NEW YORK – On his second day in New York City, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio 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.
“Climate change, if unchecked, threatens all humanity,” said Governor Brown. “California, with purpose and resolve, will join with the rest of the world to decarbonize the economy.”
Governor Brown helped kick-off Climate Week NYC 2017 – the first major gathering of international climate leaders since the U.S. announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement – with remarks at an opening ceremony alongside Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Hawaii Governor David Ige and others.
The Governor then met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, United Nations Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael Bloomberg, former Vice President Al Gore and other climate leaders at the United Nations Headquarters. The Governor and Secretary-General Guterres discussed the importance of subnational jurisdictions and other sectors forging alliances to curb greenhouse gas emissions, California’s upcoming Global Climate Action Summit, reducing the impacts of climate change and ways to scale up actions to implement the Paris Agreement.
Additionally, Governor Brown spoke with France’s Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition Nicolas Hulot about further engaging the business sector in decarbonization efforts and measures to track progress toward climate goals at an event hosted by the World Economic Forum. The Governor also joined NextGen America Founder and President Tom Steyer at an event hosted by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group at the New York Times headquarters, where they discussed the transition to a clean energy economy and the renewed drive for climate action by U.S. cities, states, businesses and civil society in response to the federal government’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
Yesterday, Governor Brown welcomed the Republic of the Marshall Islands and nine other U.S. and international states and jurisdictions to the Under2 Coalition, which now includes 187 jurisdictions on six continents that collectively represent 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 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. 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 joins Minister Hulot (right) at World Economic Forum event.
2.) Governor Brown meets with Secretary-General Guterres, former Vice President Gore and other climate leaders at the United Nations Headquarters.
3.) Governor Brown and Tom Steyer at C40 Cities discussion.
4.) Governor Brown speaks at Climate Week NYC opening ceremony.
For high-resolution copies of these photos, contact Danella Debel at Danella.Debel@gov.ca.gov.