New York’s Climate Superfund Act

New York’s 2024 Climate Change Superfund Act establishes a climate change adaptation cost recovery program to require companies that have contributed significantly to the buildup of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to bear a share of the costs of needed infrastructure investments to adapt to climate change. The law seeks to recover $75 billion from major oil and gas companies over the next 25 years, in $3 billion annual installments. Eligible “adaptive infrastructure projects” including, but are not limited to, the restoration of stormwater drainage and sewage treatment systems, upgrades to transit systems, roads and bridges, the installation of green spaces to mitigate city heat islands and even medical coverage and preventative health programs for illnesses and injuries induced by climate change. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is tasked with identifying and dispersing funds to the projects that the law will cover.