Brown, Bloomberg team up to collect data on emissions
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown continues to add to his resume as global climate crusader, announcing Wednesday a partnership with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to measure how states, cities and businesses are cutting their greenhouse gas emissions.
The initiative is yet another repudiation by Brown of President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate. Last week, the governor told an international audience that Trump “doesn’t speak for the rest of us” on global warming, and announced plans to host a climate summit in San Francisco next year.
Brown also assumed the role of quasi-ambassador in a recent trip to China, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing to discuss climate change. And in Sacramento, Brown hosted the Fijian prime minister, the president of this year’s United Nations conference on climate change, who bestowed on the governor the title of “special advisor for states and regions” for a November confab in Germany.
As Brown draws more attention to global efforts on climate, he is battling in Sacramento to win approval for his plan to extend the state’s most high-profile tool to combat global warming, the cap-and-trade system.
His proposal, unveiled earlier this week, faced a lukewarm reception among lawmakers and ambivalence among environmentalists, who are torn between the need for the most stringent possible regulations and promoting a program that holds broad political appeal. Legislators are expected to vote on the plan Monday.