Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday will announce the appointments of SUNY Empire President Jim Malatras and former Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Commissioner Rose Harvey to a climate change council.

The appointments by Cuomo are key for the panel to begin its work of enacting a plan to reach targeted emissions reduction goals in the coming decades, and is being closely watched in environmental and climate policy circles.

Malatras is a longtime Cuomo hand, having worked as his state operations director and later president of the Rockefeller Institute of Public Policy. He's previously served in a variety of policy and legislative roles in the governor's and attorney general's offices.

Harvey is a senior fellow for Parks and Open Space. She was nominated by Cuomo in 2011 during his first term to serve as the commission of the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.

The 22-member Climate Action Council is being tasked with determining how the state will reach emissions goals of an 85 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050 with a a deadline of January 2022.

Legislative appointees comprise the remaining members of the commission, along with executive branch agency leaders and state energy officials.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie this month appointed former DEC Commissioner Peter Iwanowicz, now the executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, as well as Bob Howarth, a Cornell environmental biology professor, and Stony Brook University Dean Bob Shepson.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins previously appointed Anne Reynolds of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, environmental attorney Raya Salter, and energy consultant Dennis Eisenbeck.

Rounding out the panel is Gavin Donohue of the Independent Power Producers of New York and Donna DeCarolis, a fuel executive with National Fuel Gas.