Green Economy
Currently, more than 133,000 New Yorkers and businesses in the local green economy contribute more than $24 billion to the city's GDP.
Guided by the City’s Green Economy Action Plan, NYCEDC is building on this momentum and growing green economy industries through initiatives that include infrastructure investments, programs, and policies to deploy renewable energy technologies and accelerate climate innovation. We develop physical infrastructure and implement workforce development, and business growth programs to expand meaningful economic opportunities for New Yorkers, helping to build an inclusive, prosperous, and globally competitive green economy.
NYC’s Green Economy by 2040
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The Green Economy in NYC
The Green Economy Action Plan defines New York City’s green economy as the ecosystem of activities that have emerged since the turn of the century that directly and intentionally advance the City’s climate goals. Spanning eight sectors and 21 subsectors, NYC’s green economy encompasses a diverse ecosystem of workers, businesses, and entities across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. To advance economic growth and economic justice, NYCEDC is advancing the following initiatives.
NYCEDC Projects
Below is an overview of some of the key Green Economy initiatives led by NYCEDC.
- BATWorks climate innovation hub will offer pioneering green economy companies the equipment, facilities, piloting infrastructure, office space, and business growth services they need to rapidly grow and commercialize climate technologies. BATWorks will also house a 30K-SF workforce facility that will train New Yorkers for high-quality green jobs to unlock innovation and generate shared prosperity. Learn more about upcoming BATWorks events at the BATWorks Temp Space and check out updates on programs like Pilots at BAT.
- Mass Timber Studio supports active mass timber development projects in the early phases of project planning and design in New York City. Project focus areas include navigating regulatory frameworks, innovative project delivery, technical feasibility, sustainability and resiliency, and community and equity.
- Circular Construction initiatives such as Circular Design & Construction Guidelines, and year-long pilot of the Circular Construction Reuse Hub at MADE Bush Terminal in Sunset Park help reduce waste and embodied carbon in NYC’s built environment and achieve the city’s decarbonization efforts.
- We Source NYC supports local small- and medium-sized industrial and construction firms to transition and grow their business in the green economy by providing business development services, organizing industry events, and brokering partnerships and connections to potential contracting opportunities.
- Green Economy Advisory Council consists of environmental justice groups, leading community organizations, investors, and industry leaders who will work together to advance a just transition toward a clean energy future and achieve New York City’s ambitious climate goals.
- Gotham Foundry is a new materials innovation hub operated by a consortium between Columbia University, CUNY’s Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), SUNY’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and Genspace. The hub will support the commercialization of the next generation of sustainable materials and make NYC the epicenter of materials innovation. Learn more about NYCEDC’s vision for growing sustainable bioeconomy in NYC.
- Waterfront Pathways Program helps increase opportunities for minority-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises (M/W/DBEs) in the offshore wind and waterfront industries.
- ConstructNYC connects M/W/DBEs with exclusive opportunities to work on NYCEDC projects through contracts of up to $3 million. The program includes Green Training on an annual basis—a 39-hour educational module offered to active participants in ConstructNYC focused on sustainable construction management and buildings.
- The Blue Highways program activates the city’s waterways for local and regional movement of goods—improving quality of life for New Yorkers by reducing air pollution and congestion on our roadways, adding resiliency to the city’s supply chain, and tapping into our roots as a port city.
- South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) is being developed into a world-class offshore wind port facility. The terminal will be utilized for staging and assembly, operations, maintenance, and as an interconnection point to support the development offshore wind projects and general maritime logistics.
- Offshore wind workforce training programs are offered by CUNY Kingsborough Community College KBCC) and funded by NYCEDC. The training at CUNY KBCC provides certification for relevant offshore wind occupations including offshore wind welding training and maritime pathway program with Seafarers International Union (SIU).
The Harbor Climate Collaborative
In addition to driving many key green economy initiatives, NYCEDC is part of the Harbor Climate Collaborative, which is a joint initiative between three mission-aligned public entities with sites along the New York Harbor connected by NYC Ferry—the Trust for Governors Island (TGI), New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC)—to make NYC the global capital of climate innovation.
The Harbor Climate Collaborative is a joint initiative between three mission-aligned public entities along the New York Harbor to serve as the center of a burgeoning climate innovation ecosystem in New York City.
Video Transcript
00:04 [Aerial view of the Statue of Liberty with New York City skyline in the background. Text overlay reads: “New York City’s Harbor Climate Collaborative.”] [Music.]
00:06 New York City has always been a leader in sustainability but we must have an impact on a global scale. The Harbor Climate Collaborative, a marquee initiative in the Green Economy Action Plan, is one path to realizing this vision.
00:18 A $725 million investment from NYCEDC, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the Trust for Governors Island will catalyze climate Innovation, building on the impact piloting, tenanting, and workforce development efforts already underway.
00:35 [Lindsay Greene, President & CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.] The Harbor Climate Collaborative is in many ways you could think of it as economic development at the next level.
00:43 [Andrew Kimball, Former President & CEO, New York City Economic Development Corporation.] Three mission-driven entities that are geographically nearby all connected by fast ferry run by NYCEDC have all pivoted massive former industrial campuses to now being focused on the fight of our time really tackling climate change.
01:02: [Clare Newman, President & CEO, Trust for Governors Island.] The Harbor Climate Collaborative, I think, is really one of a first-of-a-kind partnership between a few City agencies on solutions for our city in response to the climate crisis, whether that's preparing our buildings for storm events, or whether it's thinking about how we can make our city much more sustainable, and doing climate mitigation initiatives through our City assets.
01:24 [Andrew Kimball, Former President & CEO, New York City Economic Development Corporation.] Within the Climate Innovation Hub, the core mission will be incubating and accelerating um climate tech, green tech companies in a supportive ecosystem with technical assistance provision, business growth provision, whether it's the adaptive reuse of those buildings using circular economy construction techniques, or using the buildings themselves to pilot their technologies on.
01:49 [Lindsay Greene, President & CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.] It's in our DNA to keep an eye on what the skills look like in middle-class career Pathways that operate in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, and we're just really trying to say, let's be further intentional about that, and always make sure that we have a way to connect people to those jobs and help them obtain those skills as those sectors involve and get created.
02:10 [Andrew Kimball, Former President & CEO, New York City Economic Development Corporation.] The unique thing is the size and scope of these campuses. You're talking about 600+ acres over 10 million square feet of space where academia is going to mix with business is going to mix with workforce development and opportunity. All of them right up on the waterfront. One of the, really the hallmarks of the Adams administration is the collaboration that happens at the agency level, and the Harbor Climate Collaborative will be a really important manifestation of that, with maybe the most important outcomes, which is fighting climate change. [Music.]
02:49 The Harbor Climate Collaborative will build an industry ecosystem with 5,000 permanent jobs, education and training for more than 2,000 students and $55 billion of economic impact for New York City. [Music.]
03:05 [Aerial view of Lower Manhattan with text: “Learn more at edc.nyc/HCC.” Logos for Brooklyn Navy Yard, Governors Island, and NYCEDC appear at the bottom.] [Music.]
