Newson pulls out of trip to UN climate conference
SACRAMENTO » Unspecified “family obligations” prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday to suddenly cancel his trip to Scotland for the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, a huge gathering of international leaders on a subject that is among his highest priorities.
Newsom, who has four children ages 5 to 12, will participate in the gathering virtually, spokesperson Erin Mellon said. Mellon declined to comment when asked to provide details about what prompted Newsom to change his plans.
Newsom asked Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a fellow Democrat, to lead California’s delegation to Glasgow. In an interview with The Associated Press, Kounalakis said she spoke to Newsom on Thursday and had a sense she might be asked to go.
“The governor has a young family and we should all be understanding, especially those of us who have been there,” said Kounalakis, who has two grown sons.
Democratic state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, who is attending the conference, said he suspects Newsom is very disappointed to not be going.
“He loves this issue, he cares about it a lot,” Hertzberg said. “It’s a big deal to him, and I’m sure he desperately wanted to go.”
Newsom has spoken passionately
about the need to act decisively on climate change issues. Last month, while touring damage from one of the state’s many recent major wildfires, he said: “I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers,” adding: that view is “completely inconsistent ... with the reality on the ground.”
California has long been a global leader on climate issues, dating back to the 1960s when the state first regulated emissions for cars and trucks. While President Donald Trump was in office, California filed more than 100 lawsuits against the federal government, mostly over environmental issues.
Newsom has sought to extend California’s influence further through a series of ambitious executive orders that, should they survive a lengthy and contentious rule-making process, could fundamentally
change how people live. So far, Newsom has proposed a ban on the sale of all new gas-powered cars in California by 2035, a ban on all oil drilling by 2045 and outlawing the sale of gaspowered lawn equipment by 2024 or whenever state regulators determine that is feasible.
Most recently, Newsom proposed a prohibition on new oil and gas drilling within 3,200 feet (975 meters) of schools, homes and hospitals in what would be the largest buffer zone in the country in a state that is the country’s seventh-largest oil producer.
Newsom not attending the conference in person will impact the state’s influence “to an extent,” said state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Los Angeles-area Democrat. But he said Newsom doesn’t need to be in Scotland to be a leader on climate change.