Prepare a draft Scoping Plan.

The Climate Action Council (CAC) must develop a scoping plan that will make recommendations on regulatory measures and other state actions that will ensure the attainment of the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits.  The scoping plan will inform the State Energy Planning Board’s adoption of a state energy plan.

On December 30, 2021, the New York State Climate Action Council released the New York State Climate Action Council Draft Scoping Plan. The public comment period for the Draft Scoping Plan closed July 1, 2022. 

Statutory Language: 

ECL §75-0103(11): “ The Climate Action Council  shall on or before two years of the effective date of this article, prepare and approve a Scoping Plan outlining the recommendations for attaining the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits in accordance with the schedule established in section 75-0107 of this article, and for the reduction of emissions beyond eighty-five percent, net zero emissions in all sectors of the economy, which shall inform the state energy planning board's adoption of a state energy plan in accordance with section 6-104 of the energy law. The first state energy plan issued subsequent to completion of the scoping plan required by this section shall incorporate the recommendations of the council.
 

CLCPA §75-0103(13): “The scoping plan shall identify and make recommendations on regulatory measures and other state actions that will ensure the attainment of the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits established pursuant to section 75-0107 of this article. The measures and actions considered in such scoping plan shall at a minimum include: a. Performance-based standards for sources of greenhouse gas emissions, including but not limited to sources in the transportation, building, industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors. b. Measures to reduce emissions from the electricity sector by displacing fossil-fuel fired electricity with renewable electricity or energy efficiency. c. Land-use and transportation planning measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. d. Measures to achieve long-term carbon sequestration and/or promote best management practices in land use, agriculture and forestry. e. Measures to achieve six gigawatts of distributed solar energy capacity installed in the state by two thousand twenty-five, nine gigawatts of offshore wind capacity installed by two thousand thirty-five, a statewide energy efficiency goal of one hundred eighty-five trillion British thermal units energy reduction from the two thousand twenty-five forecast; and three gigawatts of statewide energy storage capacity by two thousand thirty. f. Measures to promote the beneficial electrification of personal and freight transport and other strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. g. Measures to achieve reductions in energy use in existing residential or commercial buildings, including the beneficial electrification of water and space heating in buildings, establishing appliance efficiency standards, strengthening building energy codes, requiring annual building energy benchmarking, disclosing energy efficiency in home sales, and expanding the ability of state facilities to utilize performance contracting. h. Recommendations to aid in the transition of the state workforce and the rapidly emerging clean energy industry. i. Measures to achieve healthy forests that support clean air and water, biodiversity, and sequester carbon. j. Measures to limit the use of chemicals, substances or products that contribute to global climate change when released to the atmosphere, but are not intended for end-use combustion. k. Mechanisms to limit emission leakage as defined in subdivision eleven of section 75-0101 of this article. l. Verifiable, enforceable and voluntary emissions reduction measures.”
 

CLCPA §75-0103(14): “In developing such plan the council shall: a. Consider all relevant information pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions reduction programs in states in the United States Climate Alliance, as well as other states, regions, localities, and nations. 47 b. Evaluate, using the best available economic models, emission estimation techniques and other scientific methods, the total potential costs and potential economic and non-economic benefits of the plan for reducing greenhouse gases, and make such evaluation publicly available. In conducting this evaluation, the council shall quantify: i. The economic and social benefits of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, taking into account the value of carbon, established by the department pursuant to section 75-0113 of this article, any other tools that the council deems useful and pertinent for this analysis, and any environmental, economic and public health co-benefits (such as the reduction of co-pollutants and the diversification of energy sources); 2 and ii. The costs of implementing proposed emissions reduction measures, 4 and the emissions reductions that the council anticipates achieving through these measures. c. Take into account the relative contribution of each source or source category to statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and the potential 8 for adverse effects on small businesses, and recommend a de minimis threshold of greenhouse gas emissions below which emission reduction requirements will not apply. d. Identify measures to maximize reductions of both greenhouse gas emissions and co-pollutants in disadvantaged communities as identified pursuant to section 75-0111 of this article.