California set a record for greenhouse gas reductions in 2020, but it means nothing
Tony Briscoe - Yesterday 8:00 AM
First, the good news: The amount of planet-warming gases Californians released into the atmosphere in 2020 was 9% less than the previous year — a record decline mostly because of motorists driving less amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
Now, the bad news: The quantity of carbon dioxide spewed by record-setting wildfires that same year effectively erased almost two decades of emission reductions on the part of the world's fifth — and soon to be fourth — largest economy.
Those two findings — both released in a little more than a week's time this month — have painted a grim and confusing portrait of California's efforts to curb global warming. They also come as a U.N. report finds that global greenhouse gas reduction efforts are "highly inadequate."
Word that Californians had effectively reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 35 million metric tons in 2020 — the equivalent of 94 coal plants operating for a year — was announced last week as a part of the California Air Resources Board's annual greenhouse gas emission inventory
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/california-set-a-record-for-greenhouse-gas-reductions-in-2020-but-it-means-nothing/ar-AA13xuRI?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9454b5561d644c479a1b782ea8f35d18
