As widely expected, yesterday New York State's Climate Action Council approved the Final Scoping Plan required under the State's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.  

Under the CLCPA, the Climate Action Council is required to create a Scoping Plan containing recommendations for achieving the greenhouse gas emissions limits set forth in the Act (40% reduction over 1990 levels by 2030, and 85% by 2050). The Final Scoping Plan approved yesterday meets that requirement, and lays out in stark detail the types of changes to life as we know it that will be required to meet the requirements of the Act.  Just some of the measures called for in the Scoping Plan include:

• Charging higher fees for purchases and registration of gas or diesel powered vehicles (with funds used to incentive purchases of electric vehicles), and eliminating new purchases of light-duty gas and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035, and medium to heavy-duty vehicles by 2040; 
• Establishing a fee to be charged on gas-powered vehicles per vehicle mile traveled; 
• Eliminating natural gas for use in new residential buildings as early as 2025, and for use in new multifamily/commercial use by 2028; 
• Establishing a statewide "cap and invest" program, which caps the total amount of statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and sells the right to emit greenhouse gases at auction; proceeds of the auctions would go towards investments in new technologies and incentives for replacement equipment; 
• Revising land use patterns though incentives and penalties to encourage more dense development and reduce vehicle miles traveled; and
• Enactment of a fee per ton of all waste generated in the State, including both residential and commercial waste generators.

This is just a small taste of what's called for in the 445-page report.  The plan also includes a variety of incentives and funding programs proposed for everything from electric vehicle charging stations to the state's forestry industry.  

While the Scoping Plan took two years to assemble, it may have actually been the easy part of the actions required under the CLCPA.  Now comes the hard part - drafting the required regulations.  The CLCPA only gives the DEC and other agencies one year to enact regulations to implement the recommendations made in the Scoping Plan.  Given the timeframes for passing regulations in New York, we expect to see drafts of those first regulations in the spring.  We'll monitor those proposals and update you on opportunities to comment as they are rolled out in 2023.  In the meantime, the link to the full, 445 page report is provided below (and if you do dare to print it out, remember - lift with your legs).