Is It Possible to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80% by 2050?

In June 2005, California Governor Schwarzenegger set an aggressive goal to address climate change with Executive Order S-3-05: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Since then, people around the country have been debating wildly how the state is going to achieve this goal and even if this goal is possible to achieve.

Let’s assume it is possible and that we have a responsibility to future generations to try to stabilize atmospheric carbon. How would we do it? Clearly there will not be one single solution: every activity that contributes greenhouse gases must contribute to the solution.

Commonalities among various think tank plans to stabilize atmospheric carbon include: increased vehicle fuel efficiency, reduced miles driven, more mass transit, more solar power, more wind power, more tree planting, alteration of energy-intensive agricultural practices, and net zero carbon buildings. Princeton University’s Carbon Management Institute is betting we will figure out how to sequester carbon on a large scale (beyond tree planting) and solve the twin nuclear power problems of radioactive waste disposal and high cost compared to other sources of energy.

We will need to allow ourselves a period of time to experiment with promising options so we can determine what more we need to do to address this issue. Now that the mainstream public better understands the problem, we have political will to implement solutions. It’s exciting to watch various sectors pitch in and help: government agencies at all levels are setting policies that encourage energy efficiency, the financial sector is investing in clean energy, utilities are expanding their rebate programs, and leading corporations are setting aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals and meeting them.