GOVERNOR BROWN AND NEXTGEN CLIMATE PRESIDENT TOM STEYER TO LEAD CALIFORNIA BUSINESS DELEGATION AT PARIS CLIMATE TALKS

SACRAMENTO—California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and NextGen Climate Founder and President Tom Steyer today announced a delegation of California business leaders who will travel to the United Nations COP 21 climate negotiations in Paris to urge world leaders to reach a bold climate change agreement. The delegation—which includes California business leaders from the healthcare, energy, and financial services industries—will share the lessons of California’s success in building a vibrant clean energy economy while protecting the environment and reaffirm the business community’s support for strong action to address climate change.

“We welcome California businesses as key allies in our efforts to halt dangerous climate change,” said Governor Brown.

“California is showing the entire world how business and government can come together to tackle the climate crisis,” said Steyer. “In Paris, this delegation will leverage the successes of the California model to make the powerful economic case for a strong agreement to address climate change.”

Led by Gov. Brown and Steyer, the delegation will include:
-Jim Mahoney, Global Corporate Communications & Public Policy Executive, Bank of America
-KR Sridhar, Founder and CEO, Bloom Energy
-Thad Hill, President and CEO, Calpine
-Thad Miller, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Calpine
-Pasquale Romano, President and CEO, ChargePoint
-Nancy Pfund, Founder and Managing Partner, DBL Investors
-Sister Susan Vickers, RSM, VP Corporate Responsibility, Dignity Health
-Bob Fisher, Chairman of the Board, Gap Inc.
-Bernard J. Tyson, Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Permanente
-Alex Laskey, President and Founder, Opower
-Raymond J. Baxter, PhD, Senior Vice President, Community Benefit, Research and Health Policy, Kaiser Permanente
-Anthony Earley, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, PG&E Corporation
-Cathy Zoi, CEO, SunEdison Frontier Power
-Rob Davenport, Chairman, Sungevity
-Lyndon Rive, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SolarCity

Climate change threatens both business and the global economy, but transitioning to clean energy provides a critical opportunity for sustainable economic growth. A broad coalition of California business leaders have made investing in clean energy and sustainability a top priority. California businesses are leading the world in building the technologies and infrastructure critical to shifting to a completely clean energy economy—and as a result the state’s economy is growing and carbon emissions are falling. In 2013—the most recent year for which data is available—California’s GDP increased 2 percent while capped emissions decreased by almost 4 percent. Today, more than 430,000 Californians work in advanced energy jobs and last year the state attracted more clean tech venture capital than the European Union, the United Kingdom, and China combined.

The delegation will highlight California’s global leadership on climate change solutions and strong record of bringing diverse communities together to support landmark climate laws. In advance of COP 21, California has led a diverse coalition of more than 50 state, provincial, and city governments that are pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 through the Under2MOU. The Under2MOU builds on California’s successful cap-and-trade system and energy efficiency standards that promote innovation and economic growth while cutting carbon pollution.

For decades, California has been a national leader and global on the environment—and a model for how business and policymakers can come together to combat climate change. In Paris, the Golden State’s progressive business community is using their economic power to influence the global conversation on climate and call for a strong global framework to avert the worst impacts of climate change and build a cleaner, stronger economy.