SACRAMENTO – California celebrated Earth Week with major announcements that deliver cleaner air, economic opportunity, and healthier communities in all parts of the state. Here’s a quick recap of yet another big week for climate in the Golden State.
🌎 Using Millions of Acres of Land to Fight the Climate Crisis
California unveiled 81 targets to use millions of acres to help absorb more carbon emissions – a first for the state and among the most comprehensive in the world. Nature-based solutions support the ability of lands to absorb more carbon than they release – a critical tool in the state’s climate arsenal.
🏞️ Supporting the Return of Ancestral Tribal Lands and Lands Management Projects
As part of a first-in-the-nation effort to address historical wrongs committed against California Native American tribes, Governor Newsom announced Friday that the state has awarded more than $100 million for 33 tribal land projects.
The funding, which was appropriated as part of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 state budgets, will be used for ancestral land return, implementation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and tribal expertise, habitat restoration, climate and wildfire resilience projects, and more.
🔋 California Achieves Major Clean Energy Victory: 10,000 Megawatts of Battery Storage
The state has increased its battery storage capacity over tenfold since the beginning of the Newsom Administration. Adding batteries is critical to achieving the state’s ambitious goal of 100% clean electricity by 2045. At 10,379 megawatts (MW), the state has increased battery capacity by 1,250% since the beginning of the Newsom Administration – up from 770 MW in 2019.
More battery storage helps the state maintain a clean and reliable power grid – storing energy from renewable sources like solar during the day to use when solar drops off in the evening hours.
⚡ Celebrating A Bigger, Better Charging Network
State officials joined with Tesla to celebrate the company opening its superchargers to non-Tesla drivers. The move means that California electric vehicle drivers will have more fast charging options.
California has invested billions in building a bigger, better charging network – and more than 105,000 chargers, including 10,000 fast chargers, are available publicly around the state.
⛺ First New State Park in a Decade
On Earth Day, Governor Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom helped dedicate the new state park, Dos Rios, just 8 miles west of Modesto in the Central Valley. The new state park is set to open on June 12, which coincides with the Third Annual State Parks Week.
The approximately 1,600-acre Dos Rios property is the largest public-private floodplain restoration project in California to restore habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife at the Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers.
🚗 Defending Biden Administration Rules That Curb Tailpipe Pollution
Republicans are trying to roll back federal clean car standards.
California won’t sit back and watch red states put the profits of Big Oil over our health and our planet.
We're joining the Biden Administration in court to defend federal clean car rules. pic.twitter.com/zTWZiTXUu2
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) April 23, 2024
Republican-led states filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Biden Administration’s new rules to curb tailpipe emissions. California, alongside 22 other states and 4 local governments, joined the federal government in defending the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s important rule.
🌐 California’s Climate Leadership on the World Stage
Governor Newsom spoke virtually at the annual Petersberg Climate Dialogue, hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. High-level representatives from over 40 countries gathered together to advance key topics around climate action for the year ahead.
The Governor highlighted California’s global partnerships and progress on climate action, including how the state has leveraged climate policies to foster economic growth and create green jobs for all.
🤝 More States Partner with California Climate Corps
With three new states teaming up with California, a third of America’s population now has access to Climate Corps programs, joining the state’s leadership in pioneering this nation-leading initiative.
Illinois, New Mexico, and Vermont created their own state-level Climate Corps in partnership with California Volunteers and the Newsom Administration, joining 10 other states – Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah and Washington – that have already established a Climate Corps. The Biden Administration also announced thousands of new paid service positions now available through the American Climate Corps.