Gov. Brown issues order to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions
Currently in the midst of four consecutive years of exceptional drought, California is experiencing first-hand the real-life implications of a warming climate. Before the order, the state was already on track to “meet or exceed” targets for reducing CO2 emissions to pre-1990 levels in the next five years. But with Gov. Brown’s new executive order, California should be able to reach 40% below 1990-levels by 2030, making it possible to achieve a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. These goals are oriented around the scientific consensus of the need to limit global warming to a pivotal 2˚ Celsius mark – the threshold for what’s known as “runaway climate change,” or unpredictable, chain-reactive climate events.
