There’s been much ado about New Yorkers’ use of ranked-choice voting to choose their mayor and city council members. But a less-talked-about first in this year’s city elections was the coordinated push for candidates to adopt Green New Deal policies at the municipal level. 

According to the Gotham Gazette, a coalition of environmental groups—Sunrise NYC, New York Communities for Change, and Food & Water Action—asked all candidates for city office to pledge to advocate and vote for policies that “aim to end fossil fuel infrastructure, create more green jobs by upgrading buildings’ systems, and grow environmentally-friendly transit options.”

The article noted that three candidates in the race—Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, and Scott Stringer—had platforms heavily focused on mitigating the effects of climate change and that environmental activists have been frustrated by the city’s efforts in this regard:

“New York City government has taken several steps in recent years to combat climate change and create a more resilient city, but efforts have been too slow, many activists argue, and a number of resiliency projects promised after 2012’s Superstorm Sandy or since have barely begun or have not been started at all.”

For more info, visit Sunrise-NYC.org, NYCommunities.org, and FoodAndWaterAction.org.