Bloomberg via Getty Images Legislation unveiled Wednesday would create an agency to manage New York City's efforts to deal with climate change. NEW YORK ― The nation’s most populous and most economically influential city could become the country’s first to establish a new agency to manage its efforts to deal with climate change if a new bill announced Wednesday passes. The legislation, authored by City Councilman Costa Constantinides, would create a new commissioner-led department to carry out the city’s sustainability policies, including a historic bill to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. “Climate change is going to be the great challenge of the 21st century,” Constantinides, a Queens Democrat, said while standing in City Hall Park. Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat, already maintains an Office of Sustainability and an Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which oversee the city’s OneNYC climate plan.

Source: Huffington Post February 13, 2019 17:03 UTC