AB32

Weakening of California Global Warming Law

Governor Schwarzenegger signing AB 32 into law.
Thu, 12/16/2010 - 10:39am
Governor Schwarzenegger signing AB 32 into law. It is great that California voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 23, the initiative that would not let AB32, the global warming law, go into effect unless the state unemployment rate falls below 5.5 percent.  Californians sent a clear message that they support legislation to take on climate change, even though the federal government hasn't managed to pass a comprehensive climate and energy package. Thus, it makes it even harder to understand why the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the regulatory agency responsible for establi

Civil Society Letter to California Air Resource Board

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Chairman Nichols and CARB Board Members: On January 27, 2010, seventy state legislators, public health experts, labor leaders, businesses, and environmental groups, including many of the groups and individuals signed on below, wrote to you expressing our concerns with the 49% offset limit that had been proposed in CARB’s Preliminary Draft Cap and Trade Regulation (November 2009). We requested that the offset limit be tightened to ensure that the cap and trade program fulfill its promise of maximizing emission reductions in the state’s most heavily polluting sectors: transportation fuels, e

As Negotiations Drag, Subnational Leaders Step Up

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California addressing the 194-nation U.N. climate talks
Tue, 12/15/2009 - 3:08pm
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California addressing the 194-nation U.N. climate talks United Nations As the clock winds down, and countries are nowhere near an agreement, subnational leaders from Canada, Nigeria, France and Algeria, led by California's "Gubernator," announced today in a press conference at Bella that they plan to advance the concept of a new regional coalition to fast track the results of the Copenhagen negotiations. Already, California is engaged in the Western Climate Initiative and has underway its own cap-and-trade program (which, good news, recentl

California's AB 1404 Passes!

The final AB 1404 Scoreboard
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 11:57am
The final AB 1404 Scoreboard In a narrow 21-to-19 vote on Saturday, the California Senate passed AB 1404, which would strictly limit offsets in California's global warming program and entirely exclude the CDM! This landmark bill would make the California legislature the first US governmental body to put such strict limits on the use of offsets. According to Erin Rogers of the Union of Concerned Scientists, "If we cut global warming pollution in California, we will create local jobs, clean up the air, and promote clean energy technology. That's why more than 90 labor, pu

Western Regional Climate Legislation

California Capitol Building
California Capitol Building © 2005 David Monniaux As California and the Western US develop their own global warming programs, carbon offsets, and the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in particularly, have been proposed as a cost-containment mechanism for industries transitioning into cleaner technologies. International Rivers works with local state partners like the Western Climate Advocates Network to warn against the impacts and abuses of the CDM, and to promote solutions that benefit local communities rather than rewarding polluters. Western Climate Initiative Carbon of

California's AB 1404 Offsets Bill Hits the Senate Floor

By limiting the use of offsets, AB 1404 will ensure that polluters invest in solutions here in California.
Tue, 09/08/2009 - 2:47pm
By limiting the use of offsets, AB 1404 will ensure that polluters invest in solutions here in California. Bill Pottinger Sometime this week, the California Senate is expected to vote on a bill that addresses the role of offsets in the state's landmark global warming policies. The bill, AB 1404, limits offsets to no more than 10 percent of the emission reductions expected to be achieved through market mechanisms in each compliance period of implementing AB 32, California's 2006 global warming bill. It would also exclude the CDM as an option for California's polluters, thereby

Comments to California Air Resources Board on Offsets Under AB32

Thursday, May 21, 2009
Quality Criteria for Offsets Under AB32International Rivers submission to CARB (ccworkshops@arb.ca.gov) 21 May 2009 International Rivers provides the following comments regarding “Criteria for Compliance Offsets in a Cap-and-Trade Program” as presented at the stakeholder workshop on April 28th, 2009.International Rivers is in a unique position to offer comments on AB32’s offset program due to our having closely monitored the development and implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), by far the world’s largest offset scheme, over the past decade. Our CDM work has included

Let California Lead the Way with AB 1404

CA leading the way for air quality, environmental justice, and real emissions reductions.
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 1:27pm
CA leading the way for air quality, environmental justice, and real emissions reductions. International Rivers has endorsed a bill currently under consideration by Californian legislators that would seriously limit the use of offsets within the state's planned carbon trading system, and totally ban the use of credits from the UN's Clean Development Mechanism. Assembly Bill 1404, or the Global Warming, Compliance Offsets and Air Quality in California bill, was introduced by Assembly Members Kevin De León and Manuel Pérez, both Southern California Democrats This bill is co-sponso
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