EDF Climate Corps Joins Forces with New York to Help Meet Ambitious Energy Goals

(NEW YORK – May 24, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Climate Corps announced today that it will place 33 EDF Climate Corps fellows throughout New York this summer to help public and private institutions work towards achieving the ambitious energy goals set by Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo. EDF Climate Corps is an innovative fellowship program that embeds trained graduate students into companies, cities, schools and public institutions to accelerate clean energy projects. Over the course of the summer, fellows get clean energy projects on the fast track to accomplishment – simultaneously improving the organization’s bottom line and environmental impact.

 The Mayor’s ambitious 80x50 goals, pledging to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050, and the Governor’s state-level target of receiving half of the state’s power from renewable energy by 2030 have set New York up as a national leader in clean energy policy. To meet these ambitious targets, both the public and private sector need to mobilize to identify and execute broad scale solutions that improve building performance and implementation of distributed energy resources. EDF Climate Corps has deliberately stepped up its presence in the state to provide hands-on support for a variety of building-level projects such as on-site renewable power generation, energy efficiency upgrades, and commercial demand response.
 
“For the first time, we are deploying almost a quarter of our fellows to one strategic location—it’s necessary given the scope of what needs to be accomplished,” said Liz Delaney, Program Director, EDF Climate Corps, “Ultimately, we want to ensure that New York creates lasting solutions and successfully transforms its energy system.”

 “Climate Corps is providing critical boots on the ground that will ultimately help both the public and private sectors accelerate and execute on New York’s clean energy goals,” said Rory Christian, Director, New York Clean Energy at EDF. “The deployment of fellows in multiple sectors will help building owners and operators turn smart energy policy into reality.”

 In addition to working with commercial real estate companies like Shorenstein Properties to green iconic buildings, Climate Corps will have a strong presence in the public sector. 17 fellows will be working with city agencies including Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), NYC Department of Education and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

“Shorenstein Properties is committed to reducing energy in our portfolio and helping New York City work toward its ambitious energy targets,” said Jaxon Love, Sustainability Program Manager at Shorenstein. “Our Climate Corps fellow will help us continue to lead on this issue and help New York move towards a low-carbon future.”

“Since the release of OneNYC, we’ve made great strides on everything from driving down energy emissions in buildings to increasing solar installations citywide,” said Nilda Mesa, Director, NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. “Cutting NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 is a high bar. It will take a continued concerted effort plus a lot of creativity to develop the path to achieve it, across many sectors of the city. EDF is making a major contribution by providing Climate Corps fellows to so many key sectors in the city. Together we can lead the way for other cities and regions in achieving our goals.”

For more information on the Climate Corps 2016 program, including a list of all 100 organizations participating, click here.