In Affordability Crunch, New York State Punts on Climate Targets

The legislature rolled back carbon emissions limits because cleaner energy sources are not coming online fast enough.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference in Manhattan on Feb. 20, 2025. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Concerned about rising utility bills in her state, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul successfully got state lawmakers to ease New York’s ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions by 2050.

Hochul said delaying the carbon emission targets is critical to addressing affordability challenges.

“People shouldn’t have to make these choices—they should never have to make these choices—between crushing utility debt and watching their kids shiver on a cold night,” Hochul said at a May 27 press conference to highlight legislative accomplishments.

In 2019, New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which set aggressive goals to reduce carbon emissions to 40 percent of 1990 levels by the year 2030 and produce all electricity emission-free by 2040.

According to a report from New York’s Department of Public Service, in 2025, residential electric bills went up by 4 percent to 7 percent so that utilities could recoup the costs of complying with the 2019 law. For most New Yorkers, that’s about $10 extra per month. For industrial customers, the jump was greater, rising to as much as 12 percent, equivalent to a $15,000 add-on to a monthly bill.

All told, utilities passed on costs of nearly $1.8 billion to consumers in 2024, including gas and electric delivery upgrades in order to comply with the law.

The announcement came late on May 27 after an almost two-month delay in the state budget, which included many of the governor’s policy priorities. Hochul blamed the need to weaken the mandates on the Trump administration’s blocking of wind power projects.

“We will be dealing with a White House outright hostile toward renewable energy for at least another three years, making it impossible for us to meet our targets without imposing higher costs on homeowners, renters, and businesses,” Hochul wrote in a column in Empire Report in March.

The legislation also required the governor to publish regulations for cap-and-invest by 2024. Hochul never did, and when the nonprofit group Earthjustice sued, a judge ruled that Hochul must release the regulations or change the law.

The amendments to the law that were included in the state budget passed on May 27 mean that Hochul now has until 2028 to release the regulations. The amendments also modify the target to cut greenhouse gases, making the goal to reduce emissions to 60 percent of 1990 levels by 2040 and weakening the mandate by adding such wording as “to the maximum extent feasible and cost effective.” The law retains a 2050 target to reduce greenhouse gases by 85 percent.

New York conservation groups criticized the changes.

“By weakening the Climate Law and further delaying cap-and-invest, this budget postpones our affordable clean energy future for an extended ride on the fossil fuel roller coaster that’s choking our air and our wallets,” Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation, said in a statement.

The Business Council of New York State welcomed the slowdown, stating that it “is supportive of the governor’s and the legislatures’ agreed upon amendments.”

“It’s gonna help businesses who are facing a lot of challenging deadlines,” council communications director Patrick Bailey said.