As climate change threatens the state’s economy, resources, and quality of life, retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient is one of the easiest and most cost-effective steps that citizens can take to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Energy use from residential and commercial buildings releases 22 percent of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions, as well as conventional air pollution in the form of smog and particulate matter.
Few business sectors in California have more to lose from the impacts of climate change than agriculture. Changed growing seasons, increased drought and limits on water supply, flooding, record temperature changes, invasive species, and pest infestations all threaten the industry’s future. But farmers and ranchers control part of their destiny: the agricultural sector is a contributor to the greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause climate change and possesses unique opportunities to reduce overall GHG emissions.
In California’s effort to combat climate change, few other sectors present as many opportunities as renewable energy. Transitioning from fossil-fuel based energy to renewable sources will result in significant greenhouse gas reductions and more jobs and economic growth. But climate change and the state’s aggressive renewable energy requirements (mandating that renewable energy sources constitute 20 percent of electrical power for the state by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020) require immediate action.
In California’s effort to combat climate change, few other sectors present as many opportunities as renewable energy. Transitioning from fossil-fuel based energy to renewable sources will result in significant greenhouse gas reductions and more jobs and economic growth. But climate change and the state’s aggressive renewable energy requirements (mandating that renewable energy sources constitute 20 percent of electrical power for the state by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020) require immediate action.
Residential buildings, through their consumption of electricity and natural gas, are responsible for over one tenth of California's greenhouse gas emissions. In 2015, California set a goal of doubling energy efficiency in all buildings by 2030. The state has long enforced strict energy efficiency requirements for newly constructed homes as well as minimum efficiency improvements for renovations of existing homes.
California is experiencing a surge in renewable energy generation from the sun and wind. But the state will face long-term economic and environmental challenges relying on these intermittent resources without deploying more energy storage.
Located in the Alaskan backcountry about 200 miles southwest of the state capitol, Anchorage, the Pebble deposit is one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world. The deposit also sits in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world and home to 25 federally recognized tribal governments. Its development would lead to significant harm to nearby spawning grounds, local communities, and the Alaskan economy.
On August 9, 2019, Sean Hecht and Benjamin Harris of UCLA Law School’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of the League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties in Chevron v. County of Monterey.
On August 29, 2019, Emmett Institute faculty members William Boyd, Ann Carlson, James Salzman, Harjot Kaur, Cara Horowitz submitted a comment letter to California Air Resources Board in support of the proposed Updated Tropical Forest Standard. In a previous letter commenting on the original proposed Standard, the authors concluded that approving this Standard presents an opportunity for CARB (and California) to help lead the global fight against tropical deforestation.
On September 25, 2019, Sean Hecht testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on the challenges facing the Coast Guard, our ports, and other public agencies as they try to make sure our coastal infrastructure is resilient to emerging risks relating to coastal change.
A video recording is archived on the subcommittee's YouTube channel.