California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

This week is the California Green Summit.  It brings together a diverse group from
public policy leaders to product manufacturers.  California has been at the forefront
of environmental concerns with its renowned California Environmental Quality Act,
CEQA as it pertains to land use and development.  It  was one of the first to require
automobile smog checks and Assembly Bill 939 was  innovative legislation calling
for the sweeping changes in solid waste and recycling, reducing 35 percent of waste
streams through recycling and creating the first ‘Recycling Market Development Zones’
in the nation in 1992.

But with the increasing awareness of the health issues and corresponding costs for fuel,
the issue has taken on a greater meaning, translating into burgeoning new opportunities
stimulated by the most sweeping and now most copied piece of legislation in the nation -
California’s Assembly Bill 32.   Upon its passage, California is now focused on yet another
landmark effort, achieving a benchmark to reduce greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by
2020.

The state along with counties and cities in concert with industry are making dramatic in roads
 towards this goal. Communities are pioneering into policy initiatives and entrepreneurs and
seasoned companies alike are creating and embracing new products. Last year California
companies received $1.8 billion out of $3 billion nationally in venture capital acquired for ‘green’
business endeavors.  And in a recent survey by Popular Science, 13 of the top 50 ‘Greenest
Cities in the Nation were from California.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.

For further information see www.green-technology.org/gcsummit 

WHY DO I READ THE CALIFORNIA BUSINESS MINUTE?

News and Information = California Business Minute
Perspective, Insight and Commentary = CalBizBlog