POWER GREEN
Calling for action on climate for California
To that effect, the California State Assembly joint legislative committee on climate change met earlier last month to discuss the pathway for achieving climate neutrality. BUT WHAT IS CARBON NEUTRALITY? Last year, the United Nations issued a warning where it stated that it may be too late to stop the ravaging effects of global warming but amid this hopeless situation, the U.N. said that dramatically reducing the use of the fossils starting in
8 | APRIL 2022
this decade and zeroing it out by the mid-century could avert greater devastation. California has been at the vanguard of this movement where it has committed to cutting down the greenhouse gas emission by 40% in the next 8 years. In 2018, the then governor, Jerry Brown signed an executive order setting the goal even higher. In the order, the governor set a bolder plan where he proposed the state’s carbon neutrality goals by 2045. This means the state is committed to removing as many greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere as it emits. So far, the California government has done so much to make its plans good, but much of what needs to be done remains aspirational. While the
state is committed to 100% clean energy by 2045, electrical power generation accounts for at least 15% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. If the state is committed to its ambitious plans, then it would have to slash emissions from everything including cars, trucks, heating appliances, farms, and industrial operations. On March 10, 2022, Ben Grundy, a global warming Solutions Associate, provided testimony at the hearing by the California State Assembly’s joint legislative committee on climate change policies in support of the governor’s investments in Zero-emission vehicles, decarbonization efforts, and clean energy. “The California legislature must
PHOTO FROM 123RF
C
limate change is one of the challenges that the world is facing right now. It is a threat that many governments feel that they cannot sit down and watch while it happens.
