Pursuant to Local Law 22 of 2008, New York City is required to complete an annual comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory. The City released its first emissions inventory along with PlaNYC on Earth Day 2007. PlaNYC put forth a strategy to reduce the City's greenhouse gas footprint, setting the goals of reducing New York City's citywide carbon emissions by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reducing City government's carbon emissions by 30 percent below fiscal year 2006 levels by 2017. The results of the Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions - April 2007 (in PDF) provide the benchmarks from which these reductions are based.
The City released its third annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory on September 29, 2009. The Inventory of New York City Greenhouse Gas Emissions: September 2009 (in PDF) reports reductions in both citywide and municipal government greenhouse gas emissions levels in 2008. 2008 citywide greenhouse gas emissions were 53.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, decreasing 3.5 percent below 2007 levels despite growth in population and building stock, due to cleaner imported electricity, milder weather, reduced sulfur hexafluoride emissions, and reduced per capita energy consumption. The City is on track to achieve PlaNYC's overarching goal of a 30 percent reduction in citywide greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030. Fiscal year 2008 municipal government greenhouse gas emissions were 3.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, decreasing 2.6 percent below fiscal year 2007 levels due to cleaner imported electricity, reduced solid waste export emissions, reduced energy consumption, and reduced wastewater treatment methane emissions. The inventory shows that the City's goal of a 30 percent reduction in municipal greenhouse gas emissions below fiscal year 2006 levels by 2017 is achievable once the initiatives in the City's Long-Term Plan to Reduce Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Municipal Buildings and Operations are fully implemented.
Annual inventory updates can provide valuable information on emission trends in New York City as well as the impacts that weather, population, infrastructure investments, policy decisions and consumer behavior have on greenhouse gas emission levels. In future inventory updates, the City will continue to analyze and report the effects of the implementation of PlaNYC and City government's Long-Term Plan to Reduce Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Municipal Buildings and Operations.
• Higher temperatures and increased frequency of heat waves
may increase the number of heat-related deaths and the incidence
of heat-related illnesses, particularly among the elderly and
poor.
• Higher temperatures may expand the habitat and infectivity
of disease-carrying insects (mosquitoes and ticks), increasing
the risk to humans.
• As a heavily populated urban area, New York City is particularly
vulnerable to the effects of ground-level ozone, a major precursor
to smog. Ozone is produced when higher temperatures and strong
sunlight react with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (NOx),
worsening air pollution and potentially exacerbating respiratory
illnesses such as asthma.
• New York City has one of the most urbanized coastlines in the United States, thus making it particularly vulnerable to the rises in sea level that are expected to accompany increases in temperature.
• Along much of the New York coast, sea level could rise significantly: estimates range from 11.8-37.5 inches in the 2080s. Such rises in sea level can lead to flooding and complete inundation of low-lying areas, loss of coastal wetlands, erosion of beaches, and saltwater intrusion into lakes and rivers, and will likely increase the vulnerability of coastal areas to storms and other severe weather patterns.
• Flooding could become more frequent and severe as the century
progresses. According to one estimate, the probability of a
“100-year flood” may increase from once in 80 (where it is today)
to once in 43 years by the 2020s and up to once in 19 years
by the 2050s.
• Low-lying and waterfront infrastructure could experience flooding.
• The City's water system could be affected by increased evaporation
of water due to warmer temperatures, which would reduce river
flows and lower lake and reservoir levels, particularly in summer
when demand for water is at its highest.
• Higher temperatures and more violent storms could lead to increased turbidity of reservoirs.
• A warmer climate increases total demand for electricity, because
the increase in demand for summer cooling is expected to outweigh
the decrease in winter warming needs.
• A warmer climate increases total demand for electricity, because
the increase in demand for summer cooling is expected to outweigh
the decrease in winter warming needs.
