Fossil fuel companies to pay for climate change damage

Large fossil fuel companies will have to pay fees to help New York fight the effects of climate change under new legislation.

The new law requires companies responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions to pay into a state fund for infrastructure projects meant to repair or avoid future damage from climate change.

Lawmakers approved the bill earlier this year to force big oil and gas companies to contribute to the cost of repairs after extreme weather events and resiliency projects such as coastal wetland restoration and upgrades to roads, bridges and water drainage systems.

"The Climate Change Superfund Act is now law, and New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world: the companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable," said state Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who sponsored the bill said on Thursday.

"The planet's largest climate polluters bear a unique responsibility for creating the climate crisis, and they must pay their fair share to help regular New Yorkers deal with the consequences," Krueger said.

The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases between 2000 and 2018 would be subjected to the fines.

The law won't start penalising companies immediately. Instead, the state must come up with rules on how to identify responsible parties, notify companies of the fines and create a system to determine which infrastructure projects will be paid for by the fund. Legal challenges are expected.

"This type of legislation represents nothing more than a punitive new fee on American energy, and we are evaluating our options moving forward," the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's top lobbying group, said in a statement.

New York's Governor Kathy Hochul signed the measure months after Vermont put a similar law in place.