We’re talking about a world where California gets more than 50 percent of its electricity from renewables in 2030 (up from 25 percent today), where zero-emissions vehicles are 25 percent of the fleet by 2035 (up from about 1 percent today), where high-speed rail is displacing auto travel, where biofuels have replaced a significant chunk of diesel in heavy-duty trucks, where pastures are getting converted to forests, where electricity replaces natural gas in heating, and on and on.
Advertisement
The new legislation, which was signed by the Democratic governor in a Los Angeles park amid protests from oil companies and Republicans, will extend the state’s climate change law passed in 2006.
Jerry Brown, seated, signs legislation while joined by Senate President pro tempore Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, second from left, and state Sen.
Brown has set an ultimate goal of cutting emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
The new climate policies were opposed by the oil industry and some manufacturers, who raised concerns about rising costs and giving regulators too much power over Californians’ lives.
It will “keep California on the move to clean up the environment”, Brown said before the signing.
The fight against climate change faces other hurdles. The law sets a new goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
Brown also signed a bill that would provide greater oversight of the appointed Air Resources Board, which is in charge of climate policy.
But his signing leaves in jeopardy the state’s best-known emissions reduction measure. “Together we redoubled our commitment to global climate leadership and building the clean energy economy of tomorrow, while ensuring environmental justice so all Californians benefit from our climate policies”.
“The long and the short of it is that meeting the goal will require sustained regulatory effort across all sectors of the economy”, said Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The stricter rules for carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming by trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, come as a controversial program aimed at managing greenhouse gases has had mixed results.
Last month, state officials released disappointing results from an auction of carbon permits, but officials say they are still on track to meet emissions goals.
Advertisement
“The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office earlier this year issued a report stating that there were little to no reductions in greenhouse emissions despite billions of dollars having been spent from cap-and-trade revenue, which are dollars ultimately collected in the form of higher prices by consumers”, he said. That program is facing legal challenges and hasn’t raised almost as much money as the state had previously expected it to.
