California's #1! According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, California is the most energy efficient state in the nation. That's no small feat when you consider that California's economy is the eighth largest in the world and our population is larger than many countries. But more importantly, California has been setting the example for the nation on how to tackle the climate crisis, as we passed AB 32 in 2006 pledging to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
For this, we earned our share of flack from Republicans and Big Business who claimed that California's cap-and-trade program was bound to fail because we were stuck going-it-alone. Although the talking point stuck, it was as factually incorrect then as it is now. Read More >