Adams, who is running as an independent, has struggled to reach double digits in the polls. His tenure has been fraught with bribery charges<\/a>, though he denied these and they were ultimately dropped at the request of the Trump administration<\/a>. Federal prosecutors are still investigating<\/a> allegations of corruption involving his aides.<\/p>\n Whoever wins the race will have to contend with the Adams administration\u2019s mixed legacy on dealing with the city\u2019s many climate-related pressures. These issues will outlive the next mayor\u2019s term and those of the many that come after him.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the Path to Decarbonization\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2019, former Mayor Bill de Blasio passed Local Law 97<\/a>, which established emissions limits for the city\u2019s large buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than two-thirds<\/a> of citywide emissions come from buildings\u2014and the law encourages owners to increase their property\u2019s energy efficiency, and eventually switch from gas to electric appliances such as induction stoves and heat pumps.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the first big law of its kind that has specific, enforceable pollution limits that drive energy efficiency upgrades, which in turn creates jobs and cuts utility bills on specific buildings,\u201d said Pete Sikora, the climate and inequality campaigns director at New York Communities for Change.<\/p>\n Starting in 2024, the law places increasingly stringent limits on greenhouse gas emissions for city buildings. This past June<\/a>, owners of buildings over 25,000 square feet were required to report their buildings\u2019 2024 emissions. However, the Adams administration has offered them a six-month reprieve<\/a> if they need more time to gather data. The limits placed on their properties are relative to size and occupancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n A study by the Urban Green Council<\/a>, a nonprofit that collects data on city buildings and advocates for building decarbonization, found that only 8 percent of buildings are out of compliance with last year\u2019s limit.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the 2030 and 2035 limits promise to require more drastic changes for owners, as the city races to net-zero emissions for these buildings by 2050. Some worry the cost of these changes will have an outsized impact on co-ops and condominiums owned by less wealthy New Yorkers, highlighting potential equity issues in the law\u2019s implementation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key for Local Law 97 is ensuring that we are making technical and financial assistance available for lower- and middle-income housing such as co-ops and condos,\u201d said Alia Soomro, the deputy director for New York City policy at the New York League of Conservation Voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the mayor in the lead-up to the law\u2019s implementation, Adams is largely responsible for the rulemaking aspect of the law. In his 2023 \u201cGetting 97 Done\u201d plan<\/a>, he expanded the NYC Accelerator<\/a> program, which offers financial incentives and guidance to help building owners comply with the law. The plan also identified state and federal tax credits and incentives that could benefit property owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n But some of Adams\u2019 new rules and policies associated with Local Law 97 have stirred controversy. Last year, Adams announced<\/a> that some of these buildings\u2019 emissions could be offset by investing in the GreenHOUSE fund, which would help affordable housing developments decarbonize.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though environmental groups generally support this, many have taken issue with other ways owners can offset their building\u2019s impact on global warming, such as buying renewable energy certificates<\/a>, which represent electricity generated by a renewable source, to mitigate fines. Some organizations want to place limitations on this.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adams has also added the controversial \u201cgood faith effort\u201d<\/a> provision into the law, which offers property owners a delay in complying with emissions limits and curbs fines if they demonstrate efforts to decarbonize their buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAdams started creating loopholes in the law\u2014using and abusing the regulatory authority that he has under it,\u201d said Sikora, with New York Communities for Change.<\/p>\n Read More<\/strong><\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\tMayor Eric Adams\u2019 Unfulfilled Promise for New York City Parks\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tBy Lauren Dalban<\/p>\n \t<\/a><\/p>\n In response to questions from Inside Climate News, a City Hall spokesperson wrote in an email that the administration was legally compelled to offer renewable energy certificates and an acknowledgement of \u201cgood faith effort\u201d as a pathway for compliance with the law.\u00a0<\/p>\n The spokesperson added that there are limitations to these aspects of the law. For example, building owners who demonstrate a \u201cgood faith effort\u201d are prohibited from purchasing renewable energy certificates to comply with the law. When building owners are allowed to buy these certificates, the funds must be used for a project that will help power the city\u2019s electricity grid with clean energy.<\/p>\n On the other side of decarbonization\u2014renewable energy development\u2014Adams has shown support through his rezoning plan \u201cCity of Yes for Carbon Neutrality,\u201d<\/a> which made it easier to add solar panels to city rooftops, loosened regulations that limited energy efficiency upgrades and made it easier to build small energy-storage systems in residential neighborhoods<\/a>. These efforts drew widespread support from climate activists.\u00a0<\/p>\n Protests have occurred in some areas of the city, including Staten Island<\/a>, over the installation of battery storage in residential neighborhoods due to fire risks, with even the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin weighing in<\/a>. Currently, these zoning changes remain in effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adams on Environmental Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n Around 44 percent of the city\u2019s census districts are home to environmental justice communities, according to the mayor\u2019s office<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n These residents face disproportionate amounts of pollution in their neighborhoods\u2014often due to historic disinvestment. Power plants, waste transfer stations and last-mile warehouses\u2014facilities that take in goods from trucks from across the country and sort them before they are transported to their final destinations\u2014are concentrated in these areas.<\/p>\n As a result, these communities experience disproportionate amounts of truck traffic<\/a> in their neighborhoods and the air quality is often worse compared to the rest of the city. Low-income residents and people of color are more likely to live in these areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2022, Adams consolidated<\/a> multiple city agencies under the umbrella of the new Mayor\u2019s Office for Climate and Environmental Justice, which aims to address environmental justice issues and promote sustainability and environmental remediation of city sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two years later, the Environmental Justice Advisory Board, established under former mayor Bill de Blasio, released<\/a> the first-ever Environmental Justice NYC report, a study of the city\u2019s environmental inequalities.<\/p>\n Lonnie Portis, the director of policy and legislative affairs at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, which is based in West Harlem, said that Adams had sound policies to address environmental justice issues, but that they often relied too heavily on federal funding, which can be withdrawn at any time.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, grants from the Biden administration<\/a> provided much of the funding for electric school buses, as well as state funding. Most of the current buses are diesel-powered vehicles, which can lead to significant pollution and health impacts for young children<\/a>, particularly for those with asthma. The asthma rates in neighborhoods with more truck traffic, such as some areas of the Bronx, are higher<\/a> than in other parts of the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to City Hall, the city\u2019s school bus vendors have been awarded $174 million for 533 electric school buses through the EPA\u2019s Clean School Bus Grant and Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles programs and New York State Energy Research and Development Agency\u2019s Bus Incentive Program. As of August 2025, the city has 68 electric school buses in operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n But future federal funding opportunities may not materialize as the Trump administration scales back funding for electric vehicles<\/a>. These types of grants can have a particularly positive impact on environmental justice communities, which often suffer from poor air quality in their neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some stormwater flooding prevention programs undertaken under Adams also rely on federal funding, such as the cloudburst hubs<\/a>\u2014cloudbursts are short, extreme rainfall events that happen more often due to climate change. These \u201chubs,\u201d which are often located in environmental justice neighborhoods, use underground water basins, rain gardens and other tools to absorb and hold water during a storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n It can also prevent water from overwhelming the sewer systems, which can lead to sewage overflows into the city\u2019s waterways, as Inside Climate News reported last year<\/a>. This program relies on funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which President Trump has gutted and threatened to dismantle completely<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The specific FEMA initiative slated to fund the cloudburst program, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities<\/a>, was cut in April<\/a> of this year. The future of those funds is now uncertain<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUsually what we\u2019re finding\u2026 is that when there\u2019s no funding for that thing that\u2019s related to climate or environmental justice, it just no longer becomes a priority,\u201d said Portis. \u201cSo it kind of falls by the wayside, and no one seems to really want to do much, if anything, about it.\u201d<\/p>\n WE ACT has also focused on the issue of extreme heat for vulnerable New Yorkers, particularly those living in hotter neighborhoods due to limited access to green space<\/a>. The organization has advocated for a citywide policy that would require landlords to provide a way to cool tenant apartments and homes when it gets too hot.<\/p>\n Portis and his organization were excited to see this policy included in Adams\u2019 \u201cPlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done,\u201d<\/a> which promised to address the issue by 2030. Adams has also emphasized<\/a> the importance of cooling centers, which provide refuge for residents who don\u2019t have air conditioning\u2014especially elderly New Yorkers.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\n However, environmental justice neighborhoods continue to experience high levels of air pollution from truck traffic. Air pollution can have more severe health impacts on days of extreme heat due to the added stress on the body to keep cool.<\/p>\n Adams has been trying to address the truck traffic through micro-hubs<\/a>, where truck operators transfer their deliveries to smaller electric cargo bikes or electric vans\u2014and eventually through \u201cblue highways,\u201d<\/a> which would enable more of the city\u2019s freight to be moved via barge.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the city relies heavily on truck freight to keep it moving\u2014and a future of electric trucks is still far away<\/a>.<\/p>\n The next mayor will also have to decide how to institute the citywide curbside composting<\/a> program, which became mandatory under Adams. This year, the city began to fine people for not separating their food scraps from the rest of their garbage. In April, Adams stopped enforcing the composting mandate through fines, though his deputy mayor stressed that it was still \u201cmandatory.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A Piecemeal Plan for the City<\/strong><\/p>\n To Tyler Taba, the director of resilience at the Waterfront Alliance, the Adams administration has notched some small victories, but has lacked the comprehensive vision for the city and its waterfront that he had been hoping for.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite small wins, including the expansion of greenways<\/a> in the city, which offer residents more access to the waterfront and green spaces, Taba argues that more could have been done to understand and address the multi-pronged climate issues the city faces\u2014such as stormwater flooding, coastal flooding and extreme heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n A 2021 law<\/a> required the city to create the Five Borough Climate Adaptation Plan to address the problems. The outcome, AdaptNYC<\/a>, is an online platform that brings together existing models for the city\u2019s climate future and often already-proposed mitigation strategies. Taba feels it fell short of its goals, especially in developing new strategies to mitigate the impact of issues such as flooding in specific neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think what we want to see is a much more proactive [approach],\u201d said Taba. \u201cThe city laying out the foundation for\u2014here\u2019s where we\u2019re going to make investments, here\u2019s the timeline, and here\u2019s the way we\u2019re going to engage communities to make sure that the plans are tailored to the needs of each community.\u201d<\/p>\n The city does engage community members through Adams\u2019 project \u201cClimate Strong Communities,\u201d<\/a> though both Portis and Taba feel it\u2019s not enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to City Hall, the program is working to determine which climate projects would best serve these communities, including heat mitigation projects, such as green roofs and street trees. It then pairs those projects with available funding opportunities and existing work.<\/p>\n The Adams administration continues to focus on attempting to reduce stormwater flooding in neighborhoods\u2014even if it is done piecemeal, as Inside Climate News reported<\/a> last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under Adams, city agencies have undertaken a variety of projects across the five boroughs to mitigate stormwater flooding through the use of green infrastructure, such as street trees, plant beds and green roofs, and gray infrastructure, including expanding the sewer system<\/a> in some areas and large underground basins<\/a> that can hold in rainwater to avoid overwhelming the sewer system. According to City Hall, the administration has spent over $1.5 billion on these initiatives.<\/p>\n The issue of protecting the city against coastal flooding has been a joint project<\/a> between the city, state and federal governments. Work has already begun<\/a> on protecting the east portion of lower Manhattan using floodwalls.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFrom day one, the Adams administration has put forward bold strategies and solutions to address the impacts of climate change and reduce the city\u2019s carbon footprint\u2014and will continue to do so,\u201d a spokesperson for City Hall wrote in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.<\/p>\n Thank you,<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1491563476-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
A pipe provides natural gas to an apartment building in Queens, New York City. Credit: Lindsey Nicholson\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_5956-330x220.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Rooftop](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2182311598-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
Rooftop solar panels are installed on a brownstone in Manhattan. Credit: Deb Cohn-Orbach\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lastmilewarehouse-1024x913.png\"\/)
<\/a>The EJNYC Mapping Tool<\/a> shows the location of last-mile warehouses across the city. These are facilities that take in goods from trucks from across the country and sort them before they are transported to their final destinations. Credit: Mayor\u2019s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice<\/p>\n![\"Environmental](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ejneighborhood-1024x913.png\"\/)
<\/a>Environmental justice communities often experience a disproportionate amount of pollution in their neighborhoods, especially when it comes to truck traffic. Credit: Mayor\u2019s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1749105175.jpg\"\/)
People walk along the High Line, an old rail line that was converted to an elevated park and greenway in Manhattan. Credit: Sergi Reboredo\/VW Pics\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Lauren-Dalban-300x300.jpg\"\/)
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