Planning for Sustainability in New York City


Publication:
Date: 
November 9, 2009
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is both a local challenge and a global imperative, says Rohit Aggarwala, the director of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability for New York City. Nate Berg caught up with Aggarwala to talk about his office's sustainability plans and the possible dangers posed by federal intervention.

New York City is America's most iconic metropolis. It's the biggest, the most famous and in many ways the most exciting. Beyond the glitz, New York is also exciting because it is instituting some very forward thinking programs and policies like the city's long-term sustainability plan, PlaNYC. New York's leadership on environmental sustainability has been a model for the nation.

Rohit Aggarwala is one of the reasons why. As director of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability for the office of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he was recently invited to speak on a panel at Opportunity Green, a green business conference held at UCLA November 7-8. He offered an update on the two-year-old PlaNYC, a 127-initiative plan to green the city. Two-thirds of those initiatives are either on-time or ahead of schedule, and the city hopes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2030.