Until we were confronted with COVID-19, climate change was the existential crisis that many were focused on addressing. As we endure the pandemic and look towards recovery, the climate crisis has continued largely unabated, and without hope for a single solution like a vaccine.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York City are all aiming to hit ambitious climate targets that approach or achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century, requiring an ambitious shift away from the status quo, including a phase down of fossil fuel use for electric power, transportation and heating and cooling. But there is currently no widely-accepted pathway for the states and the City to achieve these goals. Meanwhile, decisions being made today around permitting, siting, subsidies and investments will either put us on a path to success or failure. Complicating it all is the COVID crisis, which has slashed state and local budgets, brought the economy to a near standstill and shifted priorities to only what is essential.

This panel will examine the public health implications of climate change and will discuss novel approaches to decarbonization, each with their own set of policy and political implications, against the backdrop of a global pandemic. What decisions and investments do we need to make today to ensure we hit our climate targets and avoid the worst of the climate crisis? How will a forthcoming recovery help or hinder the implementation of these ideas?

RPA Board Member Peggy Shepard, Executive Director of WE ACT, will be introducing the panel. Peggy will draw on her decades of organizing, advocacy, and participatory research in promoting environmental justice in urban communities to help frame this important discussion in the context of this challenging moment we find ourselves in.

Learn more about the panelists