The California state legislature passed key climate measures in closing out its two-year legislative session with a flourish. There was concerted and successful effort on climate action in the final weeks of the session, which ended at midnight.
The California legislative package advances Governor Newsom's climate policy goals of establishing a pathway toward the state's clean energy future, codifying a prior Executive Order by Governor Jerry Brown setting a statewide carbon neutrality goal by 2045 and advancing clean energy technologies, as it goes to his desk for signature.
The achievement follows on the heels of the Inflation Reduction Act enactment, which marked the nation's most significant public sector investment toward renewable energy production and greenhouse gas reduction.
In August, President Biden signed an expansive climate law that would invest $370 billion over the next decade in low-emissions energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear power. But that law alone won't be enough to eliminate U.S. greenhouse gases by 2050, a target that climate scientists say the world as a whole must reach to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. To help close the gap, White House officials have said that states also need to take more forceful action.
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