Albany, NY – UUP President Frederick E. Kowal, Ph.D., delivered testimony Nov. 13 urging lawmakers to reduce NYS reliance on non-renewable energy sources and move SUNY toward meeting the mandates of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Kowal testified before a joint hearing by the Assembly standing committees on Higher Education and Environmental Conservation. The hearing examined the environmental footprint of colleges and universities in New York. He discussed how campuses can use state funding to reach better energy efficiency.
“When it comes to combating climate change, half-step measures are worthless,” said Kowal. “SUNY can lead the way to a carbon-free future by aggressively pushing to achieve complete carbon neutrality. We believe this can be done, sooner rather than later.
“SUNY needs to operate as a system to tackle the climate crisis,” he continued. “We cannot solve such a large, complex problem with individual campuses undertaking separate plans.”
*** UUP represents 42,000 academic and professional faculty and retirees. The union representing members at 29 New York state-operated campuses are affiliated with AFT.
