Law Requires Fossil Fuel Companies to Help Pay for Climate Crisis Costs
August 18, 2025
By Ramona du Houx
On Friday, August 15, 2025, the environmental organization Food & Water Watch moved to intervene in the effort by the Trump administration to strike down New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act – a precedent-setting law enacted in 2024 that requires fossil fuel companies to help fund infrastructure upgrades and disaster mitigation projects in the state that are necessitated by the deepening climate crisis driven by these companies’ pollution.
Among the groups joining Food & Water Watch in the intervention effort are Fridays for Future NYC and Third Act Initiative. These groups played a key advocacy role in the successful passage of the law last year.
The New York Climate Change Superfund Act requires the largest fossil fuel companies with a connection to the state to pay $75 billion over 25 years to fund critical climate adaptation projects, shifting a portion of the costs of the climate crisis from New Yorkers to those who bear the greatest responsibility for climate-harming greenhouse gas pollution.
Data show over the last 40 years, the state has endured at least 85 “billion-dollar disasters.” The most substantial was Hurricane Sandy, costing the state around $43 billion.
Back in February 2024, Asm. Anna Kelles, D-Ithaca, a co-sponsor of the bill described how enforcement of the bill would work.
“From technology, we now know that we can directly assess the greenhouse gas emissions that were attributable to each of the major polluters,” Asm. Kelles pointed out. “We can measure that and we can assess a fee based on their relative contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions that we’re seeing.“
The bill became law in June, 2024.
“I joined over 100 other local elected officials from across New York in calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act into law. This common-sense legislation, passed by the state legislature in June, would require the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the climate crisis to pay $75 billion over 25 years into a fund for climate adaptation and mitigation projects,” said Susan Hughes-Smith, Monroe County Legislator.
That letter was authored by the non-profit group Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA).
The Climate Change Superfund Act isn’t just necessary; it’s a lifeline for New York’s working families. By signing it, we can make polluters pay for the damage they’ve caused and provide our communities with the resources we desperately need to adapt to a changing climate,” said William Reinhardt, Albany County Legislature, EOPA New York Leadership Council member. “As a parent and grandparent, I’m acutely aware of what’s at stake. My grandchildren, growing up here in Bethlehem, deserve a future where they don’t bear the crushing costs of climate adaptation. They deserve a New York that leads the nation in climate resilience and environmental justice.”
On May 1 the Trump administration brought separate suits against both New York and Vermont alleging that these states’ Climate Superfund statutes are unconstitutional.
“After years of hard work and tireless advocacy, we made this game-changing climate resilience plan a reality in New York. Finally, the burden of fortifying the state against worsening fossil fuel-driven climate chaos will be shared by the corporations most responsible for creating this crisis,” said Eric Weltman, senior New York organizer at Food & Water Watch. “We are determined to help defend this common-sense law, alongside our fellow advocates and state officials committed to this critical fight.”
“The youth of NYC missed school, protested in the streets, and lobbied in Albany for the Climate Change Superfund Act,” said Helen Mancini of Fridays For Future NYC. “Unlike the fossil fuel industry, our generation had no say in the creation of the climate crisis, yet we are bearing the brunt of the impacts. We fought for the Superfund Act because it establishes a more just model of paying for climate disaster in New York that holds polluters accountable, rather than working people. We will continue to stand behind this law and fight for its implementation; our generation depends on it.”
“As elders, the members of Third Act Initiative are acutely conscious of our responsibility to act, while we still can, to make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren,” said Pat Almonrode, Co-facilitator of Third Act NYC. “We worked very hard to secure the passage of the New York Climate Change Superfund Act because it’s a significant step in fulfilling that very responsibility. We’re proud now to stand with our allies to help defend this important law.”
“Members of Third Act Initiative in upstate New York were instrumental in the broad based, two-year campaign to enact the Climate Change Superfund Act”, said Michael Richardson, Co-facilitator of Third Act Upstate New York. “As taxpayers in municipalities and counties throughout upstate New York, we demanded that those fossil fuel companies most responsible for pollution be held accountable for their role in climate change by contributing a fair share to reduce the heavy burden on our local governments for infrastructure repairs from severe storms and to fund climate adaptation and resilience projects.”
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.