Grossman, T. (2015). Looking Forward: California’s Climate Leadership. Solutions 6(4): 11-14. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/looking-forward-californias-climate-leadership/
Envisioning
Looking Forward: California’s Climate Leadership by Teo Grossman
This article is part of a regular section in Solutions in which the author is challenged to envision a future society in which all the right changes have been made.
A
s comprehensive federal policy on climate change has been largely absent until quite recently, domestic climate leadership has emerged on multiple scales and from various jurisdictions. In particular, the State of California, long known for innovative and cutting-edge environmental policy, has established a climate policy approach that may well end up as a workable model for the rest of the world. Over the past decade, California has managed to decouple the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and the economy, reducing per capita emissions by 17 percent while maintaining one of the most robust economies in the country.1 The state is taking major steps forward on a yearly basis to truly take a leadership role. Projecting current policy initiatives and trends yields a potential future in which today’s policymakers, advocates, and citizens could be proud. By 2030, based on policy already on the books or likely to be passed this calendar year, California will have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels, and is on the way to 80 percent by 2050. At least half of the energy used will be from renewable sources, along with a 50 percent increase in fuel efficiency. Approximately one and a half million electric vehicles (EVs) will be on the road. All new construction, residential
Henrk Johansson
Wind mills and power lines in Patterson Pass, California.
and commercial, will be net zero energy and efficiency of existing building stock will double.2,3 California’s climate policy is poised to affect nearly every sector and issue in the state. Three specific focal areas are explored below.
Environmental Justice As the reality of climate disruption begins to bear down, it is clear that the burden will not be borne equally by all. Those populations and communities already at risk, often called frontline communities, may end up bearing a disproportionate share of the impacts from a changing climate over time. Policy measures in California that focus explicitly on environmental justice and equity concerns point
towards a possible path forward. Long a stumbling block for global climate negotiations, environmental justice advocacy efforts in California have begun to bear fruit, yielding a potentially replicable model. This year, although the law requires only 10 percent, over 30 percent of the approximately USD $300 million in proceeds from California’s Cap and Trade program is being directed towards solving environmental justice-related concerns. Funding for equitable and low-carbon transit, affordable housing/sustainable communities, weatherization, urban forestry, and other key issues is projected to dramatically increase by between USD $3 and $11 billion over the next decade.4
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