The green economy drives growth. The California case

The green economy is growing. Thus, we read in an article published on La Stampa and also appeared on Forbes in June. The topic is the 50×30 club, the elite of American States that have decided to aim for a 50% target of energy from renewable sources by 2030. It comprises four American states: New York, Hawaii, California and Vermont. New Jersey has now joined the group of four and has declared its intention to reach the threshold of 100% renewables by 2050. But the real news is that the choice of field of this club of “virtuosos” has generated, from 2009, a gross domestic product higher than that achieved overall by the US. In the symbol state of California, La Stampa writes, the green economy has created 520,000 green jobs: such a massive development that it has become the fifth largest economy in the world after having climbed over the United Kingdom. Only Germany, Japan, China and the United States have a higher GDP. And while economic growth and the Californian population have had increasing rates over the past 25 years, CO2 emissions have held steady per capita rates. Since California, in 2006, under the leadership of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has approved an important global warming law, per capita GDP has increased by $ 5,000, more or less twice the national average. The increase in employment has surpassed that of the first economy in the world by 27%, while per capita emissions of carbon dioxide have decreased by 12%, according to the Green Innovation Index of the think tank Next10. California is the state that emits less greenhouse gases in the US. Thanks to constant improvement coupled with a growing attention to the environment, homes consume 75% less energy than in the ’70s, despite the impetuous growth of the Californian economy has recorded an increased rate of 80%.