LOS ANGELES – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will deliver keynote remarks tomorrow in Los Angeles at the opening plenary session of the U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit, the first official convening of U.S. and Chinese subnational leaders on climate change under the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group.
The event is hosted by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and will also feature keynote remarks from Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
When: Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 15, 2015 9:00 AM PT
Where: JW Marriott L.A. Live, Diamond Ballroom, 900 W. Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90015
**NOTE: Credentialed media interested in attending the summit must RSVP to Kristen Caloca at KCaloca@mercuryllc.com. Additional background on the summit can be found here.
As the clock ticks for national governments to reach a deal to reduce harmful emissions ahead of the conference in Paris, Governor Brown continues to focus on building and broadening collaboration amongst states and provinces, at the “subnational level.” To that end, the Governor traveled to the Vatican in Italy and the Climate Summit of the Americas in Toronto, Canada in July to call on the world’s cities, states and provinces to join California in the fight. At the summit, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard signed the “Under 2 MOU,” a first-of-its-kind agreement amongst states and provinces around the world 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 the agreement was first signed at a Sacramento ceremony in May, other states and provinces joined in June, July and September, with a total of 21 signatories in nine countries and four continents committing to action, collectively representing more than $5.4 trillion in GDP and 138 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 consistent with California’s existing commitment to reduce emissions 80 percent under 1990 levels by 2050. The Under 2 MOU 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 this year, Governor Brown announced that within the next 15 years, California will increase from one-third to 50 percent the 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.
Significant diplomatic and business exchanges between California and China over the past two years include a climate change agreement with China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the Trade and Investment Mission to China, the opening of the California-China Office of Trade and Investment in Shanghai and a meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping.