New York State’s $5 billion Clean Energy Fund aims to both mitigate climate change and lower energy costs for low-income families, many of whom are forced to choose between “heating or eating” in the winter due to high energy costs. The Clean Energy Fund will initiate a design competition to bring down the cost of retrofitting affordable housing in order to make deep reductions in energy use. It will also create mechanisms to help low- and middle-income homeowners pay for retrofits, and provide incentives to landlords and utilities to improve energy efficiency. The Fund also seeks to shift the state’s energy production to 50% renewable sources by 2030.
Climate Protection: Reduces greenhouse gas emissions
Energy & Mobility: Saves energy
Resilience: Protects against extreme weather
Food & Water: Allows low-income families a higher budget for food and other necessities
Jobs & Assets: Creates clean energy and energy efficiency jobs; saves money on energy bills
Health, Well-Being, & Safety: Reduces health problems caused by heat or cold
This post is part of a series on examples of multisolving, or climate-smart policies that simultaneously work to mitigate climate change while providing co-benefits such as the ones described above. The multiple benefits analysis was done using the FLOWER framework.