Sen. Fran Pavley and Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner are headed to Copenhagen later this week for the U.N. climate summit.
Pavley and Skinner will be hopping on for the tail end of the COP 15 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which started Monday and runs until Dec. 18. They will join more than 100 international leaders and 15,000 participants gathering in hopes of hammering out a new agreement aimed at curtailing the effects of climate change.
Both lawmakers are traveling with a delegation organized by Climate Action Reserve, an organization that manages a carbon credits registry for companies that voluntarily report their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Other California officials, including Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols and Cal-EPA Secretary Linda Adams are also set to join the delegation.
Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, is scheduled to meet with international delegates and leaders and participate in a panel discussion on reducing emissions from the transportation sector.
The senator said the delegation would focus on "coordinating efforts on state policy as well as federal policy and looking for models and success stories in other countries that would help us implement AB 32."
"We know California isn't in this alone, so (we'll be) working with other states to develop innovative ideas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and listening to and learning from other countries on what they're doing and how their efforts could be helpful here in California," she said.
Pavley's accommodations are being paid for by Climate Action Reserve , but she is covering her own airfare with campaign funds, a spokeswoman said.
Skinner, who heads the Assembly Natural Resources Committee , has attended other international climate summits over the years and is paying for the entire trip out of pocket, a staff member said. She will also attend panels and meetings with other conference attendees, though her schedule has not been finalized.
Both members have a history of working to curb climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Pavley is the author of the AB 32, the landmark law requiring California to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Skinner founded an organization that partners with cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a local level.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a group of California officials are also set to head to the conference next week.
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