NEW YORK – Capping off five days of events and meetings tied to Climate Week NYC 2017, the Yale Climate Conference and the United Nations General Assembly, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today participated in a wide-ranging discussion at the TED Theater in New York, organized by the Skoll Foundation and the United Nations Foundation to shine a light on the aggressive action and collaboration needed at all levels of society to decarbonize the economy.
“Even though Washington is AWOL for the moment, there are many other parts of America that are engaged in doing what we need to do,” said Governor Brown. “We’re building up our commitment and our knowledge but we have a long way to go. We can’t be complacent.”
Yesterday, the Governor announced that Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael Bloomberg and Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra will co-chair the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco next September. The Governor also joined former Secretary of State John Kerry and fellow U.S. Climate Alliance co-chairs New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Washington State Governor Jay Inslee yesterday to release a new report that shows Alliance states are on track to meet – and potentially exceed – their portion of America’s Paris Agreement commitments.
Over the course of the week, the Governor 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. The Governor also signed an agreement with Denmark to further cooperation on water and climate issues, welcomed the Republic of the Marshall Islands and nine other U.S. and international states and jurisdictions to the Under2 Coalition and 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 to highlight state, city and business-led efforts to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Before returning to California tomorrow, the Governor will travel to Qu�bec City, Canada to discuss further collaboration on climate action with the premiers of Qu�bec and Ontario. 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 has 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. This 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 caption:
1.) Governor Brown and Skoll Foundation President and CEO Sally Osberg at the TED Theater in New York.
For a high-resolution copy of this photo, contact Danella Debel at Danella.Debel@gov.ca.gov.