NEW HAVEN, CT – After opening Climate Week NYC and meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York City yesterday, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today joined former Secretary of State John Kerry, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, World Bank President Dr. Jim Kim and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo at the Yale Climate Conference in New Haven, Connecticut to highlight state, city and business-led efforts to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Later in the day, Governor Brown returned to New York City and signed an agreement with Denmark to further cooperation on water and climate issues.
“We have the science, we have a growing number of chief executives and a growing number of people all over the world,” said Governor Brown at the Yale Climate Conference. “The knowledge is here, the solution is at hand – all you have to do is get it done.”
Governor Brown later met with Danish Minister of Environment and Food Esben Lunde Larsen in New York City and signed an agreement to further cooperation between California and Denmark on water and climate issues. Under the agreement, California and Denmark commit to exchanging technology, research and best practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased energy efficiency in the distribution of water and in wastewater treatment, as well as to promote water conservation and sustainable groundwater management. A copy of the agreement signed today can be found here.
Yesterday, Governor Brown met with United Nations Secretary-General Guterres at the United Nations Headquarters, delivered remarks at the opening ceremony for Climate Week NYC 2017 and discussed the growing importance of climate action from subnational governments and the business community at events with other global climate leaders, including France’s Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition Nicolas Hulot, former Vice President Al Gore and Michael Bloomberg. On Sunday, the Governor welcomed the Republic of the Marshall Islands and nine other U.S. and international states and jurisdictions to the Under2 Coalition, which now collectively represents more than 1.2 billion people and $28.8 trillion GDP – equivalent to over 16 percent of the global population and 39 percent of the global economy.
Tomorrow, Governor Brown will join Michael Bloomberg and other global business leaders and government officials at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum to discuss economic opportunity in decarbonizing the economy. The Governor will also join other U.S. Climate Alliance governors to announce that the alliance states are on track to meet their share of the U.S. commitment under the Paris Agreement and to release a new analysis tracking the states’ emissions across all economic sectors. More information on the Governor’s itinerary this week can be found here.
California’s Climate Leadership
Governor Brown continues to build strong coalitions of partners committed to curbing carbon pollution in both the United States through the U.S. Climate Alliance and around the globe with the Under2 Coalition. The Governor also launched America’s Pledge on climate change with Michael Bloomberg to help compile and quantify the actions of states, cities and businesses in the U.S. to drive down emissions. In September 2018, the State of California will convene the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, where representatives from subnational governments, businesses and civil society will gather with the direct goal of supporting the Paris Agreement. In November, the Governor is expected to take part in a climate symposium organized by the Vatican and in this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, ahead of which he was named Special Advisor for States and Regions.
Earlier this month, Governor Brown called for deeper Trans-Pacific collaboration on climate change at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia. This followed meetings in June with China’s President Xi Jinping during the Governor’s week-long trip to China and with Germany’s top environmental official, Barbara Hendricks, in San Francisco. The Governor’s efforts to broaden subnational collaboration on climate in recent years also include international agreements signed with leaders from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Mexico, China, North America, Japan, Israel, Peru, Chile, Australia, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Fiji, Norway and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Reaffirming California’s pioneering climate leadership, Governor Brown signed landmark legislation in July that that extends and improves the state’s world-leading cap-and-trade program and establishes a groundbreaking program to measure and combat air pollution at the neighborhood level. In recent years, Governor Brown has signed legislation establishing the most ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in North America; setting the nation’s toughest restrictions on destructive super pollutants; directing cap-and-trade funds to greenhouse gas reducing programs which benefit disadvantaged communities, support clean transportation and protect natural ecosystems; and requiring the state to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and double the rate of energy efficiency savings in buildings.
Photo captions:
1.) Governor Brown meets with Minister Lunde Larsen.
2.) Governor Brown speaks at Yale Climate Conference alongside Kerry (left) and Kim (right.)
For high-resolution copies of these photos, contact Danella Debel at Danella.Debel@gov.ca.gov.