Rejoining Paris was easy Here s where the climate fight gets awkward politico.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from politico.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
De Blasio
The de Blasio administration is holding the real estate industry to stricter environmental standards than itself, James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, wrote in a blistering letter to City Hall officials.
“The City of New York is holding private building owners to standards it could never meet, because the city’s commitment is a percentage reduction of emissions across its entire portfolio,” Whelan wrote, “not a hard cap for each building as it imposed on the private sector.”
Whelan addressed the letter to Dan Zarrilli, chief climate policy adviser, and Kate Gouin, acting director of the sustainability office. The scathing words come in response to their stated opposition to a proposal in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget that would let building owners buy renewable energy from solar and wind plants upstate to avoid paying penalties or investing in more expensive sustainability expenditures under the city’s Climate Mobilization Act.
Updated 3:00 PM ET, Tue November 24, 2020
In this December 10, 2019, file photo, former Secretary of State John Kerry attends the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid.
Washington (CNN)President-elect Joe Biden has appointed John Kerry as his special presidential envoy for climate, underscoring his commitment to tackling the global crisis and offering a symbolic rebuke to President Donald Trump s lack of leadership on the issue.
Kerry, who was President Barack Obama s secretary of state, will be a Cabinet-level official in Biden s administration and will sit on the National Security Council. This marks the first time that the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change, reflecting the president-elect s commitment to addressing climate change as an urgent national security issue, the Biden transition team said in a statement on Monday.
In a sign that some members
of Congress intend to hold President Joe Biden accountable
for climate promises he made as a candidate, three lawmakers
on Thursday introduced a bill directing him to declare a
national climate emergency and mobilize every resource
available to halt, reverse, mitigate, and prepare for this
crisis. Scientists and experts are clear,
this is a climate emergency and we need to take action. Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Reps. Earl
Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
joined with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to spearhead the National
Climate Emergency Act of 2021 (pdf) which builds on a
climate emergency resolution demanding a national