The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) has released a Climate Action Plan outlining how the entity will enforce greenhouse gas emissions reductions in new and existing buildings and infrastructure in the area. The plan was authored in partnership with Buro Happold, an international sustainability consultancy, and outlines key targets for Battery Park City properties.
“Our Climate Action Plan outlines how Battery Park City can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, an ambitious goal that will be supported by practical tactics,” said BPCA president and CEO B.J. Jones. “While sustainability has always been an integral part of our mission, this plan goes a step further, outlining everyday actions for us, residents, businesses, and the neighborhood at large.
In May 2019, the BPCA board passed a Sustainability Resolution that committed the neighborhood to carbon neutrality by 2050. This resolution set the impetus for developing the BPC Sustainability Plan, which was released in 2020, initiating the next generation of the group’s environmental efforts.
Today, key targets of the Climate Action Plan include obtaining 100 percent of the neighborhood’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2040. By 2050, the BPCA aims to achieve large-scale reductions in fossil fuel reliance, the amount of waste sent to and delivered from landfills, and baseline energy emissions, in addition to an expanded availability of electric vehicle charging stations and associated infrastructure.
“While plans like this one will no doubt need to be reviewed and augmented as the years go by, the BPCA should be commended for committing to take decisive action now toward meeting our targets under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and for helping to demonstrate that New Yorkers are serious about curbing the rapid destruction of our planet’s health and habitability that the climate crisis is causing,” said State Senator Brian Kavanagh, who represents Battery Park City.
Acknowledging that such radical changes to infrastructure and behavior cannot be achieved immediately, the Climate Action Plan also provides incremental plans for implementation, with the first set of targets set to be achieved by 2030.
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It’s a start, but why take until 2050?
Neutrality in 28 years? Not nearly enough! Commit now to the technically feasible + achievable Zero Carbon pathway
Not into this whatsoever. Nor is China or India.
100% electricity from renewable sources… 100%. From where? Are they are building a wind farm or solar farm dedicated to this particular neighborhood? Never going to happen.
Agreed.