Lia Cairone, Senior Policy Advisor, New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (MOS) is a team of architects, data scientists, engineers, policy advisors, and city planners working to create a city where the air is clean, the streets are green and where New York’s 8.5 million residents produce zero waste and zero carbon.  Guided by the OneNYC plan, 80×50 report, and Executive Order 26, MOS works to minimize NYC’s contributions to climate change from the waste, transportation, energy, and building sectors.

What do you do all day?

It really depends on the day, which is one of the reasons why I love my job. I serve several different functions on the team – analyzing economic and energy data, writing policy proposals, drafting legislation, and project management take up most of my time. I also work with a lot of different stakeholder groups such as internal city agencies, the local electric and gas utilities, labor organizations, environmental advocates, affordable housing groups, and building owners just to name a few. It’s exciting and important work and collaborating with such different people keeps it interesting.

My day to day changes over time as projects arise and priorities shift. Last year I was responsible for the city’s latest climate action plan called “1.5°C: Aligning New York City with the Paris Climate Agreement.” It was a fascinating experience and required coordination of climate action planning across more than 70 NYC agencies such as the Department of Transportation, Sanitation, Health, Parks, and Libraries. In the plan we prioritize and commit to specific climate actions to implement in the next few years that will result in the greatest emissions reductions and that align with the principles of the Paris Climate Agreement.

I’m currently supporting the development of policies and legislation that impact energy use in buildings. As part of this work, we’re planning to undertake a study in partnership with the utilities to understand the investments and policies that need to be in place to meet NYC’s 80 x 50 goals (NYC has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050) as well as the impacts of these transformations on the community.

Another exciting project I’m leading involves partnering with other C40 cities (major cities around the world that have committed to ambitious climate action) to figure out what carbon neutrality would actually look like for a major city and to develop guidance and best practices for achieving net zero emissions at the city level.

In addition to the ambition of the Paris Agreement, one of the most important frameworks guiding our work is the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), the global reporting standard for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions developed jointly by the ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40).  We also support campaigns like the Under 2 MOU (a coalition of governments around the world committed to combating climate change) and We’re Still In (leaders across America committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement).

What are some of the key skills for success in this role?

To be successful on a team like this you have to be a generalist and know a good deal about a lot of things. One particularly helpful skill is to be able to manipulate and analyze data. For example, we use GIS (Geographic Information System) which overlays data spatially onto maps and helps us visualize things like critical infrastructure and social data by community and enables us to build special data models that give us interesting information like spatial demand for heating and cooling, storage, etc.  You also have to be up to date on climate science, GHG accounting methodologies, economics, and finance. I try to learn as much as I can about the technical aspects of building, energy, and transport systems, and about policy benefits and risks such as to affordability, air quality, and health. The environment and climate touches everything, and so you have to be able to understand all of those different interactions. Some softer skills that are important are public speaking (it’s an essential part of what we do), developing strong working relationships with lots of different types of people, working collaboratively, understanding different perspectives, creatively bridging gaps, and managing projects and teams. And being able to juggle a lot.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I love when I get to be inventive and brainstorm with my team and develop (and hopefully implement) creative ideas. I work with really smart and dedicated people and it’s a pleasure to think big and strategically about how we can actually accelerate our progress and make sure we are impactful in meeting our goals. Often we are very focused on driving forward a particular project or initiative but stepping back and thinking big is the best.

What is the hardest part of your job?

Knowing the scale of both the problem and the solution and understanding that we have very little time to get everything implemented. My hope is to quickly get to a place where climate change and climate action are on everyone’s priority list so we can roll up our sleeves and get to work transforming our built environment to meet our needs for wellness, safety, and survival.

What are the game changers in your world?

One of the things we’re really excited about is air source heat pumps. They’re highly efficient air conditioners that can both heat and cool spaces. They run on electricity instead of natural gas or fuel oil, and that means that buildings that convert to heat pumps can use renewable power for heating and cooling. It’s game changing because even if we were able to source 100% of our electricity from renewables, we still would not be able to achieve our 80 x 50 goal if we don’t move away from fossil fuel use for heating and cooling. In fact, fossil fuels used for heating and hot water production (natural gas and fuel oil) are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in NYC today, significantly higher than emissions from transportation or electricity use.

Air source heat pumps are super-efficient because they don’t use electric resistance like a space heater that produces heat from electricity; they take ambient heat or ambient cold from the air and transfer it from outside to inside with roughly 300% efficiency. The first models weren’t great for cold climates, but the technology has been improving. We’re working with manufacturers to try to develop a market for them here.

What was your path to this role?

My undergraduate degree was in business at NYU Stern, it was a great start. It was a good intro to understanding how the world really works and my early career was focused on entrepreneurship and media and tech in the private sector. It wasn’t directly related to what I do now, but it helped me develop a lot of useful transferrable skills. Once I realized how deeply I cared about this space, I started spending a lot of time volunteering for various advocacy organizations. I got involved with the United Nations system and gained a lot of experience with gender equity and sustainability issues. I was the Chair of the United Nations Association Women advocacy group and ran a UN sustainable development campaign for the mission of Palau, all as a volunteer. I then decided it was time to pursue my Masters in Policy at Columbia focused on energy and climate change. All the volunteer work I did gave me great insight into what I was getting myself into, I definitely recommend volunteering to anyone interested in getting started in this space. Anyone can take action to make an impact, and learn and meet people along the way.

What’s your advice to someone interested in a role like this?

Learn everything you can and start getting involved. You don’t need to wait to be in an official capacity to make a difference. Be an advocate with your local leaders, communicate with friends and family, start a campaign, all of these efforts help us to make progress and develop skills. Also take any chance you can get to practice public speaking and get over the nerves, make yourself do it. Meet and talk with as many people in the field as you can.

What are your favorite resources?

I read stuff from everywhere. One thing I recommend is going to the IPCC website and reading their assessment reports. It’s not updated regularly so it’s not a news source, but if you want to figure out what’s going on with climate science it’s a great resource.

Another great resource I took advantage of recently is Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. The project trains people for free in climate science, risks, and solutions. Every few months they do a big three-day training somewhere in the world. They bring in experts to give presentations from the private sector, universities, and scientific realm. And Al Gore presents at the training for an absurd number of hours. I commend his commitment and his leadership.

Climate Central, which is based in Princeton, produces useful interactive maps. They do a lot of research that’s well done, easy to interact with and understand, and you can learn a lot about local climate risks through there.

The passive house conference is a good one too. Passive House is a design standard for buildings new and old to achieve close to net zero energy.

Who is your sustainability hero? 

There are SO many people who are inspiring sustainability heroes. My list changes over time, but it always includes the people I know and work with who are amazing. My current heroes are the kids who are the plaintiffs in the law suit on climate change against the United States, Juliana v. US, also represented by James Hanson. When you hear the kids speak they’re passionate and inspirational and we adults can sometimes be lacking that in the space. I wish it weren’t the case, but we need leadership from children on this issue that will impact them so seriously. I hope this case serves as a launch pad for that.