Fresh possibilities in the air

The year drawing to a close is destined to be one of the three warmest ever. Business as usual will not end this climate emergency. Enter Gov. Cuomo and city Controller Scott Stringer, who urge New York State and City to do their part with the billions of dollars invested by public employee pension funds into corporate stocks.

They intend to study ending investments in fossil fuel businesses — the likes of oil companies and old-school power generators — and begin to pour funds into boosting clean-energy investments.

Cuomo and Stringer will have to convince state Controller Tom DiNapoli and the trustees of five city pension funds that returns would suffer not a dime, a case bolstered by high performance of S&P’s indexes of fossil-fuel-free stocks. Success could embolden other states to follow the kind of leadership this nation needs in a world teetering on the edge of calamity.