Today Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act into law, making New York the second state in the nation to require fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damages. The law will raise $75 billion over 25 years from the oil and gas companies most responsible for the climate crisis, funding vital climate adaptation and resilience projects across the state.

The passage marks a major escalation in state-level climate action as the incoming Trump administration threatens to roll back federal environmental protections. Similar bills have already been introduced in Massachusetts, California, and Maryland, while lawmakers in states like Minnesota and Oregon are actively developing their own legislation following New York’s model.

“Big Oil is making a killing off climate disaster — but now, in New York they’ll be on the hook for their damages. New York State is on the leading edge of polluter pays legislation, redirecting corporate profits into public coffers, and investing in the climate resiliency efforts we need to survive worsening climate chaos,” said Food & Water Watch Senior New York Organizer Eric Weltman. “With the support of our powerful grassroots climate movement, New York will now finally hold Big Oil corporations financially accountable for the climate damages they knowingly wrought. As New York leads, so the nation must follow.”

The law comes as New York faces mounting climate costs, with taxpayers hit by $2.2 billion in climate-related damages in 2023 alone. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has reassured families the law’s structure ensures costs cannot be passed on to consumers.

”The Climate Superfund Act is now law, and New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world: the companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable,” said Senator Liz Krueger, lead sponsor of the legislation. “Too often over the last decade, courts have dismissed lawsuits against the oil and gas industry by saying that the issue of climate culpability should be decided by legislatures. Well, the Legislature of the State of New York – the 10th largest economy in the world – has accepted the invitation, and I hope we have made ourselves very clear: the world’s largest climate polluters bear a unique responsibility for creating the climate crisis, and they must pay their fair share to help regular New Yorkers deal with the consequences. And there’s no question that those consequences are here, and they are serious,” Krueger continued. “Repairing from and preparing for extreme weather caused by climate change will cost more than half a trillion dollars statewide by 2050. That’s over $65,000 per household, and that’s on top of the disruption, injury, and death that the climate crisis is causing in every corner of our state. The Climate Change Superfund Act is a critical piece of affordability legislation that will deliver billions of dollars every year to ease the burden on regular New Yorkers.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said: “We refuse to let the entire burden of climate change fall on the backs of our taxpayers while Big Oil reaps record profits at the expense of our future. The Climate Change Superfund Act is a groundbreaking victory for accountability, fairness, and environmental justice. By ensuring the fossil fuel industry pays for some of the damages it has caused, we’re addressing the staggering costs of climate adaptation and setting a precedent for the nation to follow. This law is a testament to New York’s leadership in tackling the climate crisis head-on, and I am proud to have helped lead this battle every step of the way.”

Bill McKibben, environmentalist and founder of Third Act said, “This is a huge moment. The earth’s tenth-largest economy is standing up to some of the earth’s biggest corporations, on behalf of its beleaguered citizens. The balance of power between the fossil fuel juggernaut that began with that New Yorker John Rockefeller and an overheating world is shifting, and ever-faster!”

Lee Wasserman, Director, Rockefeller Family Fund said,”Governor Hochul and New York’s legislature just launched the nation into a new era of hard-headed climate policy—one that commits to protecting citizens, their homes, and critical infrastructure from rolling climate disasters, and makes climate polluters pay their fair share for the damage they have caused—instead of forcing New York taxpayers to carry the entire financial burden. Nothing could be fairer than making climate polluters pay rather than the oil companies’ current business model that socializes New Yorkers’ pain and privatizes shareholders’ historic financial gains.”

Cassidy DiPaola, Communications Director at Fossil Free Media said, “This victory belongs to every New Yorker who refused to let Big Oil dodge responsibility any longer. This is more than a single state’s victory – it’s the beginning of a national reckoning. For fifty years, oil companies buried their scientists’ warnings and bankrolled climate denial. Now, they’ll pay $3 billion every year to help New Yorkers survive the climate chaos they created. As Trump threatens to gut federal climate action and disaster funding, states aren’t waiting around – they’re making Big Oil pay their fair share. New York just opened the floodgates, and we’re already hearing from legislators in a dozen states ready to follow suit.”

“The governor’s approval of the Climate Change Superfund Act is a welcome holiday gift for New York taxpayers. Until her approval, New York taxpayers were 100% on the financial hook for climate costs. Now Big Oil will pay for much of the damages that they helped cause. As a result, New Yorkers will have their future tax burden reduced by $3 billion annually,” said Blair Horner, Executive Director of NYPIRG.  “This legislation is also designed to ensure that the oil industry will protect consumers from Climate Superfund costs being passed along. It’s a win for taxpayers and consumers. NYPIRG applauds the action by Governor Hochul, Senator Krueger, Assemblymember Dinowitz, and the other legislative supporters for making this innovative proposal become law.”