Ambitious Plan to Make New York City Leader in ‘Green-Collar’ Jobs

State of the City Commitment Will Grow City’s Green Economy, Train and Position New Yorkers to Benefit from Nearly 400,000 Green-Collar Jobs by 2040

Plan Will Advance $100 Million Climate Innovation Hub at Brooklyn Army Terminal, Create More Than 12,000 Green Economy Apprenticeships by 2040

Climate Collaborative Across Brooklyn Army Terminal, Governors Island, Brooklyn Navy Yard to Deliver 6-Million-Square-Feet for Climate Education, Research, Commercialization, and Training

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO Andrew Kimball, and Mayor’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development (NYCTalent) Executive Director Abby Jo Sigal today announced the release of the Green Economy Action Plan—a first-of-its-kind plan that lays out a roadmap to growing the city’s green economy. The plan invests in jobs and sectors that will help the city combat climate change, and train and position New Yorkers—particularly those from environmentally-disadvantaged communities—to benefit from the nearly 400,000 projected ‘green-collar’ jobs in New York City by 2040.

Critical to this plan is the creation of a new “Climate Innovation Hub” at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which will help grow green technology startups and businesses, and which will be joined together with the Trust for Governors Island and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to create a green economy ecosystem across three campuses that will support 5,000 new permanent jobs, educate and train 2,100 New Yorkers, and generate $55 billion of economic impact. The Green Economy Action Plan delivers on another promise in Mayor Adams’ State of the City address, and builds on his commitment to invest in future-focused industries and create a “Harbor of the Future” with job and innovation hubs along the East River.

“Our city didn’t recover the nearly 1 million jobs we lost during the pandemic and reach a new private-sector job high by looking backward—we did it by building an economy of the future. And we must draw on all our resources to protect our city from the effects of climate change,” said Mayor Adams. “From building resiliency projects and retrofitting apartment buildings, to installing solar panels, EV charging stations, and wind turbines, ‘green-collar’ jobs are already in demand and leading the way. Our Green Economy Action Plan will harness the growth of a new kind of industrial revolution and give New Yorkers the tools they need to build a resilient and prosperous city and thrive in our future-focused economy.”

The Green Economy Action Plan delivers the first forecasting of New York City’s green economy and job growth through 2040. New York City’s green economy will host nearly 400,000 jobs by 2040—up from 133,000 today—as it becomes the anchor of a prosperous, equitable, and just future for New Yorkers, while it simultaneously advances the city’s ambitious goals to reduce the city’s threats due to climate change. The plan identifies key occupations that are essential to growing the green economy and highlights 21 occupations that provide pathways to economic mobility, many of which do not require higher education degrees.

Highlights of the plan include:

• Establishing a Climate Innovation Hub: NYCEDC will invest up to $100 million to develop a Climate Innovation Hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This new space will accelerate commercialization pathways for climate tech startups and other green economy businesses. It will serve 150 startups over 10 years—generating $2.6 billion in economic impact and creating 600 jobs—while providing local workforce training and job placement, particularly for the local Sunset Park community.
• Creating Green Training Facilities in Every Borough: NYCTalent—in partnership with other city agencies, as well as private partners—will develop a workforce training facility in every borough with programming to train New Yorkers for green-collar jobs. The plan will deliver more than 12,000 green economy apprenticeships by 2040 through efforts such as a green building and construction workforce pilot program on Governors Island to train more than 100 people per year for the first two years.
• Activating a Harbor Climate Collaborative: The Brooklyn Navy Yard, NYCEDC, and the Trust for Governors Island are collectively investing $725 million to build a green economy ecosystem across 6-million-square-feet and 72 acres linked by NYC Ferry across New York Harbor. The collaborative will catalyze climate education, research, innovation, commercialization, and workforce development alongside partners from the private and nonprofit sectors. This work will build on a strong foundation of green economy projects such as the 400,000-square-foot New York Climate Exchange, an academic and research consortium anchored by Stony Brook University on Governors Island, and the development of 5-million-square-feet of net-zero manufacturing space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
• Activating Public Sites for Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging: NYCEDC is activating two acres of land near JFK airport to create the largest EV charging facility in the city, with 65 public EV chargers including 12 rapid ones. The facility is currently estimated to charge 1,000 vehicles per year, with potential for growth depending on market demand. The Brooklyn Navy Yard is also installing over 80 EV chargers across its 300-acre campus, including infrastructure for commercial fleet charging and a dedicated public lot for neighboring residents. Together, these investments constitute some of the largest investments in EV infrastructure in outer borough job centers in New York City to date.
• Creating Tax Incentives for Battery Storage: NYCEDC will utilize New York City’s Industrial Development Agency tax incentives to activate 500 Megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity and support other green economy uses. To date, the Industrial Development Agency has induced 200MW of storage capacity that is expected to come online in the coming years and generated nearly $500 million of private sector investment. Unlocking additional storage capacity will ultimately drive a stronger and more efficient renewable energy sector.

Through a Request for Proposal to be released on March 18, 2024, NYCEDC will seek an operator for its new Climate Innovation Hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Potential partners can learn more about the vision for the hub and complete a partner form to register interest.

Climate technology companies are a particularly bright spot within New York City’s green business landscape. As of 2022, the New York City metropolitan area is the third largest climate tech ecosystem in the country with 179 active climate tech companies and venture capital investments, reaching almost $4 billion in 2021. This opportunity is turbocharged by over $2 billion in venture capital funding flowing to New York City’s climate tech sector since 2021, a 400 percent spike over the $500 million in investment from 2018 to 2020; ambitious city and state climate policy targets; and over $500 billion in public funding being made available at the state and federal levels to support the nation’s shift to a green economy.

The Green Economy Action Plan deliver on a key commitment in Mayor Adams’ “PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done” plan, New York’s long-term strategic climate plan. The Green Economy Action Plan also builds on decades-long work led by advocacy environmental groups, including UPROSE, whose Green Resilient Industrial District (GRID) Plan and ‘The GRID 2.0” provide a comprehensive, community-led path to decarbonize Sunset Park and ensure a just transition towards a greener and cleaner future.

In April 2023, the Adams administration, Governors Island, and the State University of New York Stony Brook University unveiled the “New York Climate Exchange,” a transformative vision for a first-in-the-nation climate research, education, and jobs hub on Governors Island that will create thousands of permanent jobs and $1 billion in economic impact for the city. The Exchange will establish a cross-sector consortium of over 45 partner organizations, representing leading universities, businesses, and non-profit organizations, and will develop a state-of-the-art, $700-million, 400,000-square-foot campus dedicated to researching and developing innovative climate solutions that will be scaled across New York City and equip New Yorkers for green-collar jobs of the future.

Sunset Park in South Brooklyn continues to be an emerging hub for climate innovation. In March 2022, Mayor Adams announced an agreement to transform the city owned South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation. The world-class offshore wind hub at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal is projected to support the buildout, management, and interconnection of electricity generation for more than 2 million homes. Last September, NYCEDC launched Pilots at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, a climate innovation pilot program allowing companies to test and scale their technologies in live environments.

About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity, build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city’s future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About Harlem African Burial Ground Initiative
Founded in 2009, the Harlem African Burial Ground Initiative (formerly known as the Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force) is a group of community leaders whose goal is to advocate for and guide remembrance, honoring, and memorialization for the Harlem African Burial Ground. HABGI is led by former District 8 City Council Member and Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Pastor Emerita of Elmendorf Reform Church Rev. Dr. Patricia A. Singletary, former Manhattan Deputy Borough Historian Sharon Wilkins, and former Legislative Advisor and East Harlem resident Melinda Velez. To learn more about the Harlem African Burial Ground Initiative’s advocacy work, please visit HABGI’s Instagram.

About Bridge Philanthropic Consulting/ Harlem Cultural Archives
Bridge Philanthropic Consulting is a Black-owned full-service project management, marketing, and communications firm with extensive consulting experience in the public and non-profit sector, focused on social impact work. Harlem Cultural Archives is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, collecting, and sharing materials documenting Harlem’s remarkable and varied multicultural legacies, including its storied past as well as its continuing contributions to the City and State of New York.