPA.

Where Things Stand

The state’s own Climate Dashboard offers a candid read on progress. As of late 2023 emissions data, New York had achieved about 34 percent of the progress needed to hit the 2030 greenhouse gas limit. Renewable generation stood at roughly 62 percent of the 2030 target, and the state has acknowledged that missing the 70 percent renewable deadline “may be unavoidable” because of supply chain disruptions, global economic pressures, and geopolitical developments affecting the energy industry.⁶

Progress varies sharply by program. Distributed solar has exceeded its goal, hitting 102 percent of the 2030 installed capacity target. Energy storage sits at 27 percent of the newly doubled 6,000-megawatt goal. Offshore wind, which runs on longer development timelines, had reached only 21 percent of its 2035 target as of the end of 2025. Energy efficiency programs were at 81 percent of the 2025 target, with officials pointing to skilled labor shortages and rising construction costs.⁶ The CLCPA’s framework is in place and some pieces are ahead of schedule, but the hardest deadlines are still ahead.

1
New York State Assembly. New York State Assembly Bill A08429
2
New York State Senate. New York Code ENV Article 75 75-0107 Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Limits
3
New York State Senate. New York Code ENV Article 75 75-0109 Promulgation of Regulations to Achieve Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions
4
New York State Senate. New York Code PBS Article 4 66-P Establishment of a Renewable Energy Program
5
New York State Senate. New York Public Service Law 66-P Establishment of a Renewable Energy Program
6
New York State Climate Act. Climate Dashboard Visualizations
7
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law 75-0103 New York State Climate Action Council
8
New York State Climate Act. Climate Action Council
9
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law 75-0117 Investment of Funds
10
New York State Climate Act. Investments and Benefits Reporting Guidance
11
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law ENV 75-0115
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New York Cap-and-Invest. New York Cap-and-Invest