Dive Brief:
- California lawmakers voted this week to pass Senate Bill 32, which seeks to extend greenhouse gas emissions targets to 2030, the Mercury News reports.
- The legislation included a requirement that a companion bill (AB 197) be passed and signed by the governor. AB 197 would place new limits on the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Both bills await Gov. Jerry Brown's signature.
- The Mercurcy News reports the measure may help stabilize California's cap-and-trade market; Gov. Brown announced last month that CARB has proposed a plan to extend the state's cap-and-trade program through 2050.
Dive Insight:
California lawmakers' efforts to enshrine emissions targets in state law took a big step forward this week, extending the state's climate goals to 2030 despite heavy pushback from fossil fuel interests.
“Yesterday, big oil bought a full-page ad in the capital city's newspaper of record to halt action on climate," the governor said in a statement. "Today, the Assembly Speaker, most Democrats and one brave Republican passed SB 32, rejecting the brazen deception of the oil lobby and their Trump-inspired allies who deny science and fight every reasonable effort to curb global warming."
Brown first set the state on a course to reduce greenhouse emissions by 40% by 2030, relative to 1990 levels, in an executive order. CARB, which implements the state's energy goals, has said its amended cap-and-trade program would set decreasing emissions caps for covered entities through 2031, to reach 40% reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
California’s cap-and-trade program is the second largest in the world outside of Europe; it began operating in 2012 and currently requires a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. But the state's most recent carbon allowance auction fell short of expectations, leaving the state millions of dollars short of its revenue expectations because emissions are already projected to be below the 2020 cap.
