How NYCEDS' Climate Strategy Prioritises Green Energy (2025)

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has an ambitious vision aimed at cementing the city’s status as a leader in climate innovation.

NYCEDC’s Impact report underscores the city’s ambition to become a global capital of climate innovation.

It shows how NYCEDC demonstrates its commitment to environmental progress while simultaneously fostering job creation and enhancing urban resilience.

Driving a green economy

In February 2024, NYCEDC, together with Mayor Eric Adams, kicked off the Green Economy Action Plan (GEAP).

The GEAP seeks to expand sectors that combat climate change, diversifying the economy and preparing New Yorkers for about 400,000 green-collar job opportunities projected by 2040.

A key feature of the GEAP is the establishment of the Green Economy Advisory Council.

This council comprises a variety of industry stakeholders who provide guidance on the NYCEDC’s commitments, ensuring that these initiatives are both impactful and equitable.

“The sheer scale of milestones reached in the year since announcing the Green Economy Action Plan speaks volumes to the Adams Administration's priority to establishing New York City as a global hub for sustainable innovation,” saysAndrew Kimball, NYCEDC President & CEO.

“From the creation of the Climate Innovation Hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT), to the groundbreaking of the nation's largest dedicated offshore wind port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT), NYCEDC is driving the city's green transformation while ensuring that this massive economic opportunity benefits all New Yorkers.”

BAT, backed by a US$100m investment, is set to become a cutting-edge facility fostering clean tech innovation and manufacturing in Sunset Park.

This state-of-the-art hub will provide business development, incubation and research opportunities within a 4m ft²campus.

Building on the success of the Climate Innovation Pilot Program, which has already enabled companies to test and develop climate-focused technologies in a live environment, the hub aims to accelerate the adoption of climate technology in New York City.

The facility will feature advanced labs and offer business development services for climate innovation companies, as well as implement a workforce training program focused on green jobs.

One company, Enertiv, is already using the site’s infrastructure to deliver granular insights into electricity usage — proving the value of live demonstration spaces for sustainable innovation.To further support low-carbon infrastructure, NYCEDC launched the NYC Mass Timber Studio in 2024.

This technical assistance programme helps developers use mass timber, a renewable, low-emission material, across active construction projects.

Complementing this, NYCEDC published Clean and Circular: Design and Construction Guidelines, a new resource to help reduce waste and embodied carbon across the built environment.

Resilient infrastructure and transportation

Central to NYCEDC’s objectives is the electrification of the city, demonstrated through projects like New York City’s largest public EV charging stationnear JFK Airport.

Developed by Wildflower, this facility is set to offer 65 EV charging stations, facilitating more than 1,000 vehicle charges annually and potentially reducing CO₂ emissions by an impressive 78,000 metric tonnes by 2040.

Further environmental efforts include the transition of Hunts Point into a zero-emission logistics hub with a new EV charging depot, underscoring the city’s move towards decarbonising its logistics sector.

This is in tandem with the broader NYCEDC initiative focusing on climate resilience projects, such as the Battery Coastal Resilience project — a US$200m scheme designed to safeguard Lower Manhattan from sea-level rise and flooding.

Similar to the BCRP, a new flood wall at Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem is also helping to safeguard essential services during extreme weather events.

Transforming economies

With substantial private investments exceeding US$1bn from companies like Equinor, the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal is being developed into a premier offshore wind port capable of producing 810MW of clean energy, sufficient to power 500,000 homes.

This is set to create more than 1,000 construction jobs, significantly contributing to the local economy.

Across the harbour, the transformative efforts continue with more than US$164m in federal funding secured in 2024, paving the way for a future port that is all-electric, mixed-use and serves the community.

This vision is supported by the Harbor Climate Collaborative, a strategic alliance involving NYCEDC, The Brooklyn Navy Yard and The Trust for Governors Island, with a mutual investment of US$725m aimed at producing innovative climate research and training facilities, thus generating an estimated US$55bn in long-term economic impact.

NYC's climate future

“Being part of the Founder Fellowship gave us opportunities to engage more like-minded civic leaders, who are actively working to build more equitable cities,” says Tiasia O’Brien, President and CEO of Co:census.

Tiasia reflects on NYCEDC’s commitment to ensure that the transition to a green economy is inclusive and community-focused.

This extends to the financial tools NYCEDC uses to drive equity.

Through the NYC Catalyst Fund, more than half of the US$40m impact investment pool has now been deployed — including a milestone investment in the Open Opportunity Fund.

“Open Opportunity Fund’s work to invest in Black and Latino tech founders exemplifies the positive social and financial impact the NYC Catalyst Fund was created to support,” says Adolfo Carrión Jr, Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce.

“Congratulations to Open Opportunity Fund on their selection for this investment and to the NYCEDC team for reaching this exciting milestone of deploying over half of the US$40 million NYC Catalyst Fund.”

NYCEDC’s 2024 efforts position New York not only as a hub of green job creation but as a city redefining urban sustainability through bold, interconnected strategies.

With public and private sectors aligned and innovation at the core, NYC is well on its way to becoming a global capital of climate innovation.

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