SAN FRANCISCO – As the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) considers gutting the state’s bedrock solar program, a broad coalition of national and state environmental organizations delivered a letter Wednesday to CPUC commissioners and Gov. Gavin Newsom urging them to immediately issue an alternative that allows rooftop solar and battery storage to continue to grow. The letter was delivered by 70 organizations, including Environment America, Environment California, Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Environmental Working Group and the Center for Biological Diversity.
BOSTON – By covering their roofs with solar panels, America’s big-box retail and grocery stores could generate enough clean electricity to power more than 7.9 million U.S. homes, according to a new report from Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. Solar on Superstores: Big Roofs, Big Potential for Renewable Energy also shows that comprehensive solar installation on big-box stores would cut greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking more than 11.3 million cars off the road.
As Americans experience the consequences of climate change — droughts, wildfires, hurricanes and record heat waves —a majority of the shareholders in Costco*, one of the largest retailers in the world, voted yes on a shareholder proposal that calls on Costco to set “short, medium, and long-term science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets” to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
“By embracing this bill, we are taking some of the sting out of an increasingly toxic environment for bees,” said Doug O’Malley, state director of Environment New Jersey. “We can now promise our pollinators a safer Garden State when they return in the spring.”
Environment America Research and Policy Center is part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to social change.
