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| New York State Interfaith Power & Light | |
|---|---|
| Name | New York State Interfaith Power & Light |
| Formation | 2003 |
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
| Region served | New York State |
New York State Interfaith Power & Light is a faith-based environmental organization operating in New York State that mobilizes religious communities for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate justice. It connects congregations, synagogues, mosques, dioceses, and faith leaders with technical resources and advocacy campaigns tied to state and federal policy. The organization engages with religious networks across urban and rural regions to advance decarbonization, resilience, and social equity.
Founded in the early 2000s amid national efforts linking faith communities to environmental action, the organization emerged contemporaneously with national groups and state chapters responding to heightened attention from events such as Hurricane Katrina and the Kyoto Protocol debates. Early collaborations involved denominations represented by leaders from the Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church, while engaging activists connected to environmental NGOs like the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and the Environmental Defense Fund. The group expanded alongside statewide initiatives including New York State Energy Research and Development Authority programs and climate planning processes led by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York Independent System Operator. Over time it forged ties with academic centers at Columbia University, Cornell University, and SUNY environmental programs, reflecting a blend of faith-based outreach and scientific partnerships.
The stated mission centers on mobilizing faith communities to address climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote renewable energy adoption across congregations and institutions. Goals include supporting energy efficiency retrofits for houses of worship, facilitating solar installations on religious properties, promoting divestment and ethical investment practices among endowments, and advancing just transition principles for affected workers and communities. The organization frames its objectives in theological terms resonant with Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Unitarian Universalist traditions, while aligning with policy targets such as state climate action plans and regional carbon reduction commitments.
Programs typically include campus and congregation-based energy audits, solarize campaigns for collective procurement, Hudson Valley and Long Island outreach, and climate justice workshops in partnership with community groups. Initiative examples involve coordinating congregational participation in statewide clean energy incentives, hosting interfaith prayer vigils and education sessions tied to diocesan synods, rabbinical councils, imam networks, and seminary curricula at institutions like Union Theological Seminary and Jewish Theological Seminary. The organization runs training for faith leaders on New York State public service commission proceedings, promotes community solar enrollment, and organizes seasonal advocacy around legislative sessions in Albany and federal windows in Washington, D.C.
Governance has included an executive director, a board with clergy and lay leaders from denominations including the Presbyterian Church (USA), the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affiliates, and representatives of Jewish federations and Muslim public affairs councils. Staff roles combine program directors, outreach coordinators, and policy analysts who liaise with state legislators, utility regulators, and grant-making foundations such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. Advisory councils have featured academics from Yale School of the Environment, environmental lawyers, and leaders from faith-based NGOs like the Union for Reform Judaism and the Islamic Society of North America.
The organization partners with diverse entities, ranging from interfaith networks and denominational bodies to secular environmental organizations, municipal governments, and philanthropic institutions. Notable collaborations have included coalitions with Climate Action Campaigns in New York City, the North Country Association for Regional Development, the New York State Council of Churches, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and faith-based arms of national movements such as Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 initiative and 350.org campaigns. These partnerships extend to labor groups and justice organizations including the Service Employees International Union and the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, aligning faith-based advocacy with worker protections and environmental justice priorities.
Policy efforts focus on influencing state climate legislation, regulatory proceedings at the New York State Public Service Commission, and budget appropriations for community solar and low-income weatherization. The group organizes letter-writing campaigns, testimony at legislative hearings in Albany, and interfaith delegations to meetings with governors’ offices and congressional delegations. Its advocacy aligns with statewide initiatives like the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act targets and supports municipal climate action plans, engaging in coalition lobbying alongside environmental law centers and civic advocacy groups to shape renewable portfolio standards and grid modernization policies.
Impact has been measured through numbers of congregations completing energy audits, megawatts of solar installed on houses of worship, and participation in statewide divestment campaigns and climate justice coalitions. Recognition has come in the form of citations in policy reports, invitations to participate in New York State climate planning forums, and awards or commendations from interfaith councils and environmental foundations. The organization’s efforts are cited in case studies on faith-based climate engagement alongside programs at institutions such as Harvard Divinity School, the Center for American Progress, and peer state Interfaith Power & Light chapters.
Category:Environmental organizations based in New York (state)