Climate Change

As California faces the impacts of climate change—how to address the interconnected challenges facing the state's energy, water, and food systems remains a foremost challenge.

This month global leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27 where nations affirmed and expanded their commitments to limit global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. VX News shares these concluding remarks by UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighting the commitment of $100 billion per year in climate financing for developing countries as well as the ongoing and immediate need for member nations to drastically reduce emissions this decade. 
 

The conclusion of California’s Legislative session saw the adoption of ambitious new climate and energy legislation—including laws to set interim targets for 100% clean energy, regulate projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere and smokestacks, and approve buffer zones for new oil wells near communities.  The aforementioned coincides with much of the State experiencing the dire effects of climate change and the health and resilience challenges wrought by extreme heat and wildfires.

Ken Alex—former Sr. Policy Advisor for Governor Jerry Brown, OPR Director, and SGC Chair—highlights how Project Climate and other departments at UC Berkeley are significantly boosting research capacity of state and local policymakers to accelerate implementation of “absolutely realistic” and ambitious climate transition goals.

With respected cleantech leader and California Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg announcing his campaign for LA County Supervisor, District 3, VX News shares the below announcement and impressive list of endorsements from a large and diverse coalition of local and regional leaders in support of Hertzberg's candidacy.

As the world’s largest direct air capture plant kicked off operations this September in Iceland, Southern California Gas Company recently announced plans to develop and test new direct air capture technology that both captures C02 and collects water for irrigation.

With climate change fueling increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters—whether from flooding, wildfire, or extreme heat events—2021 was another record-breaking and deadly year for climate disasters in the US.

With COP 26 underway, all eyes are on Glasgow to see how world leaders might update the 2015 Paris Climate agreement and undertake ambitious efforts to limit global warming and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. Leading up to this summit, the Council on Foreign Relationships brought together three experts on climate: Stanford’s Arun Majumdar (pictured), CFR’s Alice C.

This week, global leaders convene in Glasgow, Scotland, for COP 26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Speaking at the inaugural Globe Summit, Former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry, who serves as the Biden Administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, discusses the role he plays going into COP26 and what he expects to see come out of the negotiations.