Growing up in Los Sures, Antonio learned quickly what environmental injustice looks like. He breathed toxic air playing basketball in the parks alongside the BQE. He dodged polluting garbage trucks carrying a whopping 40 percent of the city’s trash to North Brooklyn for processing. He feared exposure to the neighborhood's legacy of toxic polluters.

He also saw what it looked like for a frontline community like his to fight back. Alongside local powerhouses like El Puente, OUTRAGE, Newtown Creek Alliance, and North Brooklyn Neighbors, Antonio has championed environmental justice, resiliency, and sustainability throughout his career.

As Council Member, Antonio passed the Waste Equity Law to cut the daily capacity of waste transfer stations in overburdened neighborhoods like North Brooklyn. A year after it was implemented, the Department of Sanitation announced that waste processing capacity in these areas was reduced by more than 10,000 tons. 

Antonio then went on to pass his landmark Commercial Waste Zones legislation which reformed the infamously dangerous and unregulated private waste industry. The program will cut millions of truck miles from our streets every year, clean up our air, and protect our workers.

As Borough President, Antonio has continued his commitment to environmental justice. He’s calling for a corridor-wide reimagination of the BQE that reconnects communities, reduces pollution, and prioritizes green infrastructure. He’s championing the completion of Equinor, New York’s $5 billion offshore wind project that already employs 1,500 union workers and will help power 500,000 homes once complete – a project that Trump continuously stalls and attacks . He’s collaborating with UPROSE to explore new visions for the Gowanus and Narrows Peaker Power Plant sites. And he’s centering sustainability, resiliency, and workforce development in his Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn.

In Congress, Antonio will put frontline communities first as he fights for our green future. He’ll back the Green New Deal which will enable our country to make the leap toward a Just Transition while creating millions of jobs to build the infrastructure we need. He’ll call for a moratorium of fossil fuel energy on federal lands and waters. He’ll seek to expand renewable energy incentives. And he’ll crack down on polluters everywhere – from AI data centers and big oil to the Department of War.

Most importantly, Antonio will keep environmental justice and our climate future at the foundation of all of his work. Because we can’t advance housing, jobs, or healthcare without taking care of our environment, and we can’t take care of our environment without prioritizing the working people who face the consequences of our inaction first and hardest.