“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."
Climate Week is a week of action! Climate Week NYC 2021, which runs from September 20-26, brings together international leaders from business, government, and civil society to showcase the ever-increasing momentum of global climate action. Here in Battery Park City, we demonstrate our dedication to our climate every day through a variety of initiatives.
One year ago we launched Battery Park City’s ten-year Sustainability Plan. Developed in consultation with a broad range of residential, local, and governmental stakeholders, the Plan provides the framework for developing and implementing a carbon neutral Battery Park City by the middle of the century, in keeping with the mandate set forth in New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The BPC Sustainability Plan is centered around four “Topic Areas” (Energy, Water, Materials & Waste, and Site), which are further broken down into broad aspirations and discrete methods for achievement that chart a course toward making Battery Park City a sustainability model. To close out Climate Week NYC we’re highlighting the “Site” topic area of the Authority’s work.
Many people experience Battery Park City through its streets and sidewalks, parks, the Esplanade, and other open spaces. With the goal of improving the overall quality of life, the Site Strategies in BPC’s Strategic Plan focus on the broader health and ecological and environmental quality issues in Battery Park City. These include measures ranging from enhancing the biodiversity of plant and animal life at Battery Park City and ensuring that the wildlife is resilient to the changing climate, to changing commuting and transportation patterns so that more people choose non-motorized travel such as walking, biking, or scootering.
Biodiversity & Habitats
Battery Park City is home to a diverse array of wildlife. Many species of insects, including native pollinators, inhabit its gardens and lawns. This past April the Authority launched its Keep It Wild! public awareness campaign, which encourages the public to responsibly observe wildlife across the neighborhood’s 36 acres of parks and public spaces. Through posters, postcards, and video, Keep It Wild! helps celebrate Battery Park City as home to world-class public spaces that foster social cohesion, advance wellness and promote connectivity to nature. The campaign reminds park users that Battery Park City’s green spaces provide all the food and habitat these animals need and that wildlife does not benefit from human interaction, as well as includes resources about how to help injured animals found in BPC’s parks and public spaces.
The Authority followed that last month by installing a beehive in a planting bed along Rockefeller Park’s northern end. The hive houses more than 50,000 honeybees and is aimed at sparking interest and conversation about pollinators in BPC as they pollinate flowers, trees, and shrubs throughout the neighborhood. Then as part of this year’s Climate Week NYC, we hosted “Meet a Beekeeper in Battery Park City” to not only educate the next generation about biodiversity, but promote well-being and lifelong learning through Battery Park City’s incredible natural environment.
Active Transportation
In advance of Climate Week NYC, Governor Kathy Hochul launched the “Get There Green!” campaign in support of New York’s ambitious goal to achieve 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and 85 percent reduction by 2050. As a participating State entity, and in keeping with our Sustainability Plan, the Authority is encouraging employees, residents, and local partners to pledge to use a more sustainable mode of transportation for as many trips as they can from September 21-26.
Improving sustainability for Battery Park City’s parks and spaces through the measures described here, and more to come, will improve health and wellness and make Battery Park City an even more desirable place to live, work, and visit.
