Every year on Earth Day, people around the world show their appreciation of our planet and pledge their commitment to protecting it. Here in NYC, there are events at every scale – from composting demonstrations to announcements of citywide sustainability plans. Mayor Bill de Blasio took the opportunity to announce his plan for ‘A Strong and Just City’, called OneNYC. Mayor de Blasio was elected on a platform of equality across the city – uniting what he called the ‘two New Yorks’ – and this plan shows his commitment to that vision.
OneNYC builds on the success of former Mayor Bloomberg’s sustainability plan, PlaNYC, but expands the focus to citywide equality. By including issues like education and affordable housing, Mayor de Blasio has reaffirmed his commitment to equity in New York City, while also setting ambitious goals to meet climate change challenges.
Some of the major goals outlined in OneNYC consist of:
- Helping 800,000 New Yorkers move above the poverty line by 2025;
- Zero waste sent to landfills by 2030; and
- An 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.
Another goal of OneNYC is for NYC to have the cleanest air quality of any big city in the U.S. This goal builds on the significant success of NYC Clean Heat, which has reduced over 50 percent of soot pollution from buildings and has helped over 4,000 buildings convert to cleaner heating fuels. EDF partnered with the City to implement this program.
PlaNYC laid a strong foundation for OneNYC by identifying big issues facing New Yorkers and collecting enormous amounts of data to inform policy decisions. Its rigorous analysis has helped us understand more about these issues in NYC than ever before. PlaNYC was a huge achievement, and gave New York City the reputation for being one of the most sustainably-minded cities in the world.
We have high hopes OneNYC will continue to build on these successes, and go even further. Linking sustainability with equitability and poverty alleviation is one of the central challenges our society faces today, and Mayor de Blasio is tackling this issue head on. OneNYC shows the direction in which the city is heading, and EDF is thrilled to work with the City and Mayor de Blasio to make these goals a reality.
Photo source: Flickr/Kevin Case