Newsom, West Coast leaders sign agreement to fight climate change

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Governor Gavin Newsom, the governors of Oregon and Washington and the Premier of British Columbia signed an agreement to collaborate and commit to combating climate change. 

The West Coast leaders met in San Francisco to discuss the impacts extreme weather has had on their communities. "We had atmospheric rivers, we had heat domes," said B.C. Premier John Horgan. 

"We have watched, we have smelled, and we have suffered through the smoke," said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

"Damages to our ocean ecosystem, flooding, extreme hail storms," said Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. 

"Ten days of a heat dome, the likes we couldn’t have imagined, worst case scenario," said Newsom. 

The agreement includes the following: 

• Support an equitable and just transition to a low carbon and climate resilient future, emphasizing investments in overburdened communities.
• Invest in climate infrastructure, such as EV charging stations, green ports, and a clean and reliable electric grid across the region.
• Protect communities and natural and working lands from wildfire, drought, heat waves, ocean acidification and flooding.

"We have to do things radically different, and that’s the spirit that defines this agreement, spirit of collaboration, cooperation," said Gov. Newsom. 

"We’re demonstrating we’re much more powerful and impactful working together than working alone," said Gov. Brown. 

The West Coast leaders met at Presidio Tunnel Tops, which recently opened with a focus on providing equitable access to green space. The leaders stressed the importance of equity in the agreement. "When you think of the strategies to bring a more just society, a more equitable society, a society where everyone’s got a shot, it’s by building a clean energy economy," said Gov. Inslee. 

The leaders renewed the so-called "Pacific Coast Collaborative" which launched in 2008, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was California governor. Part of the agreement calls for installing more EV charging stations along the west coast. Newsom recently set a list of ambitious climate goals including phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035—other states have followed. "We seek to share best practices, we seek to compete," said Newsom. "You heard that from each jurisdiction the competition, but in an enlightened sense, it’s brought us to where we are today." 

"We stole practices and we started right here in California with the low carbon fuel standard," said Premier Horgan. 

The Pacific Coast Collaborative aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.