Odes to the road

California has played a vital role in climate and energy policy for decades. From pioneering energy efficiency initiatives for buildings and appliances nearly half a century ago, to setting the first-in-the-nation tailpipe emissions standards for cars and one of the first statewide renewable electricity standards in 2002, to putting the state at the forefront of climate action with a commitment to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 with Assembly Bill (AB) 32 in 2006, California has helped lead America's energy policy solutions for a low-carbon future. In recent years, California has renewed its commitment anew with vigorous diplomacy and prolific output of major climate legislation. Perhaps its most impressive accomplishment was the two-thirds legislative supermajority that Governor Jerry Brown assembled to pass AB 398, which extended the state's cap-and-trade system authority through 2030 – no carbon pricing program has ever garnered such a level of support in a legislative vote or citizen ballot.