California unveils plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2045
California unveils plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2045
A team of top climate scientists, led by Professor John P. Holdren, Jr., has released a report that outlines a comprehensive strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 in the state of California. The report found that emissions reductions of more than 90 percent below 1990 levels are possible by midcentury.
“This report is a watershed moment for our nation’s climate change problem,” said Professor Holdren, who is vice president for research at Stanford University and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. “We need to make decisive and aggressive climate policy decisions and to get our carbon-polluting energy system at zero carbon. In California, we are on the cusp of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make an enormous dent in the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to dangerous climate change.”
In the report, the researchers examined the effects of 2045 on climate change and the carbon budget of California’s electricity sector. In the report, they found that the current electricity system is a carbon dioxide emitter in the same category as the coal power plants that are a major source of climate change in the United States today. The report concluded that the current system is not adequate in meeting the state’s climate change goals and that California’s electricity sector could be further transformed to cut emissions by as much as 35 percent below 2007 levels and make up for more than 12 percent of the state’s energy supply.
The report was written by a team of about 300 scientists from around the world, in collaboration with energy and environmental experts as well as the California Energy Commission.
“We’ve just passed the 20th century’s peak in carbon dioxide emissions, and we must change our energy systems to cut them by 70 percent, or more than 1,000 megatons per year,” said California Energy Commission Executive Director Brian Kelley. “This report makes clear that our current energy system alone cannot meet
