The Full-Length California Green Business Principles
Clean Energy & Climate Security: Principles for Action
From the California Business Alliance for a Green Economy
Click here to enter the name of your business as a supporter of these principles.
I am a California business owner/operator and I agree with the following statements:
Fossil fuel dependence and energy inefficiency hinder economic security. If California continues on a business-as usual energy path, energy demand will grow exponentially as the economy improves. This demand growth will create a greater reliance on fuel imports, leaving Californians increasingly vulnerable to price shocks. We must diversify our energy supplies and improve energy efficiency in order to protect the state’s economy from the volatility of fossil fuel markets and hidden costs of climate change.
The state must continue building a clean energy economy that spurs innovation, drives exports and investments, fosters job creation, and sparks overall economic growth in our state and country. In addition, we must save energy to boost businesses’ bottom lines, put money in consumers’ pockets, and recycle more dollars into the California economy.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions means reducing overall waste, which enhances my business operations and boosts my bottom line. Increasing my business’s efficiency lowers my costs, allowing me to invest in improving the goods and services I offer and sell. My customers appreciate efforts to reduce waste and increase energy efficiency – greening my business distinguishes me from the competition.
When it comes to climate change, the most expensive thing we can do is nothing. If left unchecked, climate change will:
- Endanger California’s valuable real estate and public infrastructure due to extreme weather events, sea level rise, and wildfires.
- Jeopardize some of our most profitable industries including tourism, agriculture, and recreation.
- Reduce the Sierra Nevada snow pack, threatening drinking water supplies, and agriculture.
- Exacerbate public health costs as a result of rising temperatures.
California leadership on climate policy will place businesses at a competitive advantage. National climate policy will be implemented over the next several years. California’s leadership in this area will serve as a model for federal policy and enable the state’s businesses to gain a competitive edge over those in other regions that will have to play catch-up to comply with inevitable federal requirements.
I support continued implementation of California’s clean energy and climate security plan, which grew out of the historic law, AB 32. This plan will fuel economic growth in our state, while also insulating our economy from the volatility of fossil fuel markets and the hidden costs of climate change.
Click here to enter the name of your business as a supporter of these principles.
