Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006

The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a law in California, was signed by Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger on September 27, 2006. It sets up the first enforceable state-wide program in the U.S. to cap all greenhouse gas emissions from major industries that includes penalties for non-compliance. In signing the bill into law, Schwarzenegger declared, "We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late... The science is clear. The global warming debate is over."

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The Bill (AB 32), authored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Member Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), was agreed between Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators on August 30, 2006. It requires that by 2020 the state's greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels, a roughly 25% reduction under business as usual estimates. The California Air Resources Board is to prepare plans to achieve the objectives stated in the Act.

As defined in the bill, “greenhouse gases” include all of the following gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). These are the same gases listed as Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) in the Kyoto Protocol.

California's Air Resources Board (ARB) is the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating GHG emission sources under AB 32, and the details of the bill will be developed through ARB’s rule-making process. The ARB has appointed a market advisory committee (MAC) to make recommendations about the design of the cap-and-trade program. Part of these recommendations are the design of flexible mechanisms for compliance similar to Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism. Efforts have already come under way to set rules for the generation of offsets via the development of a carbon project.

AB 32 timeline summary

• December 31, 2006
  • Last day to join California Climate Action Registry to receive recognition of voluntary GHG reporting and verification and be grandfathered into ARB’s reporting and verification program.

• January 1, 2007
  • California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 becomes effective.

• June 30, 2007
  • ARB will publish the list of discrete early action GHG reduction measures that can be implemented until 2011.

• January 1, 2008
  • ARB will adopt regulations to establish the state’s mandatory GHG reporting and verification program.
  • ARB will determine the statewide 1990 baseline and set the statewide 2020 GHG emissions limit.

• January 1, 2009
  • ARB will prepare and approve the scoping plan for achieving 2020 statewide GHG emissions limit.

• January 1, 2010
  • ARB will implement early action emission reduction measures (identified in June 2007), effective immediately.

• January 1, 2011
  • ARB will adopt GHG emissions limits and emission reduction measures based on January 2009 scoping plan, effective in one year.
  • ARB may adopt a market-based cap & trade system with associated limits on state’s GHG sources applicable from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2020.

• January 1, 2012
  • Regulations based on January 2009 scoping plan will become effective.
  • Market-based “cap-and-trade” regulations may become effective. 2020 Deadline for state to achieve 1990 levels of GHG emissions.

See also

• Action on climate change
• Anaerobic digestion
• Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change
• Biodiesel
• Bioethanol
• Biofuel
• Carbon footprint
• Carpooling
• Energy conservation
• European Climate Change Programme
• Government of California
• Kyoto Protocol
• List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions
• Politics of global warming
• Renewable energy
• Renewable energy commercialization in the United States
• United Kingdom Climate Change Bill