Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s (D-CA) office isn’t shying away from its ambitious climate initiatives despite a recent report that showed California was not on track to meet its 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The California Green Innovation Index report revealed the state’s carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases had increased by 3.4% in 2021 after plunging during the 2020 pandemic. For California to meet the 2030 deadline, the analysis found that the Golden State would have to triple cutting emissions rates from 1.5% to 4.4% annually.
“Nobody thought we would achieve our climate goals, like 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles by 2025 and cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 — we’re exceeding them years ahead of schedule,” a spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We’ll continue proving everybody wrong.”
“Governor Newsom’s nation-leading climate actions and $48 billion, which is more than what most other countries are spending, will continue cutting pollution and accelerate the transition to clean energy,” the spokesperson continued.
California is not on track to meet the 2030 goal until 2047, according to the report.
However, a spokesperson from Newsom’s office told Fox News that the report doesn’t take into account “current and future work to achieve targets.”
While Newsom’s office is optimistic it is moving in the right direction, not all experts are sold on California’s ambitious “clean energy” initiatives, which Ronald Stein, an energy consultant for the nonprofit organization Heartland Institute, told Fox News are “increasing emissions around the world.”
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“Because what we’re doing is we’re basically delegating it to other countries that are providing all the products back to California, and they have no environmental or labor controls,” Stein said. “We keep shutting down our gas-powered plants, and now California imports more electricity than any other state.”
The goal was unveiled in 2022 as part of the governor’s California Climate Commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Newsom touted the California Air Resources Board’s plan, which proposed cutting greenhouse gases by 48%, calling it the “most ambitious set of climate goals of any jurisdiction in the world.”