This video from CalMatters looks at what happens when a state responsible for about 1 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases goes all-in to fight climate change. Leadership involves some missteps, too.
May 2019: NRDC supports the following bills in progress in Sacramento under Gov. Newsom
Nov. 2018: Climate change will exacerbate the droughts, floods, and wildfires that Californians already regularly experience, making them even more extreme and unpredictable. Gavin Newsom, California’s next governor, must prepare for these inevitable disasters while minimizing the greenhouse gas emissions of a society of nearly 40 million people. CLEE, together with Resources Legacy Fund (RLF), has prepared three sets of actions Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom could take immediately to address wildfire; drought, flood, and drinking water safety and affordability; and the stubbornly high carbon pollution from our transportation systems. Download the CLEE report here.
Nov. 26, 2018: Californians need to get out of their cars. Otherwise the state won’t meet its goals for curbing global warming, according to a blunt report released today by the California Air Resources Board. Improvements in the electricity grid were the main reason California managed to meet its 2020 goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the report finds. Despite much talk of electric cars, carbon emissions per capita are increasing from vehicle travel.Now, not even a major spike in sales of zero-emission vehicles will alone get the state to its ambitious 2030 target, which is 40 percent below 1990 levels, the report says.
CARB: “California will not achieve the necessary greenhouse gas emissions reductions to meet mandates for 2030 and beyond without significant changes to how communities and transportation systems are planned, funded and built.”
Nov. 20, 2018: The state’s first Ocean Acidification Action Plan has been approved by the California Ocean Protection Council. The 10-year plan addresses ocean acidification that is brought on by increased absorption of carbon dioxide emissions. The six key strategies identified in the plan include preparing for a range of risks and impacts, and reducing pollution that causes acidification.
Sept. 28, 2018: Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1126, the Arroyo Seco Tributary legislation authored by Senator Anthony J. Portantino, D–La Cañada Flintridge, who also represents San Marino. The bill formally includes the Arroyo Seco Tributary into the Upper Los Angeles River and Tributaries Working Group plan. This directly impacts South Pasadena's CAP, which is in progress.
Sept. 14, 2018: With the Global Climate Action Summit underway in San Francisco, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced its commitment to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 60 percent or more below 1990 levels.
Sept. 12, 2018: Governor Brown signed a package of climate-related bills. Among them were three bills supporting building decarbonization. AB 3232 directs the California Energy Commission to assess the potential for California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from residential and commercial buildings by 40 percent by 2030; SB 1477 will establish an incentive program for low-carbon space and water heating equipment; and AB 2195 directs the California Air Resources Board to track GHG emissions from natural gas leakage and venting during the production, processing and transporting of natural gas imported into California.
Sept. 12, 2018: LA Times op-ed from Jerry Brown and Michael Bloomberg. They are two of the six co-chairs of the Global Climate Action Summit. They are also part of the America's Pledge coalition. In September, Seattle joined Atlanta as the first winners of Bloomberg Philanthropies' American Cities Climate Challenge, a two-year acceleration program to meet or exceed goals to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change. Seattle was selected for this challenge in-part due to the Seattle Climate Action Plan, released by Mayor Jenny Durkan in April 2018, which outlines 12 initiatives for helping the city meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Among these initiatives are reducing municipal fleet emissions, increasing electric vehicle charging infrastructure and reducing emissions from buildings.
Sept. 10 2018: Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation that requires California to generate 100 percent of its electricity from clean sources by 2045.
Contrary to the conservative mythology that clean energy slows economic growth, the state is already reduced its greenhouse emissions by 13 percent, even as the economy has grown by 26 percent. Clean energy also creates more jobs than fossil fuels and more people already work solar than coal, gas, and oil extraction combined.
Published in the Los Angeles Times on Aug.28, 2018.
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California is moving into the forefront of environmental action and climate change issues. The legislature just passed a truly transformative bill, SB100. By setting the marker at 100% clean energy by 2045, California stands to cultivate and capture a huge slice of the domestic renewable energy market and again lead in innovation.
Governor Brown also signed an executive order (B-55-18) to make California carbon neutral by 2045. Full carbon neutrality is now on the table for the world’s fifth largest economy.
Sept. 9, 2018: Brown has been advancing a federalist approach to climate change since long before President Trump’s retrograde policy reversals. For years, Brown has worked directly with stakeholders in the private sector, cities, other states and foreign governments to curb emissions. In the process, he has helped pioneer a model that other American states and cities should consider adopting, including a cap-and-trade market for pollution control.
Sept. 4, 2018: Los Angeles County
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, on Tuesday Sept. 4, 2018, joined other counties, states and cities in support of the goals of the Paris Climate Accord.
Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis recommended registering the county with the We Are Still In coalition, saying impacts of human-driven climate change will include less frequent but more intense rainstorms, more frequent and longer droughts, increased wildland fires and urban forest die- offs, more vector-borne disease, rising seas, lower air quality and longer and hotter heat waves.
August 2018: The California Natural Resources Agency just released its fourth Climate Change Assessment, a call to action on rising global temperatures — the state’s first in six years. Takeaways from California’s New Climate Assessment: more heat and drought; water is a critical issue. Here's where state water policies are headed.
Further highlights of the California Climate Change Program 2004 - 2015
