Los Angeles Times
Patrick McGreevy
(David Butow / For The Times)
At a time when President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to roll back laws on climate change, state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) on Tuesday led a delegation of California officials attending a conference in Morocco on global warming.
De León and seven other state officials are attending the United Nations 22nd Conference of Parties to discuss ways to move forward with a climate agreement reached in Paris last year. Also on the trip is Matt Rodriquez, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, and other state administrators. No other elected state official is attending, according to Dana Coffman, a director of the Climate Registry, a nonprofit group that designs programs for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The registry is paying for the travel of De León and other Californians in cooperation with the Climate Action Reserve, a group that certifies projects that offset greenhouse gas emissions and advocates for solutions to climate change.
De León said the California delegation would work to convince officials of other governments that the state remains committed to pursuing efforts to reduce emissions.
“California leaders are committed to protecting and building upon our global leadership role in the fight against climate change,” De León said in a statement. “It would be extremely irresponsible and short-sighted to do otherwise. The world is counting on us more than ever and I look forward to reassuring our partners in other countries.”
Trump has questioned the conclusion reached by many scientists that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, has had significant, negative effects on the global environment.
The governor’s office said others in Morocco are Ken Alex, director of Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, David Hochschild, a member of the California Energy Commission, Alexa Kleysteuber, deputy secretary of California Environmental Protection Agency, Edie Chang, deputy executive officer for the California Air Resource Board, Emily Wimberger, chief economist for the California Air Resource Board, and Fan Dai, climate change adviser for the California Environmental Protection Agency.
Twenty-four other state lawmakers have taken fact-finding trips to China, Germany, the Czech Republic and Maui ahead of next month’s gaveling in of a new legislative session.
