For Immediate Release
Contact: Lisa Thomas, 347-415-6431, lisa@alignny.org
Download photos and full video of today’s press conference or watch the livestream
Download the report
NEW REPORT: ALIGN & Climate Works for All Coalition Release Plan for
Green, Healthy Schools to Create 321,000 Green Jobs and Slash DOE Energy Costs in Half
On eve of new school year, students, teachers, parents, labor, EJ groups rallied for climate action in the classroom
New York, NY – Today, ALIGN and the Climate Works for All coalition released a new report titled Green, Healthy Schools: How NYC Can Lead the Nation with Green Jobs, Quality Education, and Thriving Communities. Among the key findings, the report details how an annual capital investment of $2.2 billion over five years in Green, Healthy Schools can:
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make schools fully electric and fossil fuel-free, install clean solar power, and upgrade heating, cooling, and ventilation systems
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create 321,944 green jobs or 64,388 per year
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cut Department of Education energy costs in half long-term
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deliver clean air and improve learning environments for nearly one million public school students
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make workplaces for more than 150,000 teachers and school workers sustainable
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meet the mandates of Local Law 97 at scale
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start to repair harm of decades of disinvestment by prioritizing schools in environmental justice communities
The labor and environmental justice coalition rallied this morning, on the eve of the new school year, to call for urgent green energy upgrades for NYC public school buildings. Speakers included DC37 Executive Vice President Donald Nesbit, Deputy Public Advocate for Infrastructure & Environmental Justice Kashif Hussain, Deputy Public Advocate for Education & Opportunity Elizabeth Kennedy, ALIGN Executive Director Theodore A. Moore, WE ACT Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs Lonnie Portis, Tom Shepperd, former Bronx Community Education Council representative and parent at New Settlement Parent Action Committee, and high school student organizers, parents, and community advocates.
New York City’s public school buildings are responsible for one third of the city’s building pollution. Among 1,200 buildings, many are more than 75 years old and plagued with mold, leaks, asbestos, poor ventilation, and failing heating and cooling systems, exposing students, workers, and surrounding communities to toxins. Schools in underserved environmental justice communities face the compounded effects of both neglect and climate change, as rising temperatures, flooding, and worsening air quality exacerbate these conditions and create poor learning environments proven to lower student test scores and attendance, and increase disciplinary referrals. Low-income Black and Brown neighborhoods are most affected by deteriorating school buildings — nearly 70% of the schools with the worst ventilation are in environmental justice neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. These areas also have some of the highest rates of child asthma, extreme heat exposure, and are in closer proximity to polluting infrastructure like power plants and highways.
ALIGN and the Climate Works for All coalition have pushed the City to invest in Green, Healthy Schools for years. Following our previous report in 2022, Mayor Adams launched Leading the Charge, a $4 billion plan to electrify 100 schools by 2030 and install all-electric heating systems in any new construction school buildings. Energy efficient LED lighting and electrified boilers and kitchen equipment can reduce emissions by over 120,000 tons annually, but to date, only $2 billion has been committed and $1.2 billion allocated, significantly missing the program targets. Additionally, the City has not published information on the program’s status since the 2022 launch.
As federal climate cuts threaten the future of the planet, New York has a path forward. This new report demonstrates how green school upgrades would be a win for environmental justice and sustainability, and crucially, a path to creating good, green union jobs. Retrofits and solar projects can create more than 321,944 jobs or 64,388 jobs each year, while project Labor Agreements and union workforce development will ensure that these jobs provide long-term, equitable pathways for local residents — especially women, immigrants, and frontline workers. Green, Healthy Schools would also improve working conditions for teachers and school workers, delivering safer, healthier job environments.
Additionally, the Department of Education spends $275 million on energy costs every year. Green, Healthy Schools can cut energy usage in half, saving approximately $137 million annually. Plus, solar installation on schools would cut energy costs to near zero in the aggregate — a savings of about $250 million.
Finally, fixing and upgrading our school infrastructure is one of the most urgent and impactful things NYC can do to improve public health and meet the City’s legal mandates for emissions reduction. By law, NYC must reduce emissions 40% by 2030 and 100% by 2050, while Local Law 99 mandates solar power installation on public buildings. Green, Healthy Schools will help the City achieve both.
“New York City schools produce a third of our city’s building pollution, making them a major contributor to our greenhouse gas emissions and the climate crisis,” said Council Member Sandy Nurse. “Last year, the Council took action through my bill, Local Law 99, to place solar panels on over 700 public buildings, including schools, but there’s more work to do. The Green, Healthy Schools campaign builds on this win and moves us closer to a healthier city for us all.”
“Too many school workers and students are going back to school in buildings that are simply in a state of disrepair: inadequate heating and cooling, poor ventilation, and leaky ceilings. These are unacceptable working and learning conditions. Extreme weather events like flooding and extreme heat are also making these health hazards more frequent and more dangerous. Our City can do better to protect our communities. The Green, Healthy Schools plan will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, cut energy costs, and transform our buildings into safer and healthier environments for all New Yorkers,” said Henry A. Garrido, Executive Director of District Council 37.
“NYC public schools are suffocating our kids, our neighbors, and our teachers. For too long, we’ve neglected these spaces — the institutions that nurture our youngest generations, the places we turn to for community — and they’ve become environments of harm instead of the havens they should be,” said Theodore A. Moore, ALIGN Executive Director. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We can invest in healthy schools for all New York’s children while creating hundreds of thousands of union, family-sustaining careers. We can upgrade schools with clean, green energy and invest in the communities of color most affected by climate change. We can cut our school energy costs in half and build a healthy city for all New Yorkers. Green, Healthy Schools can be the catalyst for a new, green middle class in NYC and transform our public schools into hubs of sustainability, safety, and opportunity.”
“To ensure that our city has a healthy, vibrant future, we must invest today in the health and well-being of our children, and, in particular, in the schools that enable them to grow and develop during their most formative years. The Green, Healthy Schools initiative will fulfill this obligation to future generations by providing a healthy and sustainable learning environment and prioritizing schools in environmental justice communities, where children are already disproportionately exposed to harmful air pollution and other environmental hazards. Plus, it will create good, green union jobs and reduce emissions in these already overburdened communities. We give the Green, Healthy Schools initiative an A+!” said Lonnie J. Portis, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
“Every day in our public school kitchens, Local 372 school lunch workers provide services to not only our children, but also to the surrounding communities throughout the school year, and into the sweltering days of summer. School lunch workers have long worked in hot school kitchens with inadequate air conditioning or ventilation, and are often forced to withstand hazardous temperatures that exceed 130°F, exposing them to potential harm with no remediations. Investing in Green, Healthy Schools is an investment in our city’s future, as our climate warms and extreme weather events proliferate, and will guarantee that workers are protected from illness and injury that can severely and permanently impact their well-being and livelihood,” said Donald Nesbit, Executive Vice President, DC 37 Local 372.
“I attend Beacon High School in Hell’s Kitchen, where our HVAC system takes in toxic fumes from the taxi stand next door. It’s difficult to see my classmates and teachers struggle with headaches, asthma, and nausea because of elevated pollution levels from the idling cars. Getting an education should not mean being disrupted by classroom evacuations, breathing in toxic air, and endangering our health daily. We need Green, Healthy Schools so that kids like me can have a safe and healthy environment to learn, play, and thrive,” said Ava Baranowski, NYC public high school student and Brooklyn Borough Organizer at TREEage.
“NYSNA nurses unequivocally support urgent improvements to our schools’ infrastructure to ensure New York City’s kids, and the teachers and workers who care for them, are healthy and safe. Nurses know that the climate crisis is a public health crisis because we see firsthand that the most vulnerable communities often suffer first and disproportionately from its consequences. We must act boldly to prepare our schools to become models for the kind of future we want for our kids — a sustainable, healthy future where all children have access to a quality education in environmentally just and safe conditions,” said Flandersia Jones, MPH, BSN, RN, Director at Large and Co-Chair of the NYSNA Climate and Environmental Justice Committee, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA).
“This past June, a classroom in my school reached 91 degrees. My peers and I felt sluggish and sleepy which led us to advocate for air conditioning. But this is only a temporary solution, and students deserve to learn why it’s getting too hot in our classrooms. As an aunt, I want my nieces and nephews to have equitable access to quality solutions-based climate education, through which we can achieve green, healthy schools for all,” said Sarah Z., 17, high school senior and member of the National Wildlife Federation’s Climate & Resilience Education Task Force.
“Students who attend New York City public schools deserve safe, clean, well-maintained buildings in which to eat, learn, and grow. They deserve to attend school even on days when the city experiences extreme weather, without danger of flooding or heat-related illness. The provisions outlined by the Green, Healthy Schools report will improve conditions in schools and better prepare them for a future of climate change,” said Clare Johnson, M.S. Ed, BCBA, LBA; Kindergarten teacher and parent to a rising 3K and 2nd grader.
“Jewish Climate Action Network NYC (JCAN) strongly supports the holistic vision laid out in the Green, Healthy Schools report. We need to act without delay to help children learn and communities thrive by making schools fully electric, powering them with rooftop solar and upgrading school buildings’ heating, cooling and ventilation systems. As Washington DC turns its back on children, communities and the climate solutions needed to protect them, we have the moral obligation and ability to stand up and support Green, Healthy Schools,” said Wendy Seligson and Jeff Levy-Lyons, co-directors, Jewish Climate Action Network NYC.
Climate Works for All is a citywide coalition of labor, community, faith, environmental justice, and climate organizations, co-coordinated by ALIGN and NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, that have come together to fight climate change and inequality in NYC by demanding a Just Transition for workers and environmental justice communities. CW4A campaigns aim to move us towards an equitable economy, a resilient, livable and healthy climate, and prioritize justice for low income Black and Brown communities across New York City.
ALIGN (The Alliance for a Greater New York) brings together labor, climate, and community organizations for a more just, sustainable New York. Working at the intersection of economic and climate justice, ALIGN builds coalitions with those most impacted and uplifts worker and community voices to fight for dignity in the workplace and a just path to a renewable energy economy for all.
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