NY Supreme Court Rules the State Must Issue Climate Regulations

Albany, NY —

In a landmark decision issued Friday, October 24, 2025, the New York State Supreme Court-Albany County, ruled that the state is violating its nation-leading climate law and directed the NYS-Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to put forward new regulations to reduce climate emissions by February 6, 2026.

As the court noted, DEC conceded that it has not yet taken the final and most important step required to implement the climate law — issuing regulations to steeply cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades. The deadline under the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to finalize regulations was January 2024.

On March 31, 2025, Citizen Action of New York, PUSH Buffalo, Sierra Club, and WE ACT for Environmental Justice, represented by Earthjustice, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic filed a lawsuit urging the Albany County Supreme Court to order the release of overdue regulations required under the CLCPA. In that law, the New York State Legislature directed the DEC to issue regulations that reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 40% of 1990 levels by 2030 and by 85% of those levels by 2050.

To combat climate change and reduce air pollution, the CLCPA directs the DEC to develop and issue regulations that will reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution across the state. In 2023, DEC started the process of developing draft emission reduction regulations to launch a Cap-and-Invest program intended to reduce New York’s statewide greenhouse gas emissions to meet the CLCPA’s mandates and raise revenue to invest in clean energy and climate mitigation. The state projected that these regulations would also reduce air pollution and have significant health benefits, slashing asthma incidences and emergency room visits across the state, especially in communities that are the most overburdened by pollution.

In late 2023 and throughout 2024, DEC represented to the public that the draft regulations would come out in 2024, and the regulations would be finalized and in effect by 2025. However, in January 2025, DEC abruptly reversed course and announced that the draft regulations would not be released this year and has not provided a date by which they will be released.

“Friday’s decision is a major victory for the climate movement. The decision confirms what we have stated over and over. The Governor must comply with the crystal clear words of the climate law stating that the Department of Environmental Conservation must issue regulations ensuring that New York dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions. We’re encouraged that Judge Schreibman saw through Governor Hochul’s and DEC’s excuses for delay. We hope the administration hears the message and acts rather than continues to stonewall by appealing,” said Bob Cohen, Policy and Research Director, Citizen Action of New York.

“The court confirmed the basic principle that the executive branch cannot unilaterally decide not to comply with the law. New York’s climate commitments in the CLCPA are the law, and the legislature made clear that DEC must implement regulations so we can meet those commitments. It is more important than ever that New York continue to lead on climate, and this important decision holds the state accountable to do just that,” said Rachel Spector, Deputy Managing Attorney at Earthjustice.

“Now more than ever, in the throes of federal attacks on the rule of law and our climate crisis, we need the State to uphold the law and to take fearless action to protect New Yorkers,” said Caroline Chen, Director of Environmental Justice at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. “The Court’s decision here affirms the duty that the New York legislature placed on DEC more than six years ago. We urge DEC to comply with the law — and the Court’s decision — by issuing regulations no later than February 6, 2026. Only then can we proudly call New York the climate champion it claims to be.”

“This ruling is a critical victory for climate accountability in New York. The court has affirmed that the state cannot backtrack on its climate commitments and must honor its legal obligations under the Climate Act,” said Eric Walker, Energy Justice Senior Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “At a time when climate action is under attack, this court order ensures that New York State continues to lead, protect communities from climate pollution, and advance an equitable clean energy economy.”

“Folks are suffering and dying everyday from NYS’s inaction. Of course, we must invest in edgy affordability, we also must invest an urgency for a holistic solution to the Climate Crisis and its direct and residual impacts to frontline communities. Everyday working-class people are not intimidated by the struggle for justice. Likewise, we need our elected to stand firm on the law, the People’s Law.” – Dawn Wells-Clyburn, People United for Sustainable Housing Buffalo.

Todd Ommen, director of the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, added that “The court recognized that the statute is clear and direct, and the state doesn’t even attempt to claim that it has complied.”