Less than a week after Trump pulled the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, California Governor Jerry Brown stepped up, attending an international summit on clean energy. The meeting included other members from cities, states and provinces dedicated to fighting climate change. These smaller governments definitely have a seat at the table, all involved in Brown’s international accord known as Under 2 Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, named for its goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. The initiative is expected to reduce emissions at faster rates than called for under the Paris agreement on global warming. China’s top negotiator at the summit was eager to praise the work that’s been done by California.
According to Governor Brown, California has “more skilled people working on air pollution than the EPA itself in Washington.”
Under Washington’s now controversial stance on climate issues, California is emerging as the nation’s de facto negotiator with the world on the environment. And the state’s not backing down anytime soon, definitely not to Trump. The state pushes back on everything from White House efforts to roll back pollution rules on tailpipes and smokestacks, to plans to withdraw or weaken the United States’ commitments under the Paris climate change accord. And in the meanwhile, the state sets an example for other states and nations as too how the climate crisis should and will be handled. And with California as a sort of nation within a nation, with 39 million people, an annual economic output of $2.4 trillion, the sixth-largest economy in the world and a track record of ambitious environmental programs that could be imitated around the world, the stage is set for a powerful resistance.
But this new national leaderships is nothing new to the revolutionary state which has been passing ambitious, first-in-the-nation measures on pollution control and conservation. Many of which have often served as models for national and even international environmental law.
And at the head of the fight is Jerry Brown, claiming, “Erasing climate change may take place in Donald Trump’s mind, but nowhere else.”
And as Brown met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and discussed global warming and green technology, hope doesn’t seem so far off. In fact, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi even emphasized the state’s unique economic impact and encouraged California to promote ties on the local level in science, innovation and green development.
As California steps up to take the place of perhaps otherwise absent climate diplomacy, other nations welcome the help with open arms. And in truth, Trump is a storm coming to the front of Climate Initiatives, but California has weathered a lot worse. We’re ready for the fight, so watch out Washington.
