California Combats Climate Change

Jessica Boehland - This article was produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.- www.buildinggreen.com

In late August California announced a sweeping split with federal policy to fight the increase of greenhouse gas and pollution in the nation’s most populous state. “Today, I am happy to announce we have reached a historic agreement on legislation to combat global warming,” California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed in late August.

Breaking with the federal government’s silence on climate policy and placing California at the vanguard of action to stabilize Earth’s climate, the California Global Warming Solutions Act (Assembly Bill 32) calls for the state’s major greenhouse gas emitters—including utility plants, oil and gas refineries, and cement kilns—to reduce their emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 (about 25 percent lower than today’s levels). The bill authorizes the California Air Resources Board to develop market mechanisms to achieve these reductions; the resulting plan is expected to resemble the cap-and-trade systems employed in the Kyoto Protocol and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Acclaimed by environmentalists, the bill was opposed by Republicans in the legislature as well as many business leaders. “AB 32 is a lose-lose situation for all Californians,” said Allan Zaremberg, president of the state’s Chamber of Commerce. Noting that emissions limits could encourage businesses to relocate to states or countries without such limits, Zaremberg worried that “when employers move to other global locations, they may produce even more carbon emissions.”

Other members of the business community, however, supported the legislation. Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a coalition of businesses in and near San Francisco, believes the legislation will contribute to a spike in energy-efficiency and alternative-energy industries. “Enlightened businesses can participate in an economic boom that’s going to serve both the business interest and the public’s interest,” he told The New York Times. Led by CEO Peter Darbee, PG&E Corporation, one of the nation’s largest energy utilities, was also among the bill’s proponents. “We’re supporting this legislation because we are convinced that climate change is an urgent problem and action is needed now,” says the company. Schwarzenegger signed AB 32 into law on September 27.

Close on the heels of AB 32 came the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Performance Standard Act (Senate Bill 1368), designed to ensure that California’s long-term investments in electricity generation support plants that emit relatively low levels of greenhouse gases. The bill, which was signed into law by Schwarzenegger on September 29, sets a performance standard for all “baseload” generation resources (those designed to generate electricity around the clock) that seek to sell to the state’s electricity markets. The standard allows investment only in facilities whose emissions are equal to or lower than emissions from efficient natural-gas power plants. More than 30 coal-fired power plants are in development across the West, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and many of them plan to sell their power to California, the world’s sixth-largest economy. “This bill doesn’t say ‘no’ to electricity from coal,” notes NRDC, “but it puts the coal industry on notice that it needs to use much cleaner and more efficient technologies if it wants California financing.”

In a written statement, Schwarzenegger declared that “the success of our system will be an example for other states and nations to follow as the fight against climate change continues.” Despite its progressive energy efficiency standards, California is the 12th largest carbon emitter in the world. Acknowledging this, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said that “reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an issue we must show leadership on.”

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