New York’s Gov. Hochul spends $150 million of taxpayer dollars to promote ‘green energy’ in SUNY and CUNY
‘New York is advancing a suite of efforts to achieve an emissions-free economy by 2050, including in the energy, buildings, transportation, and waste sectors,’ Hochul’s office wrote.
Hochul previously announced a $1 billion investment to ‘address the climate crisis,’ which her office described as ‘the single largest climate investment in state history.’
New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the state is investing $150 million to promote environmentalist goals at the State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY).
The funds are being provided through “climate resiliency grants” that are meant to make the two universities “greener, more resilient to severe weather and more energy efficient,” Hochul’s office revealed on Feb. 12.
[RELATED: UNC spring course catalog features ‘Queer LatinX Environmentalisms’]
The $150 million, which is being provided through the Environmental Bond Act, will support projects such as “heat pump technology” at Binghamton University (part of SUNY), “Parking lot solar canopies” at the City College of New York, and a “geoexchange field system” at SUNY Oswego.
“New York is advancing a suite of efforts to achieve an emissions-free economy by 2050, including in the energy, buildings, transportation, and waste sectors,” Hochul’s press release concludes.
This announcement follows an earlier Jan. 14 press release from Hochul’s office that revealed the governor wants to spend more than $1 billion “to address the climate crisis and achieve a more sustainable and affordable future.” The governor’s office called this “the single largest climate investment in state history.”
Several other campuses have already declared their intention to promote a more “green” environmentalist agenda, or are facing such pressure from activists.
[RELATED: Cornell University offering course on ‘Black Ecoliterature’]
Northwestern University, for example, was pressured in November by a group called “Fossil Free Northwestern” to cut off all financial ties to the fossil fuel industry. Despite Northwestern’s mission to “reach our goal of zero net emissions by 2050,” the student activists dismissed the school’s environmentalist commitments as mere “greenwashing.”
In August, 2023, New York University decided to concede to the demands of environmentalist activists, announcing that it will divest from “any company whose primary business is the exploration or extraction of fossil fuels, including all forms of coal, oil, and natural gas.”
Seattle University took a similar move in June, 2023, also divesting entirely from fossil fuels.
Campus Reform has reached out to Gov. Hochul’s office for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
