Media Availability with Premiers of Ontario and Quebec Added to Schedule
TORONTO – Seeking to further collaboration amongst states and provinces to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ahead of this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will join other international leaders, including former U.S. vice president and Nobel laureate Al Gore and former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón, to deliver keynote remarks at the Climate Summit of the Americas tomorrow in Toronto, Canada. Governor Brown will also participate in a media availability with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard ahead of his remarks tomorrow.
“California and Ontario are working hand-in-hand to pave the road to Paris by convening states and provinces committed to doing their part,” said Governor Brown. “This is a call to arms in the fight against climate change and the Climate Summit of the Americas is another step forward.”
Media Availability
When: Tomorrow, July 8, 2015 at approximately 11:00 a.m. EST
Where: Fairmont Royal York, Salon B, 100 Front Street West, Toronto, Canada
Keynote Address
When: Tomorrow, July 8, 2015 at approximately 1:00 p.m. EST
Where: Fairmont Royal York, Concert Hall, 100 Front Street West, Toronto, Canada
**NOTE: Media seeking accreditation for these events should email forumamericas-media@globalpublic.com for more information.
In May, Governor Brown convened leaders from states and provinces around the world to sign a first-of-its-kind agreement, called the “Under 2 MOU,” to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius – the warming threshold at which scientists say there will likely be catastrophic climate disruptions. Since then, additional states and provinces signed onto the agreement in June and July. To date, 17 states and provinces in nine countries and four continents have signed the agreement, collectively representing more than $5 trillion in GDP and 120 million people.
Earlier this year, Governor Brown issued an executive order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 – the most ambitious target in North America – and is consistent with California’s existing commitment to reduce emissions 80 percent under 1990 levels by 2050. The Under 2 MOU also builds on other international climate change pacts with leaders from Mexico, China, North America, Japan, Israel and Peru. Governor Brown also helped convene hundreds of world-renowned researchers and scientists to issue a groundbreaking call to action – called the consensus statement – which translates key scientific climate findings from disparate fields into one unified document.
In his inaugural address earlier this year, Governor Brown announced that within the next 15 years, California will increase from one-third to 50 percent our electricity derived from renewable sources; reduce today’s petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent; double the efficiency savings from existing buildings and make heating fuels cleaner; reduce the release of methane, black carbon and other potent pollutants across industries; and manage farm and rangelands, forests and wetlands so they can store carbon. The impacts of climate change are already being felt in California and will disproportionately impact the state’s most vulnerable populations.
Additional information on the Climate Summit of the Americas is available here.