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California driving global low-carbon effort

Conference in Lyons brings commitments to curb emissions.

By Daniel J. Graeber

LYON, France, July 2 (UPI) -- Three European regions joined a global initiative led by California in signing commitments to work to curb the threat from climate change, organizers said.

Leaders from Spain's Basque region, the Rhone-Aples region in France and Scotland signed the so-called Under 2 MOU, a memorandum of understanding to work to limit global warming. The measure was introduced in May by California Gov. Jerry Brown.

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"Our growing, diverse coalition is proof that a significant group of states and territories from around the globe are ready to support ambitious commitments by their national governments in Paris this December," California Secretary for Environmental Protection Matthew Rodriquez said in a statement from a world climate summit in Lyon, France.

Nigerian and Mexican states signed onto the agreement last week. Collectively, parties to the agreement represent the population and gross domestic product equivalent of the third largest economy in the world.

Parties to the memorandum commit to either cut their total greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 95 percent of the 1990 levels by 2050 or achieve a per capita annual emission target of less than 2 metric tons by 2050.

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Scotland, which has one of the most ambitious low-carbon programs in the world, said the Lyons summits is a good indication of the political will leading up to the international climate summit in Paris.

"In the run up to a new global climate treaty being negotiated in Paris in December, Scotland can show the way and I will continue to press the international community to follow our example in striving for the highest global ambition to tackle climate change," Scottish Climate Change Minister Aileen McLeod said.

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