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Microsoft Research Summit 2021 • Videos

Research talk: Nexus between climate change and energy policy: Lessons from California

Evidence of climate change is becoming clear. While I was Chair of the California Energy Commission, we developed California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment. Among other things it warned of a hotter and drier time in California, which will result in increasing fire hazards. Indeed, if you look at California’s history of fires, it has become more intense in the past decade. Climate change is being driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, which is the result of energy policies. Determining how to change these energy policies starts with the inventory of GHG emissions, which in California is primarily transportation. The next step is to develop policy pathways to a zero-net emissions future, which is our climate goal by 2045. These pathways start with energy efficiency, then switch to cleaner power sources for the grid, and then electrify transportation, buildings, and industry. There are numerous issues translating these policies into actions, particularly at a local level.

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Research for Carbon Negative