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The state insurance commissioner unveiled a tool for his charges to assess exposure to investments that will decline as the climate changes and the economy shifts. Insurers, who are required to make low-risk investments, have already started to shy away from fossil fuels, particularly coal. The move is part of a worldwide push from financial and political institutions concerned about macroeconomic stability in a changing climate.
Feb 1, 2017Any one of these projects would have been the largest battery storage facility ever built. Combined, they amount to 15 percent of the battery storage installed planet-wide last year.
↩︎ Bloomberg
"Today, we wake up as strangers in a foreign land," began the somber speech prepared by California's top Democrats after Trump's win.
This profile of Sacramento's gathering response is really worth the read. Notably, the state is confident the law will continue to allow them to go out in front of rolled-back EPA regulations, and Jerry Brown's lieutenants are convinced the grizzled governor will attack climate change with a referendum soon.
"He has every incentive to do it,” says Gavin Newsom. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime to strengthen his legacy on the existential issue of our time.”
It's not surprising that California has asked the country to tax carbon pollution. You may also have heard the Rex Tillerson, incoming secretary of state, supports a price on carbon; the weight behind his declarations is questionable, but the National Review sees him as positively green. Elon Musk, friend of Peter Thiel, also promotes the policy.
But while think-tank Republicans propose swapping corporate taxes for a carbon price, the reality is that most Republicans are bound by pledges not to add new taxes.
Many Californians hope the state can join the Paris Agreement, but the Constitution doesn't offer much latitude on that front—foreign treaties are handled federally.
There is a chance the Paris Agreement could be amended so that large parts of America could join. But California has been aggressively signing memorandums with other subnational governments, and while its progress may falter without federal subsidies for clean energy, the state cap-and-trade program isn't in doubt.
That means that even if California isn't officially party to Paris, it's effectively doing the same thing.
The drought isn't as bad as it was, but when it rains 5.7 trillion gallons and that only replenishes 37 percent of your water debt, things might still be not so great.
If you wondered why climate matters so much to Californians, this video offers the big answer.
California, like the rest of the nation, has sputtered on reaching electric vehicle goals. Unlike the rest of the country, it is taking proactive steps to fix what's wrong. These include allowing utilities to build charging stations, directing subsidies towards lower income brackets, and targeting heavy industry applications.
Los Angeles and San Francisco are leading the charge by making a huge order of EVs for their municipal fleets.
