California Isn’t Any Better at Reducing CO2 Emissions Than The Rest of the U.S.

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change currently being held in Paris seemingly has everyone focused on this issue. Oddly enough, even though they can’t negotiate for the United States (nor, are the U.S. negotiators likely to listen to them), California has a large delegation in France’s capital, including Governor Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León, and a host of legislators and business leaders. Instead, they hope to highlight California’s aggressive stance on climate change to coax others to follow. Since California only emits 1% of global CO₂ emissions, its efforts are useless if global action doesn’t occur. But this does raise the question of just how effective California policy choices are when it comes to reducing emissions.

It is undeniable that California has been among the most aggressive in tackling climate change in the nation. Dating back to Governor Ronald Reagan signing the California Environmental Quality Act, California’s public policy has had a particularly green hue about it. But passing laws just for rhetoric’s sake isn’t helpful (and actually could be detrimental). Policy should achieve its goals and that requires assessing its results. One would assume, given California’s aggressive anti-carbon policies, that California’s emission reductions would exceed that of the rest of the United States – especially given the U.S.’s overall lackadaisical approach to climate change. But probably surprising to most, California doesn’t perform any better.