SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Ahead of a summit this week meant to galvanize regional action on climate change, Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed legislation that would put California on the path to eliminating fossil fuels from its energy sector.
Senate Bill 100 speeds up the state's timeline for moving to renewable energy sources like solar and wind, and requires that all retail electricity be generated from renewables by 2045. California is the second state to adopt such a goal, after Hawaii.
"It's not going to be easy. It will not be immediate. But it must be done," Brown said at a signing ceremony in Sacramento. "California is committed to doing whatever is necessary to meet the existential threat of climate change."
The measure is a symbolic strike against the Trump administration, which has pulled back from United States efforts to confront climate change by withdrawing from a global accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, loosening fuel economy standards and weakening rules to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants.
"Today California sends an unmistakable message to the nation and the world: Regardless of who occupies the White House, California will always lead on climate change," state Sen. Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat who carried SB 100, said.
Opponents, including utilities and oil companies, argued that SB 100 would not make a substantial difference as the planet continues to warm, while harming workers in fossil fuel industries and raising electricity prices for consumers.
Brown has focused in his final years in office on making California a worldwide leader on climate policy. He has previously supported efforts to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and to shore up the cap-and-trade system that requires polluters to buy permits for their emissions.
The Global Climate Action Summit, which he will host later this week in San Francisco, was organized to encourage regional bodies, such as cities and states, to step up their own efforts to fight climate change where national governments have failed to act.
At the signing ceremony, Brown also announced an executive order directing California to achieve carbon neutrality, meaning it would remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it emits, also by 2045.
Brown said the state would reach this goal by continuing to reduce its emissions and by increasing carbon sequestration in forests, soils and other natural landscapes.
