By Green Energy Times Staff

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo made a series of announcements soon after President Trump’s announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Accord. The first of these was that he had signed an executive order to commit New York to uphold the standards set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement. Then he announced that New York, California, and Washington had created the U. S. Climate Alliance, a group of states committed to back the Paris Accord.

He then announced the Clean Climate Careers initiative, under which the state would invest up to $1.5 billion in major renewable energy projects, expand energy efficiency, and put solar installations on public buildings. The initiative includes a goal to produce an additional 2.5 million megawatt hours of electricity each year. This is the largest clean energy procurement in the history of the United States.

In a partnership with the ILR School’s Worker Institute at Cornell University, and Climate Jobs, NY, the Clean Climate Careers initiative will have the following goals:

1. Investing in clean technology and speeding renewable energy development – The investments will enable meeting New York’s Clean Energy Standard target of 50% renewable electricity by 2030 and set the state up to double its solar power capacity, from the current 800 megawatts to 1,600 megawatts, by the end of 2018.

2. Producing clean climate careers – The investment in renewable energy will create approximately 40,000 jobs in clean technology and provide funding to train that workforce. These are lifetime careers that pay well.

3. Advancing environmental justice – The program will include an Environmental Justice and Transition Working Group, which will develop programs and policies to help historically underserved communities and those leaving carbon-intensive careers to prepare for a cleaner and greener future.