A PROGRAM FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION

The program developed here for economic recovery and a clean energy transition in California demonstrates the viability of the state’s existing commitment to cut CO2 emis- sions in the state by 50 percent as of 2030 and to become a zero emissions economy by 2045. [...] ¡ Major factors that will influence the viability of the economic recovery will include: ú Completing the state’s vaccination program; ú The extent of the federal government’s short-term stimulus support; ú The extent of a longer-term public-sector led investment project, including both federal and state-level support, to advance the clean energy transition; ú Large-scale complementary investments. [...] THE PANDEMIC, ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, AND CONDITIONS FOR RECOVERY The Pandemic in California The State of California, like the rest of the United States, experienced an historically un- precedented public health and economic crisis that began when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged full force in mid-March 2020. [...] In Table 1.3, we see that, after taking account of the relative size of each of the indus- tries in California’s economy, the leisure and hospitality industry remains as the largest source of overall employment losses. [...] For example, peak runoff in the Sacramento River now occurs nearly a month earlier than in the first half of the twentieth century and glaciers in the Sierra Nevada have lost an average of 70 percent of their area since the start of the 20th century.28 A 2014 study by Griffin and Anchukaitis concluded that California’s drought between 2012 – 2104 was the most severe in at least the past 1,200 year.