Metro

Corey Johnson releases plan to fight climate change in NYC

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson unveiled his plan for creating more environmentally friendly Big Apple on Thursday, laying proposals to invest in green infrastructure, mandate textile recycling, increase bike parking and to transform Rikers Island from a jail complex into a renewable energy hub.

“We must take aggressive measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change,” said Johnson. “The science is indisputable. If we don’t make changes now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt global warming, our planet and our city will suffer long-standing and irreversible effects.”

Johnson initially planned to unveil his vision with great fanfare Thursday at Manhattan Community College in front of several hundred people, but the 2021 mayoral candidate nixed the pomp for his second State of the City speech in response to the coronavirus scare.

The speaker called on the city to develop a plan to protect its shorelines from rising sea levels – something he said should have been done much sooner following Superstorm Sandy nearly 8 years ago.

He says the city must cut down on greenhouse gas emissions by making flood-prone neighborhoods like Jamaica, Queens and Canarsie, Brooklyn, more resilient by investing in green roofs and other environmentally friendly infrastructure.

Johnson also wants the Council to consider legislation mandating the city replace its fleet of diesel school buses with a “zero-emission” fleet by 2040.

As New York adapts to a new ban on plastic bags, Johnson has proposed two new key recycling measures. One would mandate that all textiles get recycled so that New Yorkers no longer dispose of them in household trash. Another would expand the city’s organics recycling program so its available to all New Yorkers.

Johnson also wants the city to increase the availability of safe and secure bike parking, including at subway stations, parks and plazas and along street sides, including by utilizing bike corrals.

The speaker also said he will push hard for a pending City Council bill to become law that would convert at least 100 acres of 415-acre Rikers Island into a renewable energy complex — where solar panels and batteries would store power generated — once all inmates living there are relocated to four new jail facilities being built in each borough but Staten Island.

The de Blasio administration is undecided on the plan.

During his first State of the City as speaker last March, Johnson promoted his vision for improving the city’s mass transit system. This included breaking up the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority and transferring city trains and buses to a mayoral-run agency called “Big Apple Transit” — or BAT.