Report On New York's Climate Superfund Law

As previously reported in earlier forecasts, New York enacted the Climate Change Superfund Act (CCSA) in December 2024, adding ECL Article 76 and establishing a climate-change adaptation cost-recovery program administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). Grounded in a "polluter pays" framework, the CCSA authorizes NYSDEC to issue cost-recovery demands to "responsible parties," generally large fossil-fuel extractors or refiners whose attributed greenhouse gas emissions exceed one billion tons during the covered period, based on statutory emissions-attribution formulas.

Amendments to the CCSA, effective February 28, 2025, expanded the covered period to 2000-2024, revised attribution and administrative review provisions, delayed the timing for demand notices and payments, and extended NYSDEC's deadline to promulgate implementing regulations to mid-2027.