Show the world the way

Gov. Jerry Brown assumed the mantle of America’s leader on climate change again on Thursday, announcing that California will host a global warming summit in September 2018.

The governor’s office said that the idea behind the summit, which will be held in San Francisco, is to galvanize action from both world leaders and influential organizations ahead of the U.N. Climate Conference in 2018.

The purpose of the United Nations’ December 2018 conference is to decide implementation strategies for the Paris agreement on climate change.

For many different reasons, the United States should have been a leader at this conference. The Obama administration played a crucial role in negotiating the Paris agreement; the country that leads the negotiations of the agreement’s implementation will play a critical role in global affairs for decades to come.

But with President Trump’s announcement that the United States will pull out of the Paris agreement, the U.S. may be missing in action at the 2018 conference and beyond.

Brown’s announcement makes it clear that California intends to remain at the table, no matter what’s happening in Washington.

It’s a great idea to host a climate change conference in San Francisco ahead of the United Nations’ important global conference.

Doing so will strengthen California’s ties with our current climate partners abroad, and possibly enable the state to forge further partnerships.

It’ll also give the Bay Area’s scientists, climate change organizations and Silicon Valley innovators the opportunity to participate in this moment of global change and consensus.

Finally, it may provide support and guidance to the many U.S. cities that pledged to continue honoring the Paris agreement despite Trump’s announcement.

All of these potential outcomes would be positive for both California and the planet.

Still, Brown can’t forget to focus on climate change at home.

In 2015, the governor signed legislation requiring California to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Brown is also determined to reduce petroleum use in vehicles by as much as 50 percent in the next 15 years.

Those are worthy, aggressive goals, and Sacramento was brave to set them.

But the path to achieving them is still strewn with obstacles.

Proposed deadlines for an extension of California’s groundbreaking cap and trade program have come and gone. The state Legislature — as well as the state’s environmental and industry groups — remains deeply divided on how to do it.

Reducing petroleum use will almost certainly require some sacrifice from drivers. Yet there’s been little effort to increase buy-in from voters. The recent gas tax package, passed to fund transportation projects, is wildly unpopular, and one Republican Assemblyman has already pledged to put a repeal on the statewide ballot.

With less than two years left on his final term, Brown must remember to shore up support for climate change at home — as well as abroad.