Investing in global warming solutions

It’s time for California to make a large, long-term investment in clean energy technologies that will solve global warming. Solar power, high-speed trains, zero-energy homes—these are the technologies that will drive our transition to a clean energy economy and ultimately solve the climate crisis.

Environment California is working to get the Schwarzenegger administration to create a $1 billion-plus per-year Global Warming Solutions Fund to invest in solar, wind, energy efficiency and other technologies that will put California on a path to reducing global warming emissions 25 percent by 2020.

Make polluters pay

As California leads the way on global warming, a big challenge is deciding how to pay for investments to replace our biggest sources of pollution. Environment California is supporting a plan to fund clean energy by making polluters pay for every ton of global warming pollution they emit, while continuing to push forward with strong policies to require increased production of clean, renewable electricity and energy efficiency.

As the Schwarzenegger administration considers a “cap-and-trade” program to cut pollution, Environment California is working to ensure that polluters pay for 100 percent of their emissions.

“Making polluters pay is the cleanest, cheapest and smartest way to cut global warming pollution,” said Environment California Advocate Jason Barbose. “After decades of government subsidies to fossil fuel industries, it’s time to level the playing field and reward clean technology.”

Environment California supports using revenue from polluters to:
•    Invest in clean energy research and development, and the deployment of renewable energy technologies;
•    Reduce costs for consumers with investments in energy efficiency and annual rebates;
•    Support development of “green collar” jobs through training and outreach programs; and
•    Support pollution reductions in California’s most polluted communities.

It’s time to act

The scientific consensus is in and public awareness is on the rise—it’s time to tackle global warming head on. From dangerous heat waves and shrinking snowpack, to intense winter storms and increased summer smog, California will suffer irreversible consequences unless we reduce the amount of global warming pollution we emit.

The simple truth is that solving global warming means kicking our dependence on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the combustion of fossil fuels—oil, gas and coal—accounts for 88 percent of California’s global warming pollution. Furthermore, California is the 12th largest source of global warming pollution in the world.

With global warming threatening our future, energy prices surging, and war raging in the Middle East, we need to change course now and move beyond fossil fuels.