Our Environment

New York City faces significant challenges in making our air cleaner and our coastal areas secure from rising sea levels.

Mott Haven, in the Bronx, has an asthma hospitalization rate that is five times the national average. And the City’s vast coastal area makes New York one of the most susceptible cities in the world to climate change. We’ve already seen the impact that Hurricane Sandy had throughout the City during and after the storm hit. In fact, Andrew’s son was born during Sandy—a nerve-racking moment for the Yangs as it was for all New Yorkers.

A Yang administration will focus on efforts both big and small. We need to scale up Community Retrofit NYC so low-income communities see the benefit of more efficient buildings. We’re also going to paint streets brighter colors and expand the CoolRoofs program to lower the city’s temperature. And we’re going to require window screens so people don’t have to choose between letting fresh air in and keeping bugs out.

And a Yang administration will work tirelessly to implement larger initiatives for a more sustainable city. We will reduce carbon emissions by fully electrifying the City’s vehicle fleet by 2035 - 5 years before it is currently scheduled. We will pursue updating the zoning in manufacturing districts, especially low-income neighborhoods like Bushwick and Brownsville, to allow for safe commercial urban agriculture.

And we’ll focus on keeping people safe by working with families and communities who want to move out of flood zones, but may not have the means to do so.

Environmental justice must be part of our planning across the city - for transit, for development, for housing, and for so much more. Reacting to climate change will need to be top of mind in everything we do.