California’s Emissions Diminish — Thanks to the Weather

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Shasta Dam is one of California's largest generators of hydroelectric power. Photo via Bureau of Reclamation

CALmatters

California’s Air Resources Board had good news about emissions reported by companies covered under the state’s cap-and-trade system.

Its recent report showed that greenhouse gas emissions reduced by almost 5 percent in 2016. According to analyses from the air board and independent experts, last year’s emissions drops were caused not by technological breakthroughs or drastic pollution reductions from oil refineries or other industries, nor did the cap-and-trade program make a signifiant difference.

It was the rain.

Read the story at CALmatters. 

For more information about  California’s cap-and-trade program, read the San Francisco Public Press (in collaboration with Earth Island Journal and Bay Nature magazine) special report on climate change.

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