Major Companies and Investors Urge California Legislators to Support State 100 Percent Renewable Energy Goal

August 22, 2017 /3BL Media/ - As California’s legislature considers boosting the state’s renewable energy goal to 100 percent of electricity generation by 2045, more than two dozen institutional investors and influential companies expressed their support of such a goal in two letters sent this week to the State Assembly.

Nineteen companies, spanning industries from consumer goods to transportation, technology, apparel, food and beverages and health care, wrote in support of SB 100. The bill specifically establishes new goals that 60 percent of the state’s electricity be from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent be from clean, zero carbon and renewable energy by 2045.

Along with the companies, 11 institutional investors with combined assets-under-management of $196 billion also sent a letter in support of SB 100, telling legislators that, “Tackling climate change is one of America’s greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century.”

“Accelerating and expanding California’s renewable energy goals is a key next step to ensure the state’s vibrant clean energy economy continues to grow,” continued their letter, addressed to Rep. Lorena S. Gonzalez Fletcher, chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which is scheduled to review the bill by the end of August.

Most of the institutional investors and companies are members of either the Ceres Investor Network or the Ceres Businesses for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) network. The two letters and their full list of signatories can be found here and here.

Representatives from several of the companies and investment firms signing the letters will be traveling to Sacramento on Aug. 23 to meet with law makers and advocate for clean energy and sustainable water conservation policies. Along with SB 100, legislation of interest to the group includes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Act (SB 623) and a suite of bills to implement Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2017 proposal for “making water conservation a California way of life.”

California’s economy has flourished while it implemented what are already the toughest climate change fighting policies in the nation. Its GDP growth has far exceeded the nation’s in the five years since major portions of its Global Warming Solutions Act took effect.

Reporters who would like to learn more about Ceres and its advocacy work on California climate and water policy, or who would like to be in touch with the investor and company signatories to the letter in support of SB 100, should contact Ceres’ California communications manager, Barbara Grady, at Grady@Ceres.org or 510-334-2690.

About Ceres

Ceres is a sustainability nonprofit organization working with the most influential investors and companies to build leadership and drive solutions throughout the economy. For more information, visit www.ceres.org and follow @CeresNews.