NYC’s Green New Deal: Moving Toward A Fair and Just City
January 28, 2020
An estimated two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2030 and that number is expected to leap to more than 70 percent by 2050. Given this rapid urbanization, cities must address quality-of-life issues to safeguard the future of their people.
Since taking office on January 1, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been committed to ensuring economic growth is inclusive and equitable in New York City. Then on Earth Day 2019, he released NYC’s Green New Deal.
Also known as OneNYC 2050, this strategic roadmap includes plans to grow and diversify the City’s economy to create opportunity for all, safeguard the American dream, and address the racial income inequality gap.
Among the goals: providing good-paying jobs with a $15/hour minimum wage, expanding benefits such as paid time off and paid sick leave, and preparing New Yorkers for these jobs through educational and training opportunities. The City has also created programs to help minority- and women-owned business enterprises flourish.
At the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, we work to connect both international and NYC-based businesses to the vast resources, support systems, and incentives the City provides to help businesses get started and grow. And we see this work as a natural extension of upholding the values and principles of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted at the United Nations in 2015.
The economy of the future will be global, and it must be diverse and inclusive. By ensuring that our economic growth strategy reflects these tenets, we are moving closer to our ideal of creating a fair and just city for all New Yorkers.
Penny Abeywardena is New York City's Commissioner for International Affairs. As head of the Mayor's Office for International Affairs, she leads the City's global platform for promoting its goals for a more just and accessible society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers and sharing policies and best practices with cities and states around the world.
