California Prepared to Put Climate Change Law into Action

Roughly four years after passing one of the most important state climate bills in the United States, California is moving forward to implement a program that will reduce carbon emissions contributing to climate change. This week the state government unveiled important details about how AB 32, the state climate bill, will be implemented. Starting in 2012, most major polluters in California will participate in a "cap and trade" program that uses market incentives to gradually facilitate a shift to clean energy sources.

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 32 into law in 2006, the bill included a mandate that state regulators develop a cap and trade program to restrict carbon emissions by January 1st, 2011. Now California's Air Resources Board is moving to do just that. Starting in 2012 major polluters will be given tradable carbon emissions allowances, and the number of allowances available will gradually decrease over time. By 2020, the goal is to reduce statewide carbon emissions to their 1990 levels.

Not everything about the program is as good for the climate as it could be: disappointingly, the Air Resource Board ignored the advice of its own economic advisers, and will start out in 2012 by issuing most pollution allowances for free instead of auctioning them off. The funds generating from an auction could have been invested in other state clean energy programs, while making companies pay for allowances from the beginning would of course provide even more incentive to curb carbon emissions. However despite this missed opportunity, it's overall hugely encouraging to see the most highly populated state in the US moving forward with a plan to fight climate change.

Advocates of the fossil fuel industries unsurprisingly claim implementing the climate bill will hurt the economy at a time of economic trouble. However this argument sounds a bit hollow, considering California voters just agreed by an overwhelming margin to move forward with the cap and trade program. In an effort to stall initiatives that curb climate change, the fossil fuel industries earlier this year tried to pass a ballot initiative that would have put AB 32 on hold. The infamous Prop 23 was soundly rejected by California voters, in what amounts to a public mandate for proceeding to regulate carbon emissions.

Many voters seem to have opposed the ballot measure partly because they believe curbing climate change will spur innovation in clean technologies and green jobs. Sure enough, while the rest of California suffers under the economic downturn, the clean tech sector has been growing ten times faster than any part of the economy. It now remains to be seen how effectively all the components of the cap and trade system will be implemented over the next several years. However with incoming governor Jerry Brown pledging to help grow the state's clean economy, it seems the law has secured both popular support and a governor who will probably be ready to enforce it.

If California's cap and trade program is a success, it could provide a model for others states looking to cut carbon emissions, not to mention the federal government. Earlier this year the US Senate failed to pass its own version of a national cap and trade climate change program, but perhaps next time the outcome will be different. If voters in California—one of the states hardest hit by the recession—can make the connection that curbing climate change is also good for the economy, member of the US Senate should be able to connect the same dots. In moving forward with its climate law, California is setting a precedent that will resound across the US and beyond.

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