California begins risky war on global warming today

A landmark global warming law that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to sign today commits California to the ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020.

How exactly that will be accomplished — and at what cost — is unknown. But it’s clear that if the state intends to meet its goals, Californians will see many changes over the next 14 years, from higher fuel prices to bigger forests.
In essence, California is challenging other states and the rest of the world to tackle global warming, a threat that Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute in Berkeley, called “the greatest environmental challenge the world has ever faced.”

If other governments respond, California could gain new moral authority and a head start in the potentially lucrative race to develop new energy-saving technologies and policies.

But California also is taking a big risk. If others do not follow, the state’s residents and companies could end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to make cuts that by themselves will do little to curb global warming.

Mercury News