Climate change promises to reshape the city, yet there was no mention of it at the first official Democratic mayoral debate. Still, it looms over the candidates.

With affordability, public safety and housing taking center stage, climate change so far has been left out as a top issue, beyond a few dedicated mayoral forums and endorsements from local environmental groups. Some candidates have proposed new ideas, like community-level resilience hubs, and some have said they want to double-down on work already happening, such as expanding the urban canopy.

Whoever is mayor next year will face considerable challenges in a city poised to face worsened flooding and longer heat waves that threaten property, health and lives. The mayor must continue rebuilding from past storms like Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Ida while preparing the city for whatever may come next. They must contend with rampant inequality that leaves many of the city’s poorest residents the most vulnerable to climate change effects. And they can no longer rely on the certainty of federal funding, given President Donald Trump’s promises to cut it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg showcased the sweeping influence a mayor can have in 2007 when he released an ambitious citywide sustainability agenda known as PlaNYC. Mayors since have updated the plan as they continue unfinished business, move toward legally obligated carbon-reduction targets and establish their own green goals. 

The mayor can throw their weight behind public policies, direct budget dollars towards specific investments and capital projects, and convene agencies to advance all sorts of green projects — including funding lush parks, planning for disasters, making buildings more energy-efficient, deploying electric vehicle chargers, installing rain-absorbing measures to prevent flooding and using the city’s purchasing power to spur market solutions.

“When you have a vision — and you can bring all the agencies together around this vision and move together with climate and equity right in the center of all the planning and the implementation — there’s a lot of power there as the mayor of New York City,” said Victoria Cerullo, who formerly advanced sustainability agendas under Bloomberg and Mayor Eric Adams. “There’s also a power in demonstrating how this can be done that sets a model for other cities as well.”

Four of the leading Democratic contenders — Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, former Comptroller Scott Stringer and Sen. Zellnor Myrie — have released policy proposals specifically related to climate and sustainability. 

Lander’s climate plan to “future-proof New York” includes scaling up solar installations across the city while creating jobs, deploying battery storage, upgrading parks, planting trees, expanding beach and pool access and electrifying buses, among several other actions.

“It’s time to get ready for the climate crisis, and you have to do it when the sun is shining, not just when the flash flood is hitting,” Lander said in April.

Mamdani’s policy plan, Green Schools for a Healthier New York, proposes renovating 500 public schools with rooftop solar and HVAC upgrades, building 500 green schoolyards and making 50 schools into resilience hubs where locals can get help or shelter during emergencies.

“Whether we’re talking about oysters or we’re talking about bioswales there are a lot of ways that our city can wake up to the reality of the climate crisis as opposed to pretending to be shocked every few years when it actually occurs,” Mamdani said in March.

Stringer’s five-point GREEN NYC plan, which lays out actions to combat deadly extreme heat, hunger and asthma at the community level, focusing on workforce development opportunities and creating neighborhood hubs for emergencies, food access and healthcare, among other aspects. 

”We have to get to a lot of the proposed resiliency projects that are on the drawing boards now,”  Stringer said in May. “The first priority I would do as mayor is come up with an emergency management plan and resiliency plan that would be aligned, not just for our economy, but also for the safety of New Yorkers.”

Myrie, as part of his Black Agenda, emphasizes investing in flooding solutions and sewer upgrades in specific flood-prone communities and expanding job training in industries related to clean energy and climate resilience. Myrie has criticized “every level of government” for falling short of addressing the climate crisis.

In public events and statements, some of the other candidates have weighed in on their climate plans. Most of them said they want to allocate more funding to the Parks Department, invest in flood protection and protect wetlands.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams denounced cuts to FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that could hurt New York City.

“This is where those boxing gloves come on to fight Donald Trump and to fight this istration that is creating so much destruction and chaos,” she said.

Former Assemblymember Michael Blake proposed ending “outdated tax exemptions” — pointing to Madison Square Garden — and redirecting the money to fund climate infrastructure.

Climate Champion or ‘Criminal’? 

Some environmental groups have thrown their weight behind contenders to help guide climate-concerned voters at the ballot box. 

The New York League of Conservation Voters in May endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Lander as its top two picks for mayor.

“Cuomo and Lander really rose above the rest because they really delivered — not just talked about it, but they really delivered on climate change and the environment,” said Julie Tighe, president of NYLCV. 

She pointed to Cuomo’s investments in clean air, clean water and parks and his 2019 g of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires the state to reduce planet-warming emissions and shift away from fossil fuels, touching on nearly every sector of the economy.

Tighe also praised Lander for pushing through bills to ban plastic bags and restrict styrofoam use during his time in City Council, and divesting pension funds from fossil fuels as Comptroller.

But NYLCV’s choices were not without controversy. On the same day the group made its endorsement, over a dozen progressive, climate and transit advocacy groups — including the New York Working Families Party, Food and Water Action and the Sunrise Movement — gathered in McGolrick Park in Greenpoint to criticize Cuomo’s record and denounce him as a “climate criminal.” 

“The hard-won climate progress in New York didn’t come from Albany — it came from us, the people. It did not come from Andrew Cuomo. It came from years, brutal years, of organizing by families, tenants and frontline communities,” said Adèrínsolà Babawale, an activist with No North Brooklyn Pipeline, which opposes fossil fuel expansion. “Andrew Cuomo signed climate laws because we forced him to, not because he cared, not because he led every step of the way.”

The Sunrise Movement’s local and national chapters both endorsed Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and the Working Families Party ranked Mamdani first, with Lander following.

In a statement, Cuomo spokesperson Esther Jensen touted the former governor’s track record of creating “more than 150,000 clean energy jobs” and g the CLA into law.

“While his opponents make empty promises, it’s Cuomo who has the track record of real results and actually delivered,” she said.

Cuomo’s platform does not include extensive policies related to climate change, though his campaign website mentions improving the curbside composting program. Diverting food scraps and yard waste from landfills avoids methane emissions.

2030 on the Horizon 

One looming policy that the mayor next year could influence is Local Law 97, the citywide law signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio that limits how much carbon large buildings can spew and fines property owners that don’t comply. Buildings are the city’s top source of greenhouse gas emissions, and owners must make physical changes to their buildings to comply with the law’s stricter limits in 2030 and 2050, sometimes at high upfront costs. 

In May, Cuomo met with leaders of the co-ops and condo buildings, including the President’s Co-op and Condo Council, a group that sued the city to block the law from taking effect (the lawsuit was dismissed). The group has warned their buildings will face financial ruin if they must invest in upgrades to comply with the law or pay the fines for noncompliance. A spokesperson for Cuomo said he’d “work with state and local stakeholders to solve this issue without compromising our climate goal,” but did not give specifics.

Nearly all candidates have noted that the city should provide more financial and technical assistance to property owners looking to comply. Only one, former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, indicated the law should be suspended.

Lander said the city should better leverage existing tax credits and funding mechanisms to help owners. He also advocated for limiting renewable energy credits — which property owners can purchase to green projects and comply with the law without making physical changes to their properties — to 30%. 

Stringer proposed doing away with allowing owners to buy renewable energy credits entirely.

Whatever the next mayor decides, other cities will take notice, according to Kate Johnson, regional director for North America at C40, a network of almost 100 mayors around the world focused on confronting the climate crisis.

“New York was one of the very first cities to really tackle greenhouse gas emissions and energy use in existing buildings. For many of our cities, it’s the number one source of climate pollution the cities have control over,” Johnson said. “New York City was a leader in that: to build the capacity and show other cities how to move forward.”