California is experiencing climate change today, like never before. Wildfires are more frequent and intense, droughts are longer and deeper, and temperatures are rising. But California is responding.
Long a climate leader, California has expanded its ambitions. Gov. Gavin Newsom has accelerated the state’s goal of decarbonizing its economy and established a new objective of requiring sales of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035. More than 30 California counties and municipalities have set their own bold renewable energy goals, and California has established a rooftop solar standard for new homes.
At the same time, California has signaled its objective of helping to drive broader decarbonization of industrial supply chains beyond its borders with the passage of the Buy Clean California Act. Under this policy, state agencies will take embodied supply chain carbon emissions into account when they buy steel, glass and mineral wool insulation for buildings. Leading private sector companies are driving greater sustainability in their supply chains as well.
Now, California has yet another opportunity to take the lead. As the state decarbonizes its grid, transportation and housing, it can also decarbonize an additional industrial supply chain – that of solar energy itself.
To be clear, all solar is good, far better than fossil energy sources, but some solar is better.
It turns out that, like other supply chains, there are carbon emissions in the solar supply chain, and they differ significantly across manufacturers. How and where solar modules and their components are manufactured can significantly impact a solar panel’s environmental profile. Because of this, some solar panels on the market have less than half the life cycle emissions, or embodied carbon, as others.
Where do these differences in embodied carbon come from? Some companies in the solar industry have resource-efficient manufacturing processes or power their manufacturing plants with energy from clean grids with large amounts of renewables, or both. In contrast, others utilize coal-fired power with less regard for energy efficiency.
The recognition of differences in embodied carbon is growing. France and South Korea already have embodied carbon standards in their public procurement programs for solar.
California should be next. The state has proven time and again that strong environmental policy and business growth are reinforcing – not competing – factors. Policymakers understand that with the right policy signals, business innovation can help address major environmental challenges, especially carbon pollution.
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