Governor Cheers Prop. 23′s Defeat at Climate Conference

By Rick Daysog Sacramento Bee Emboldened by what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called clean energy's "greatest referendum in history," California officials are pushing ahead with a new greenhouse gas deal with foreign countries. Schwarzenegger on Monday launched his third Governors' Global Climate Summit at the University of California, Davis. He said this month's landslide defeat of Proposition 23, a ballot measure backed by oil companies that would have rolled back the state's landmark climate change law, shows broad support among voters for policies to cut greenhouse gases. The two-day California climate summit, co-hosted by the United Nations, has attracted more than 1,500 attendees from more than 80 countries. Held at UC Davis' Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center, its speakers and participants include actor Harrison Ford, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Nobel laureate and climate change expert Rajendra Pachauri. In many ways, the summit underscores the clean energy achievements of the UC Davis campus and efforts to develop a green energy economy in the Sacramento region. According to Schwarzenegger, who hosted last year's conference in Los Angeles, Davis is the leading publisher of environmental research in the country and its faculty members are pioneers in the fields of clean transportation and green-building energy efficiency. "You know, last year we met in Los Angeles, which is the entertainment capital of the world," he said. "And so this year we thought we should bring this conference to the environmental capital of the world, so this is why we are here in Davis." Of the Proposition 23 defeat, Schwarzenegger said, "I hope that our success here in California encourages you to fight when you have those challenges and keep fighting and fighting because science is on our side, the economics is on our side and the people are on our side." The administration released few details of the greenhouse agreement with developing nations that it will announce today. But the program that's being considered – with the United Nations as a partner – will help provide funding for carbon-reduction programs in states and provinces in 20 developing and industrialized nations. A cornerstone for the pact is a Geneva-based program called R20, which matches private investors with governments for clean energy projects. Spearheaded by Schwarzenegger during last year's international climate change meetings in Copenhagen, the R20 program aims to assist regional efforts in developing countries toward a green energy economy. Schwarzenegger said the failure to reach an international climate accord in Copenhagen and the failure by Congress to pass national climate legislation this year were discouraging. But he said Proposition 23's 22-percentage point margin of defeat shows that voters across the political spectrum want to do something about the climate and create new jobs. "The truth … is that the green revolution is moving forward full-speed ahead without the international agreement," he said.

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Governor Cheers Prop. 23′s Defeat at Climate Conference

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