New York State is expected to pitch a ban on natural gas in new construction when Gov. Kathy Hochul issues her 2022 budget.
Hochul committed to “zero onsite greenhouse gas emissions for new construction no later than 2027” in her State of the State address in January, Reuters reports, in a dispatch republished by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Now, advocacy groups say a new budget measure is in the offing. Hochul’s office said negotiations with the (famously fractious) state legislature are still in progress.
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The legislation would make the U.S. state the first to ban fossil fuels in new construction, Reuters says. But “in the near term, the new laws will do little to reduce New York’s carbon emissions, as numerous older buildings will not be affected and new structures would use electricity generated by burning fossil fuels anyway.”
