What Zohran Mamdani’s Climate Initiative Means for New York

Calder Wysong ’27

With the recent mayoral election of Zohran Mamdani, I’ve found myself wondering more and more about what the future holds for the city’s climate action plan. And, for the most part, it seems as if there’s going to be more benefits to climate policy post-election than before. Zohran Mamdani seems, as a mayor, to be taking a much greater focus on climate policies through a complete revitalization of the way that the city’s dealt with the crisis until now. He’s promised a progressive system more founded on a basis of putting the climate crisis first. And, maybe, with some of these policies in place, students and New Yorkers alike can begin making better steps towards improving the current issues surrounding the climate.

One of the first things to note about Mamdani is that his intent isn’t just to make the city more green-affordable. In fact, he wants to take these policies to the extent of not just being viable for the climate, but also viable for a number of economic aspirations as well. During his campaign, Mamdani had an incredibly strong focus on affordable infrastructure–and his green economy plan reflects a preservation of that focus very well. According to the Green Economy Coalition, “At the center of his platform is a proposal to retrofit 500 public schools with rooftop solar, modern HVAC systems, and green spaces.” While this is obviously incredibly ambitious, it’s very feasible and focuses more on making the policy of climate action a more holistic vision. Moreover, Mamdani has promised that fifty of these schools will be designated as “resilience hubs,” providing shelter during climate disasters such as heatwaves or floods. Therefore, it seems that Mamdani’s plan isn’t just functioning to provide better conditions to foster greener spaces, but also providing the necessary implementations to guarantee that. In the case of these disasters occurring, students and citizens alike can be led to safety. Moreover, there’s a significant economic benefit to all these policies, with Mamdani himself estimating that this plan will produce up to 15,000 jobs.

However, there’s another key factor that Mamdani’s plan takes into account in regards to a potentially wider scope–the power grid. As of 2023, about three-fifths of the state’s power grid consisted entirely of gas-powered plants, and provided 46% of the state’s net electricity production, twice as much energy as any other fuel source. This demonstrates an inherent reliance on fossil fuels that Mamdani intends to change within the city. According to the Coalition, he’s recently backed the Build Public Renewables Act, an act that ensures a review of the city to assess whether or not we’re on track to reach 70% renewable energy by 2030, and 100% renewable energy by 2040. Moreover, he’s campaigned very strongly against the implementation of non-renewable power plants. One key instance of this was his Peaker plants are power plants prioritized to be used only when energy demand reaches a peak within a localized area. Consequently, they’re typically decades old, with poor infrastructure–and, by proxy, poor energy efficiency. Therefore, this campaign was integral to getting the plant shut down, even significantly prior to his campaign in 2021, according to Earth Justice.

Mamdani’s climate campaign has proven to have garnered the attention of many supporters, and rightfully so. Even during his campaign, he was heavily supported by the youth-led Sunrise Movement, a prolific climate activism organization within the city. The group even went so far as to knock on more than 20,000 doors in support for Mamdani during his campaign season. For many, his policies are effectively paving the road for a new “green economic populism”–something that could rally climate advocates even without the general banner of a fully climate-based system of policy. And, really, this is one of the factors that led to Mamdani’s campaign having so much success. Without making his policies strictly tied to environmental justice, they lost a generalized label of…As a result, left more doors open for flexible policies that could create new benefits out of renewable energy. Benefits that won’t just prioritize the insurance of our climate’s health, but benefits that will also ensure our safety as well. And, really, that’s the ideal. As Mamdani himself put it in an April interview with The Nation, “Climate and quality of life are not two separate concerns… They are, in fact, one in the same.” If that’s the case, then it seems even more plausible that all of us can contribute to the development of climate policies within the city. So, as students, I propose the question–why don’t we try and contribute in any way we can?