Jerry Brown and legislative leaders embarked on a new era in California’s effort to combat climate change Thursday when the governor signed a law committing the state to some of the most drastic greenhouse gas emission reductions in the world.
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Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said despite strong opposition from the oil industry, the legislature did its job, and now “California is showing our nation and world what can, and must, be done to reduce the risky pollution fueling climate change”.
It was Pavely, the first mayor of Agoura Hills who will soon end 16 years in the state Legislature, who recalled the thick brown layer of smog over Los Angeles.
Her new law mandates the state reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 40percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
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. And given the sheer scale of it ― California’s economy is now the world’s sixth largest ― the law could also serve as a model for worldwide efforts to reduce emissions. Maryland has also set a goal of reducing emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
With passage of the bills, advocates said, California commits to pursue the strongest greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in North America.
“By supporting healthier cities and investments in cleaner sources of energy, we can reduce risky emissions, slow climate change, and most importantly save lives”, Laura Tuck, a vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank, said in a statement.
Brown, at the event, chided Republicans in the U.S. Congress who have opposed measures to control climate change, and he said California lawmakers, for their part, were moving forward.
Brown, a Democrat who has traveled the world promoting greenhouse-gas reduction efforts, issued an executive order past year setting the new 2030 goal.
The legislation doesn’t address the future of the state’s cap-and-trade program. The Environmental Defense Fund’s Timothy O’Connor said both Californians and people around the world “will benefit from this new set of climate laws”. The last two permit sales also have fizzled.
California Gov. Jerry Brown, seated, signs legislation while joined by Senate President pro tempore Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, second from left, and state Sen.
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AB 197, written by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), establishes a new legislative committee to oversee environmental regulation, giving lawmakers more say in efforts to improve air quality and reduce pollution. But Nielsen said Brown’s office has “turned a blind eye” in moving ahead with climate-change legislation, calling it a “shocking contradiction to the clear legal opinion provided by the Legislature’s own attorney”.
