STUTTGART, Germany – (INT) - After issuing a call to action to global faith leaders at the Vatican over the weekend, Governor Jerry Brown pushed for greater climate collaboration between California and the European Union in remarks to hundreds of members of the European Parliament and European Commission in Brussels, Belgium and later traveled to Stuttgart, Germany to further strengthen California's ties with the German state of Baden-Württemberg, co-founder of the Under2 Coalition.

"If we come together and we see the truth of our situation we can overcome it," said Governor Brown. "I know you don't all agree among yourselves. In America, we don't all agree among ourselves, but people in cities, in states, corporations, universities and nonprofit organizations are joining together. We're not waiting."

The Governor's remarks were delivered during the opening session of a high-level conference on clean energy organized by the European Parliament and European Commission at the Parliament Hemicycle in Brussels, which is used for the body's largest and most important debates.

Following these meetings, Governor Brown and Commissioner Cañete announced that they will expand cooperation between California and the European Union through regular political and technical meetings on the design and implementation of carbon markets, including cooperation with other national markets such as those being developed in the People's Republic of China.

The European Union is the largest carbon market in the world and California's well-established cap-and-trade program was recently extended to 2030 and linked with Quebec and Ontario.

"The EU and California are natural partners in the fight against climate change and have been pioneers in the early years of carbon markets and clean mobility," said EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete. "Today we agreed to strengthen our cooperation so that we remain leaders in these areas, both of which will be key for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement."

Later in the day, Governor Brown traveled to Stuttgart, Germany, where he met with Baden- Württemberg Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann and other state environmental leaders.

California and Baden- Württemberg are the founding members of the Under2 Coalition, a historic international climate partnership of states, provinces and countries committed to limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius, the warming threshold at which scientists say there will likely be catastrophic climate disruptions.

Today, this coalition includes 188 jurisdictions representing 39 countries and six continents, a total of more than 1.2 billion people, $28.9 trillion in GDP and equivalent to 16 percent of the global population and 39 percent of the global economy.

Story Date: November 10, 2017