California to cut GHGs by 40pc by 2030
Brown issued an executive order setting the target, which would be in line with one the EU set for itself last fall and would get the state halfway to its long-term goal of reducing emissions by 80pc by 2050. The state is already working to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, with a cap-and-trade program and other measures in place.
"With this order, California sets a very high bar for itself and other states and nations, but it is one that must be reached, for this generation and generations to come," Brown said.
Brown issued the order ahead of a state Senate Environmental Quality Committee hearing today on SB 32, a bill that would give state regulators authority to set emissions targets out to 2050. The committee is also considering SB 350, which would codify energy policy goals proposed by Brown in January, including increasing the state's renewable portfolio to 50pc by 2030 and cutting petroleum use in half over the same period.
State regulators say the legislation will be crucial to helping the state continue its climate policies. The state is "depending on you to push through some significant legislation that will carry California into the next decade and beyond" in terms of its environmental programs, Air Resources Board (ARB) chairwoman Mary Nichols told state Senate president pro tempore Kevin de Leon (D) last night at a reception held ahead of the Navigating the American Carbon World conference in Los Angeles. Brown is scheduled to speak at the conference today.
SB 32 will "create real certainty for the market and continue to show California's leadership on the international stage," she said.
Brown's order directs ARB to determine the scope of measures needed to meet the 40pc goal. The agency is expected to kick off that effort this summer.
De Leon said the state needs to be "ambitious and we need to be bold in order to hit our climate targets" as any economy "based on fossil fuels is an economy based on shifting sands."
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