Sacramento, California - After traveling to Chengdu, Nanjing and Beijing earlier this year to strengthen California’s clean energy partnership with China, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. will attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia next week to further expand California’s trans-Pacific collaboration to combat climate change.
“This Pacific forum on trade isn’t just an occasion to promote investment, it’s an opportunity to strengthen our commitment to decarbonizing the economy,” said Governor Brown. “Every government and every business is responsible for making this radical turn and from Victorville to Vladivostok, California will continue to lead the charge.”
The Governor will depart California on Sunday, September 3, 2017 and stop in Nome, Alaska to meet with scientists and researchers studying the impacts of climate change. He will arrive in Vladivostok – a Pacific port city located in the far Southeast corner of Russia near the borders of China and North Korea – on Tuesday, September 5, 2017, local time. The Governor is expected to return to California by Friday, September 8, 2017.
At the third annual Eastern Economic Forum, Governor Brown will call for further climate action in remarks at the opening plenary and later on a panel titled “The Russia–China–Japan–US Quadrangle: Are There Opportunities for Cooperation?” The Governor will also speak on climate change at the Far Eastern Federal University and at the sixth Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education, also being held in Vladivostok.
The Eastern Economic Forum is organized to improve relations between the international investment community, business, and national and local governments and dozens of business and government leaders from around the world are expected to participate.
Later in September, Governor Brown will travel to New York City for events connected to Climate Week NYC and the 72nd Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly. In November, the Governor is expected to take part in a number of international gatherings in Europe focused on fighting global warming, including a climate symposium organized by the Vatican and this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn, Germany.
In June, Governor Brown was named Special Advisor for States and Regions ahead of COP 23 by Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama – incoming president of COP 23. This followed meetings with China’s President Xi Jinping during the Governor's week-long trip to China and with Germany's top environmental official, Minister Barbara Hendricks, in San Francisco.
Governor Brown continues to build strong coalitions of partners committed to curbing carbon pollution in both the United States through the U.S. Climate Alliance and around the globe with the Under2 Coalition. Governor Brown also launched America's Pledge on climate change with Michael Bloomberg earlier this year to help compile and quantify the actions of states, cities and businesses in the United States to drive down their greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In September 2018, the State of California will convene the world's climate leaders in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit, where representatives from subnational governments, businesses, investors and civil society will gather with the direct goal of supporting the Paris Agreement.
