Opinion: California’s Renewable Energy Targets Slashed Carbon Pollution — Now There’s a Proposal to Pause Them

California’s ambitious renewable energy targets helped drive a substantial drop in greenhouse gas pollution that propelled the state past its 2020 climate change goals early, according to a non-partisan analysis released this week. Yet one California lawmaker confirmed Tuesday he wants to put a stop to the mandate, for now.

Most of the carbon pollution that California scrubbed from its economy over the past ten years disappeared from the state’s electricity sector.