Wednesday November 2, 2022
CalEPA —
Ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), California state scientists have released a new report that shows how the impacts of climate change are rapidly accelerating in California. Key findings illustrate an exponential increase in wildfires and point to a hotter, drier environment driven by megadrought. The report’s release follows a summer of record-breaking heat, during which the West Coast broke nearly 1,000 temperature records during a 10-day heat wave.
CalEPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment today released the fourth edition of its Indicators of Climate Change in California Report, documenting the wide-ranging impacts that global fossil fuel reliance has had on the state’s weather, water supplies, plants and animals, and human health, including Tribes.
This past summer, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a slate of aggressive climate measures that will accelerate California’s transition to a carbon-neutral economy while protecting people in California from pollution and holding companies responsible for their pollution. This package adds to the $54 billion California Climate Commitment, with more investments to protect people from the impacts of climate change and transition to clean energy and jobs. This plan will:
- Create 4 million new jobs
- Cut air pollution by 60%
- Reduce state oil consumption by 91%
- Save California $23 billion by avoiding the damages of pollution
- Reduce fossil fuel use in buildings and transportation by 92%
- Cut refinery pollution by 94%