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.”
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.
California ranks 12th in the world in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, but its regulatory actions tend to have far-reaching effects throughout the U.S.
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.