A Golder Opportunity Californias Solutions for Global Warming

Short Description
With the landmark California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, California seeks to mitigate the risks of global warming and to become the home of the fast-growing clean technology industry. Assembly Bill 32 (also known as AB 32) is the most ambitious global warming solutions law in the nation, making California the first state to firmly limit statewide emissions. The law commits California to reduce its global warming pollution emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020, or nearly 30 percent below forecasted levels.

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Content
PROTECTING THE STATE FROM GLOBAL WARMING
Although curbing global warming will ultimately require a global solution, California can make a difference. Compared to other countries, the state is the 11th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, so the state’s pollution cuts will be substantial. More important, California’s efforts aim to catalyze similar action across the country and abroad, building on the state’s strong history of developing groundbreaking environmental solutions that also provide economic benefits, such as air quality and energy-efficiency standards.
THE HIGH COST OF DOING NOTHING
By spurring a broader effort to curb global warming, California aims to protect the state from the considerable economic and environmental risks of climate change. Inaction could have severe consequences for California:
- Degraded air quality that threatens the health of Californians, with more than 95 percent of the state’s residents already living in areas with unhealthy air.
- More frequent and severe heat waves, similar to the one in July 2006 during which more than 100 people died across the state.
- Loss of snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which will threaten the state’s water supply and valuable summer hydroelectric peak power generation.
- Rising sea levels, which will put additional strain on the state’s levee system and further threaten water supplies as saltwater intrudes into aquifers.
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