As Trump Assaults Climate Progress on Earth Day, Comptroller Lander Pushes Forward Toward Net Zero

New York, NY—In his weekly briefing on Protecting New York from Donald Trump, coinciding with Earth Day, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander decried threats from the Trump administration to dramatically roll back climate progress and stood with climate activists from New York Communities for Change, 350 NYC, and Fridays for Future to announce new actions by the Comptroller’s Office to reduce New York City’s emissions. 

President Trump already cut funding for climate infrastructure and disaster preparedness, and is reportedly contemplating an Earth Day executive order that would eliminate 501(c)3 nonprofit tax status for climate-related groups. In his briefing, Lander outlined the impacts those cuts will have in New York City. In order to stand strong against federal rollbacks, Comptroller Lander is demanding more from the asset managers who manage funds for the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers Retirement System (TRS), and Board of Education Retirement System (BERS). 

Under the funds’ Net Zero Implementation Plan, adopted when Comptroller Lander took office in 2022, public markets asset managers were already required to submit a Net Zero plan to the Comptroller’s office by June 30, 2025. Today, Comptroller Lander announced the strong standards by which his office will evaluate those plans – and made clear that if asset managers do not submit sufficient plans, he will recommend that the boards put those managers’ investment mandates out to bid.  

“As Trump systematically guts progress on climate, even as we witness hotter temperatures and more disasters each year, cities like New York must push forward,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “We won’t bow to pressure to move away from our commitments to decarbonization. Our new standards demand that the retirement systems’ managers strengthen their Net Zero plans consistent with their fiduciary duty—or we will find new asset managers who will.”  

Trump Threats to Climate 

First, Comptroller Lander laid out the impact of Trump’s cuts to climate policies on the City’s climate preparedness and efforts. Some of those programs include: 

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cancelled the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, including $300 million for critical flood protection in New York City​. 

• Trump halted the construction of an offshore wind farm meant to deliver clean energy to 500,000 homes in New York, jeopardizing New York’s clean energy goals and the future of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal offshore port for manufacturing and operations. 

• DOGE laid off entire staff overseeing the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helped nearly 1.2 million New York residents pay for heating and cooling bills in 2024​. 

• Executive orders declared state-level climate laws, like New York’s Climate Superfund Act, unconstitutional. 

• Federal agencies also systematically removed critical climate data that New York City relies upon to inform climate policies and infrastructure design.  

Comptroller Lander praised state enforcement and environmental groups who have filed lawsuits to defend against Trump’s climate funding cuts, with some early success: 

• Preliminary injunction and motion to enforce court order for Attorneys General lawsuit to unfreeze IIJA and IRA funds for state governments. 

• The Court of Appeals in DC ordered the EPA to release $20 billion of Greenhouse Gas Reduction funds for clean energy investments. 

• Courts ordered 5 federal agencies to unfreeze environmental and infrastructure grants awarded to nonprofits. 

Comptroller Lander also underscored the new potential for the Trump Administration to announce executive orders stripping non-profit tax status from climate non-profits. Over 1,400 environmental nonprofits operate in New York City region, employing roughly 9,000 people. These nonprofits deliver critical work for climate advocacy, parks and open space management, conservation, pollution control, and environmental education. Nonprofits who do not exclusively focus on climate will face pressure to shut down their climate programs in order to maintain 501(c)3 status​. 

Net Zero Update 

In 2022, when Lander took office, he proposed and the three pension fund boards adopted the boldest Net Zero Implementation Plan of any large public pension funds in the country, with the goal of achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040. The plan includes strategies to disclose fossil fuel emissions, strategically engage asset managers and portfolio companies to push for decarbonization, dramatically scale up investments in renewable energy and climate solutions, and divest from companies where other strategies failed to reduce risk. The plans required that public markets asset managers submit net zero plans to the Comptroller’s Office by June 30, 2025. 

Last month, Comptroller Lander announced that the City’s pension systems collectively achieved a 37% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions & surpassed their climate solutions interim goals one year ahead of schedule. 

Today, in a public announcement and a letter sent to the funds’ asset managers, Comptroller Lander set forth the standards by which public markets asset managers’ net zero plans will be evaluated. The minimum asset manager requirements include: 

1. Engage portfolio companies to drive real economy decarbonization, not just portfolio decarbonization ​ 

1. Incorporate material climate change-related risks and opportunities in investment decision-making​ 

1. Ensure a robust and systematic stewardship strategy that addresses prioritization and escalation of engagement and voting to advance decarbonization​. 

Managers should set expectations for all portfolio companies to, at minimum:​ 

1. Measure and report Scopes 1, 2, and material Scope 3 emissions​ 

1. Set clear goals to reach Net Zero by decreasing their scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions ​ 

1. Adopt a clear transition plan to achieve Net Zero detailing how the company will meet its short-, medium- and long-term climate goals ​ 

1. Align future capital expenditures and lobbying with climate goals and targets​ 

1. Consider the impacts from transitioning to a lower-carbon business model on workers and communities ​. 

Comptroller Lander would recommend that the Boards put out to bid the investment mandates of any public markets managers that submit inadequate plans that do not meet the Boards’ standards or do not submit plans at all by the June 30 deadline the Boards set for their managers in 2023. Any bidding process would proceed according to the Public Procurement Board (PPB) rules. In any future procurement, Comptroller Lander’s office will rigorously evaluate managers’ climate and stewardship practices against these standards, as part of their due diligence presented to the Boards.  

Tesla Litigation 

Comptroller Lander also renewed his call for the Adams’ Administration to file securities litigation against Tesla. As the country’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is distracted as he helms DOGE.  

Comptroller Lander continued, “Electric vehicles are a critical part of our energy transition to reduce greenhouse gases in our transportation sector. While Tesla is one of the largest players in the space, the company faces massive challenges because their CEO Elon Musk would rather be best friends-in-chief with Donald Trump and turn the federal government into a chop shop. As in so many other areas, Mayor Adams and his team are slow-walking litigation against Tesla to remain in the good graces of Trump and Musk, rather than doing what’s best for New York City’s retirees.” 

“Comptroller Brad Lander is standing up to Trump by moving money from dirty money managers to cleaner managers. The city’s enormous pension funds, which invest about $300 billion, will put major market pressure on Wall Street to clean up. The city will lead the fight to overcome red state politicians shilling for the oil and gas companies and billionaires in their ‘anti-ESG’ campaign. After oil and gas divestment, this is the major action needed to take on climate change, which hits hardest in our members’ communities. Comptroller Brad Lander is protecting both the pension fund and our planet by standing up to Trump and the right wing. He is delivering for New York. We urge other blue cities and states to join New York City by taking two major actions: first, divesting from oil and gas and second, making their asset managers, such as BlackRock, clean up their dirty acts,” said Olivia Leirer, Co-Executive Director of New York Communities for Change. 

Find out what the Comptroller’s Office is doing to Protect New York at https://comptroller.nyc.gov/services/for-the-public/protecting-nyc/overview/ 

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