Newsom and Schwarzenegger Mark 20 Years of California's Climate Law in Long Beach
Long Beach — Governor Gavin Newsom and former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared together on October 14 at the California Economic Summit in Long Beach to mark 20 years since the signing of Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which Schwarzenegger signed on Treasure Island in San Francisco as the nation's first comprehensive state program to cap greenhouse gas emissions.
AB 32 set a target of returning California's emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a goal state officials say was reached early. The law led to California's carbon market, now called cap-and-invest, which began operating in 2013 and was extended by the Legislature through 2045 last year.
Newsom said California has added 39,000 megawatts of clean energy in seven years and built 23,000 megawatts of battery storage, and that $16 billion has been reinvested to help offset residents' electric bills since AB 32 was signed, with another $8 billion expected over the next four years. Schwarzenegger said the law helped create more than half a million clean-energy jobs.
Critics also weighed in. Economist Wayne Winegarden of the Pacific Research Institute told The Center Square that other states have cut emissions faster than the national average without California-style regulations, and analysts note the state is not on track for its tougher targets of a 40% cut by 2030 and an 85% cut by 2045.
(Sources: The Center Square and Associated Press reporting on the California Economic Summit in Long Beach, October 14–15; figures as stated by Newsom and Schwarzenegger at the event)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加州经济峰会举办地——长滩会议中心外景（资料照片）。J Mondragon摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，取自维基共享资源。 / Photo: The Long Beach Convention Center, venue of the California Economic Summit (file photo). Photo by J Mondragon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
