Climate activists are happy to see the California Assembly voted unanimously in favor of proposition C, which requires California to obtain all of its energy from clean, carbon-free electricity by the year 2045. The state of California is the world’s fifth largest economy, and it frequently sets progressive environmental targets.
California has the most rigorous laws related to super pollutants such as methane and black carbon, and the it became a star of the American energy economy by setting minimum greenhouse gas emissions goals to lower emissions at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
California will be called the wealthiest and most populous region to finance the transformation of its electrical power grids into greenhouse gas-free energy. As Senator Francis de León informed his fellow Senators before Wednesday’s vote, that’s only the beginning of the energizing process. The state still has a lot of work covering automobile emissions and buildings emissions.
California’s wealthy and most populous state, committed to energy in its entirety by carbon-free electricity, will signal a significant energy shift across the country.
“It’s a real monumental time in California history, and maybe this will mark a turning point for the country,” said Dan Jacobson, state director for Environment California and a supporter of the bill.
“Setting such a bold and aspirational goal for California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, would catalyze the research and investment needed to achieve a clean, carbon-free electricity system and help create a blueprint for others to follow,” they wrote. As the Wall Street Journalnoted, the state also imported about 30 percent of its electricity generation last year.
As the response to serious grid issues, California and other states, in addition to Tesla, designed and implemented a large-scale, 165-gigawatt battery system for shorter durations of backup power grids.
California is the second state to move to zero-emissions electricity in the United States. In 2015, Hawai?i passed a bill to transition the state to 100% renewable energy by 2045. A bill has been recently being considered in Massachusetts by legislators that would call for the state’s power to be fully powered by renewable sources by 2047.
“After another summer of record-breaking wildfires driven by extreme heat, Californians know that the calamitous consequences of climate change are upon us—and that it would be folly not to do whatever we can to keep those consequences from becoming worse,” wrote Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low and Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which is among the supporters of the California 100% Clean Energy Coalition, were at the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday.
The impact would be felt beyond state boundaries, as the number of renowned scientists and researchers who had backed the measure recently was noted.
The cost of generating adequate storage in order to preserve the zero-emissions energy system hasn’t been determined. Recent batteries are capable of delivering a four-hour duration of energy input, but more prolonged or lasting storage remains a challenge for the industry.
“Moving to a clean energy economy will bring on a new era of prosperity that leaves no workers behind, protects our health and our communities, and creates new jobs and opportunities for people across the country.” —Michael Brune, Sierra Club
California previously decided to abolish its nuclear energy resources. Diablo Canyon, which single-handedly supplies 9 percent of the state’s power, must be closed down by 2025. The previous week, a bill mandated that 2 gigawatts of plant capacity be replaced by electrical generation’s renewable source, so the effort involved in that effort will not diminish thereafter.
Gasification might be identified as a low-carbon technology, but it could nevertheless encounter opposition as California establishes an environment for sustainable energy. Such technologies presently operate in a few locations, but aren’t yet widely used.
“Ongoing wildfires fueled by record-high temperatures and drier conditions exacerbated by climate change have shown us that we can’t wait any longer to tackle the climate crisis and move to clean energy,” added Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “Moving to a clean energy economy will bring on a new era of prosperity that leaves no workers behind, protects our health and our communities, and creates new jobs and opportunities for people across the country.”
Already boasting nearly 500,000 clean energy industry and the largest manufacturing corridor in the United States, California has shown that it runs on sustainable energy.
“We would not have smashed our divestment targets without the thousands of local groups who have pressured their representatives to pull out of fossil fuels.”
Ahead of a historic summit in Cape Town this week and the global climate strike planned for Sept. 20, the environmental group 350.org announced Monday that the international movement demanding divestment from fossil fuels and investment in clean energy had secured commitments from more than 1,110 institutions with over $11 trillion in assets.
“What began as a moral call to action by students is now a mainstream financial response to growing climate risk to portfolios, the people, and the planet,” the report explains. “Assets committed to divestment have leaped from $52 billion in 2014 to more than $11 trillion today—a stunning increase of 22,000 percent.”
“Institutions committed to divestment include sovereign wealth funds, banks, global asset managers and insurance companies, cities, pension funds, healthcare organizations, universities, faith groups, and foundations,” according to the report. “The momentum has been driven by a people-powered grassroots movement, ordinary people on every continent pushing their local institutions to take a stand against the fossil fuel industry and for a world powered by 100 percent renewable energy.”
In a joint statement Monday, report co-author Ahmed Mokgopo reiterated the vital role that local pressure has played in securing institutions’ divestment commitments.
“These numbers are strong indicators that people power is winning,” said Mokgopo, an Africa regional divestment campaigner at 350.org. “We would not have smashed our divestment targets without the thousands of local groups who have pressured their representatives to pull out of fossil fuels.”
Mokgopo also expressed excitement about Financing the Future, a global divest-invest summit in Cape Town that kicks off Tuesday with more 300 delegates from 44 countries. “Working together at this summit, the first of its kind in the global south, we will identify the tools we need to change the choices made by financial institutions, and exchange resources that will help us align capital with climate goals,” he said.
“The summit’s location in Cape Town, a hotbed of divestment campaigning during the apartheid era, underscores the parallels between the movement for climate justice and ongoing campaigns for social, racial, and gender justice,” the joint statement said. With the event, organizers aim to build power among divestment campaigners worldwide with a particular focus on the 850 million people who currently lack access to electricity.
Mokgopo was among the slate of speakers—including Amnesty International secretary-general Kumi Naidoo and Clara Vondrich, another report co-author and director of DivestInvest—at a press conference in Cape Town Monday to discuss the report.
Amnesty’s Naidoo emphasized that “the struggle for climate justice is a struggle for fundamental human rights.”
“Every person facing deeper levels of drought, stronger hurricanes, or conflict has been wronged by these fossil fuel companies,” he said. “Their rights to health, water, food, housing, and even life have been harmed, which is why Amnesty International has decided to divest from fossil fuel companies.”
Vondrich of DivestInvest noted that “institutional investors literally have the power to make or break the future” because “money lies behind every decision to expand or contract the fossil fuel industry, to slow or accelerate the clean energy transition.”
“There is no more time for shareholder engagement with the fossil fuel industry that is digging and burning us past climate tipping points of no return,” Vondrich added. “It’s time to divest. What side of history are you on?”
The divestment report and summit come as campaigners calling for bold efforts to battle the climate crisis are planning protests worldwide to coincide with an upcoming United Nations climate summit in New York City. The week of action will begin with a global climate strike on Sept. 20.
ICYMI: Here are the US demands for the Sept 20-27 Global #ClimateStrike
A Greenpeace campaigner said the country ultimately “needs to move towards phasing out all non-essential plastics” for sake of the planet.
Environmental campaigners on Monday welcomed the Canadian government’s new plan to ban certain single-use plastics as early as 2021 and work with provinces and territories to make corporations responsible for their plastic waste.
“Ultimately Canada needs to move towards phasing out all non-essential plastics if we are going to truly reduce the awful plastic legacy we are leaving for future generations of all life on this planet,” Sarah King of Greenpeace Canada said in a statement. “The federal government’s announcements mark the first step in an essential journey to break free from plastic.”
Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter, who also praised the plan in a statement, said that “bans on single-use plastics will help address the growing threat of microplastics in our food, water, and air—the health effects of which are unknown. They also send a powerful signal that the world does not welcome more climate-damaging fracked gas to create plastic.”
Pointing to a Food & Water Watch report released last week that detailed how the petrochemical and other industries help drive fracking for natural gas, Hauter explained that “there is a symbiotic relationship between plastic manufacturing and the fracking industry. Any regulation that curbs one industry will help decrease pollution from the other.”
A statement Monday from the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described widespread plastic pollution as “a global challenge that requires immediate action” and outlined the broad goals of the government’s plan. Across Canada, people throw away more than 3 million tons of plastic waste per year, and about a third of all plastics are single-use items like straws and shopping bags.
“Canadians know first-hand the impacts of plastic pollution, and are tired of seeing their beaches, parks, streets, and shorelines littered with plastic waste,” Trudeau said. “We have a responsibility to work with our partners to reduce plastic pollution, protect the environment, and create jobs and grow our economy. “We owe it to our kids to keep the environment clean and safe for generations to come.”
Trudeau’s government intends to work with political and business partners throughout the North American country to:
ban harmful single-use plastics as early as 2021 (such as plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates, and stir sticks) where supported by scientific evidence and warranted, and take other steps to reduce pollution from plastic products and packaging; and
work with provinces and territories to introduce standards and targets for companies that manufacture plastic products or sell items with plastic packaging so they become responsible for their plastic waste.
The prime minister spoke about the plan in a speech Monday at the Gault Nature Reserve in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, outside Montreal. CBCreported:
Trudeau said the government will research the question of which items it should ban and follow the model chosen by the European Union, which voted in March to ban plastic items for which market alternatives exist—such as single-use plastic cutlery and plates—and items made of oxo-degradable plastics, such as bags. (Oxo-degradable plastics aren’t really biodegradable; they contain additives that cause the plastic to fragment without breaking down chemically.)
Greenpeace Canada—noting that the government’s statement mentioned a few specific single-use products that may be banned—called for phasing out all “problematic and unnecessary plastics,” including PVC, bags, bottles, straws, utensils, expanded polystyrene, cups and lids, multilayered wrappers, and take-out containers.
“We know the science and real-world evidence is clear that single-use plastics and waste is toxic, infiltrating food chains and even the air we breathe,” said King. “Acting now to ban the most problematic and unnecessary plastics while holding corporations accountable for the waste problem they have created can set us on a better course. But the government must act as quickly as possible so this announcement isn’t a single-use election promise.”
Climate strikes over the last seven days drew over 6.6 million people into the streets around the world, putting the week-long action on par with the 2003 global protest against the U.S.-lead invasion of Iraq.
Friday’s 600,000 strong demonstration in Montreal made the total number of people who took part in the seven days of action “almost certainly the largest demonstration our planet has yet seen about climate change,” said 350.org founder Bill McKibben.
Almost certainly the largest demonstration our planet has yet seen about climate change. (And on a weekday!) Thank you Canada. https://t.co/Njepzx6SyC
From 20th to 27th of September, 1.4 million people took to the streets in Germany, over 1 million in Italy, over 600,000 in Canada, over 500,000 in the United States, 350,000 in Australia and another 350,000 in the United Kingdom, 195,000 in France, 170,000 in New Zealand, 150,000 in Austria, 50,000 in Ireland, 70,000 in Sweden, 42,000 in the Netherlands, 20,000 in Brazil, 21,000 in Finland, 15,000 in Peru, 13,000 in Mexico, 13,000 in India, 10,000 in Denmark, 10,000 in Turkey, 10,000 in Pakistan, 6,000 in Hungary, 5,000 in South Korea, 5,000 in Japan, 5,000 in South Africa, more than 3,500 in Chile, 3,000 in the Pacific, 2,000 in Singapore and much more, since many locations are still striking and the final count is not yet confirmed.
“The week of Global Climate Strikes is on par with the 2003 anti-Iraq war protest as one of the largest coordinated global protests in history,” 350 said.
“We strike because we believe there is no Planet B and that we should do everything in our power to stop this crisis,” Fridays for Future Turkey organizer Atlas Sarrafo?lu said. “Otherwise my dreams of having a happy future will be taken away from me as well as all the other kids all over the world.”
Organizers of the global movement said that they were pleased with the turnout and that the movement wasn’t going anywhere.
“This week was a demonstration of the power of our movement,” said Fridays For Future International. “It was inspiring and historic. People power is more powerful than the people in power.”
“It was the biggest ever climate mobilization, and it’s only the beginning,” the group said. “The momentum is on our side and we are not going anywhere.”
350 executive director May Boeve said that the climate actions would continue until policies improve.
“We will keep fighting until the politicians stop ignoring the science, and the fossil fuel companies are held responsible for their crimes against our future, as they should have been decades ago,” said Boeve.
Photo credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images Originally published by Common Dreams
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