Governor Newsom releases new Executive Order on Climate Change

Last week, in conjunction with Climate Week and student strikes on climate change across the globe, Governor Newsom issued a wide-ranging Executive Order, N-19-19, directing several state agencies to take actions to facilitate and accelerate greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The Executive Order seeks to scale up California's actions to address climate change in light of its goal to reduce emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, particularly in the context of federal inaction on climate change.

Among other provisions, the Executive Order directs the State Transportation Agency to leverage its more than $5 billion in annual transportation spending on road construction, operation, and maintenance to reduce transportation GHG emissions and fuel consumption, including facilitating the creation of housing near jobs and increasing mobility options available to Californians. This Executive Order underscores the need for state transit agencies to re-direct certain funds from business-as-usual activities to forward-looking projects that build resiliency in our transportation infrastructure and facilitate the reduction of vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

Read Executive Order N-19-19 here.