Food & Water Watch and allies are moving to intervene against the Trump administration’s attempt to strike down a key New York climate change law. The New York Climate Change Superfund Act is a new common-sense law that applies the “polluter pays” principle to the climate crisis. The Act requires fossil fuel companies that profit the most from–and bear the most responsibility for–climate change to pay $75 billion over 25 years to fund climate change adaptation in the state.

The New York state legislature acknowledged the consequences of climate change in the text of the Act, calling it a “grave threat to the state’s communities, environment, and economy.” New York has seen the effects of climate change throughout the state. Extreme weather events linked to climate change–like Hurricane Ida in 2021 and Tropical Storm Ophelia in 2023–have become more intense and destructive. Flooding from Hurricane Ida even caused dozens of resident deaths in New York and New Jersey. People across the state have not been spared from climate change-related devastation. Flooding,drought, wildfires, and rising temperatures are wreaking havoc from Long Island and New York City to the Catskills and the shores of the Great Lakes. From 1980-2024, New York State experienced 95 billion-dollar weather or climate-related disaster events. Along with climate change, these disasters will persist and our communities will need to adapt. This Act helps to fund climate adaptation measures by requiring fossil fuel companies to share in the costs.

Food & Water Watch works to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in fueling climate chaos. That’s why we’re committed to joining the fight to defend the Act from the Trump administration’s challenge. We advocated for this law alongside the people of New York, who are experiencing the consequences of the climate crisis and are on the hook for the costs. Those costs will run up to several hundred billion dollars through 2050. It’s imperative for the fossil fuel companies that have contributed the most to the climate crisis to also share in these costs of adaptation. 

Food & Water Watch conducted a successful organizing campaign in 2024 urging New York State Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Act into law. We worked as part of a broad coalition effort including Fridays for Future NYC, a group of student activists advocating for action on climate change, and Third Act Initiative’s NYC and Upstate NY working groups, comprised of people 60 and older committed to a better world for future generations. Now, we’ve reunited with these allies to take on the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn the Act. And our campaign to enact the law is one of the key reasons why we should be allowed into court to defend it: the everyday New Yorkers we worked with to pass the Act are on the front lines of the climate crisis, and the Court needs to hear their stories before deciding whether to uphold it.

This is one of the first state laws to hold the companies driving climate change responsible for sharing in the financial burden of its consequences, taking some of the load off regular New Yorkers. The Act allows New York to raise revenue from fossil fuel companies and use those funds to protect communities from the disastrous effects of the climate crisis.

The New York Climate Change Superfund Act is another tool in the toolbox for advancing corporate accountability and fighting climate change. After our tireless advocacy to make this law a reality in New York, we are committed to protecting it against the Trump administration’s pro-industry anti-climate agenda.

The case is United States of America, et al. v. State of New York, et al. Food & Water Watch, Fridays for Future NYC, and Third Act Initiative are represented by the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic. Food & Water Watch is also represented by its own counsel.