California must accelerate leadership on climate change

Climate change once felt distant, wonky and theoretical. No more. Now it’s too close for comfort. Last year’s wildfires, which charred 4.2 million acres and caused several thousand smokerelated deaths, showed millions of Californians that we have to make big changes fast.

In a groundbreaking paper several of the world’s leading climate scientists have detailed the alarming acceleration of the climate crisis and provided policy solutions to transport California from a fiery climate hell to an equitable climate-safe future. Authored by respected scientists such as Dan Kammen at UC Berkeley and Veerabhadran Ramanathan at Scripps Institute, the paper makes clear why California’s current climate targets are outdated.

If we are to avoid dust bowl conditions and severe economic hardship, the report urges California to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits by 2030, 15 years ahead of the state’s current commitment. The report also maintains California must cut greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2030, doubling the state’s current commitment of 40%. It makes it clear we must aggressively expedite the removal of carbon dioxide already dumped into the atmosphere through sequestration in natural and working lands.

In addition, the report urges a rapid reduction in climate super pollutants such as methane, black soot (mostly from diesel trucks and wildfires) and hydrofluorocarbons. These super pollutants are much more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat, so substantial reductions now will buy us time to make longer-term improvements to buildings and transportation.

To reach these goals, the authors and the greater scientific community urge a number of aggressive measures, including:

• Attaching “feebates” to the purchase of energy-consuming devices and practices, including vehicles, appliances and travel. The fees levied are applied directly as subsidies to similar-inclass goods and services that are lower emitting.

• Retrofitting all diesel vehicles to produce soot-free trucking while we work on the longerterm problem of converting to electric and perhaps hydrogenpowered trucks.

• Providing credits for cleanvehicle purchases or leases or for mass transit and other sustainable forms of transportation.

• Banning food waste from landfills, a major source of methane.

• Taking immediate action to seal leaking gas pipes and orphan wells, to reduce methane from the production and distribution of fossil gas.

Measures such as these have an enormous upside, spurring investment, creating jobs and catalyzing new industries, and increasing our global competitiveness. Moreover, by embracing such policies, California can leverage its position as the fifthlargest economy in the world and set an example for other states and nations to follow and help create a market for low-carbonemitting products and services.

Inaction simply isn’t an option any longer — it’s too costly. A new economic impact report on the 2018 fires in California estimated their cost at $150 billion. However, another study shows that $80 billion invested in climate measures in California would generate about 727,000 new jobs.

Traditionally, California has been a leader on climate, but now it must be said we have fallen behind others such as the European Union and the conservative government in Great Britain.

To correct our course, there are two actions every Californian can take in honor of Earth Day:

• Endorse “Climate Safe California,” an initiative of Joint Venture Silicon Valley and The Climate Center urging California leaders to adopt more aggressive targets and introduce solutions at speed and at scale.

• Support Senate Bill 582, introduced by state Sen. Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, which would codify net-negative emissions by 2035 for the first time ever in California.

For the sake of the planet and our progeny, please join us in supporting these efforts and in making our voices heard in Sacramento.