A bill passed late in the New York legislative session aims to create a state sustainability officer.

The role would be tied to the wide range of efforts underway to meet New York's ambitious climate goals, which state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Wednesday needs improved planning, monitoring and assessment.

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, explained that the position would bring with it some power to advise the governor, but the primary purpose would be to oversee efforts that are already ongoing and spur action when efforts goals fall off track.

He said the sustainability officer would coordinate climate-related needs across state agencies and government entities.

“This is a crisis, and when we have a crisis, we need someone in charge,”  he said. They would work with OGS to make sure we’re doing waste management, working with SUNY campuses to make sure that we’re moving to solar and developing composting programs, that we have charging stations in all of our state parks.”

If it is apparent that certain agencies are falling behind or specific goals aren’t being met, it would be the sustainability officer’s job to put the pressure on state leaders to take action.

“Use the bully pulpit of the governor and the bully pulpit of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act to say we have to do better,” he said.

Vanessa Fajans-Turner, executive director of Environmental Advocates New York, said the group supports the bill, but emphasized that a candidate must have a wide skillset.

“Somebody who can help translate for everything from unions to contractors, household residents, and building managers,” she said.

She argued the position needs to be used to push ahead if goals aren’t being met, not pump the breaks.

“I think we’re really in a fight against delayism,” she said. “The idea that we can put off until it is more convenient to do things that in reality are only going to get harder and more expensive.”

It’s a concept that Epstein said is not without recent precedent.

“Like the governor did a few years ago, she put Kim Hill as the chief disability officer for the state which really goes across agencies and sets the standard, same thing has to happen with the climate issue,” he said.

While no one who opposed the bill was willing to speak with Spectrum News 1, the opposition was unsurprisingly from Republican lawmakers, though some did vote in favor.