California governor Jerry Brown signed what may be the world’s most ambitious carbon energy plan into law on Monday, setting a 100% clean electricity goal for the state by 2045. At the same time that he signed the measure, SB100, Brown also issued an executive order that establishes a new carbon neutrality target for that same year.
Co-sponsored by state Senator Kevin De Leon, SB100 requires the state to get 60% of its power from renewable energy by 2030, up from the previous target of 50% for the same deadline.
“California is committed to doing whatever is necessary to meet the existential threat of climate change,” Brown said during signing of SB100. “This bill, and others I will sign this week, help us go in that direction. But have no illusions, California and the rest of the world have miles to go before we achieve zero-carbon emissions.”
The announcement comes just days ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit. Brown is co-chairing the massive environmental summit, situated midway between Paris 2015 and 2020, that offers a forum where business executives, state and local government officials, and United Nations leaders including Michael Bloomberg and Indian billionaire entrepreneur Anand Mahindra will convene to address the most pressing climate change issues. GCAS 2018 kicks off Wednesday, September 12 in San Francisco.
The state of California is the world’s fifth largest economy, and in many cases, it already sets some of the most ambitious environmental goals on the continent, if not the planet. California has some of the toughest laws about super pollutants such as methane and black carbon, and the state set North America’s toughest greenhouse gas emissions targets, aiming to cut emissions at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.
Brown has a number of bills headed for his desk that would also set a standard for other states, including a bill that would hold retailers jointly responsible for workplace abuses against port truckers at ports including Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland; and a bill that would mandate women on the public, corporate boards of companies in California.
