California Gives Green Light to Cap-and-Trade Action Plan
Regulators give final approval to wide ranging climate change package
The state of California has formally adopted the strictest environmental regulations anywhere in the US last week, committing to a package of measures designed to cut emissions 15 per cent by 2020.
Under the wide-ranging plans, the state will require utilities to generate a third of power from renewable sources by 2020 and will also introduce a raft of binding targets governing emissions from cars, oil refineries, buildings and landfill sites.
The primary mechanism for achieving the targets will be the adoption of a regional carbon cap-and-trade scheme, known as the Western Climate Initiative, as part of a wider coalition of western states and Canadian provinces designed to put a price on carbon emissions for the most polluting industries.
California Adopts Tough Climate Plan Despite Economic Downturn
Solar panels have been built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) surrounding the Rancho Seco nuclear power station near Sacramento, California. Local voters in 1989 elected to close the nuclear plant as it was similar to the ill fated Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California on Thursday adopted the nation’s most sweeping plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, issuing rules that could transform everything from the way factories operate to the appliances people buy and the fuel they put in their cars.
The Air Resources Board unanimously approved the plan despite warnings it will put costly new burdens on businesses at a time when the economy is in extreme crisis, with California forecasting a staggering budget gap of $41.8 billion through mid-2010.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he believes the regulations will spur the state’s economy and serve as a model for the rest of the country.
California Strategies To Meet Climate Goals
Solar photovoltaic pumping installation on a California roof.
California air regulators this week are poised to adopt a global warming plan outlining how the state will cut its greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years. The Air Resources Board says emissions must be cut by nearly a third to meet the targets mandated in a 2006 law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If the plan is adopted, it will provide a broad outline for specific rules that state air regulators will consider in the coming years. The first requirements will take effect in 2012.
Here are some of the strategies for how California plans to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, or roughly a third of current levels:
