2021 City & State Energy & Environment Power 100 List

John J. Gilbert III included in 2021 Energy & Environment Power 100

Even as the rising threat of climate change has garnered growing attention, policymakers around the globe have made halting progress in addressing it. Yet at least one bright spot in the battle to protect the planet is the headway made in New York, whose track record in recent years could serve as a model for other states and countries. This year alone, the state has taken steps toward phasing out carbon emissions by making investments in offshore wind power, blocking proposed repowering projects that would rely on natural gas and awarding contracts for transmission lines that will deliver renewable energy to the downstate region.

Of course, these efforts – along with other environmentally friendly policy changes in New York’s energy industry – are not universally embraced, with critics warning that trying to eliminate carbon emissions too abruptly will risk undermining the reliability of the electrical grid. Other fierce battles have been waged over the shuttering of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in the Hudson Valley, the burgeoning Bitcoin mining industry in upstate New York and proposals championed by state lawmakers to transition to public power and impose fees on polluters.

City & State’s Energy & Environment Power 100 identifies the public officials, energy executives, environmentalists, activists, academics and others who are in the thick of these debates – and reinventing how New Yorkers get their power. 

John J. Gilbert III, Chief Operating Officer, Rudin Management Company

The Rudin Management executive is at the forefront of the proptech revolution that could reduce emissions in buildings across the country. John Gilbert launched a software startup called Nantum that combined data from their properties and Con Edison, which led to a 44% reduction in carbon emissions in 2018. Gilbert and real estate leaders pressed then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include a provision in the budget allowing developers to buy renewable energy from upstate plants instead of making expensive building renovations, although the emissions workaround failed to advance.

See the entire list here.