As people around the world face undeniable climate impacts and sobering risks to their future health and livelihoods, California’s policy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 can be a model for other states and nations. However, success requires unprecedented innovation and coordination across planning, policy and technology. Significant electrification — powered by clean generation and enabled by an unparalleled expansion of the electric grid — is necessary to decarbonize the economy feasibly and affordably. Achieving this requires urgent and fundamental changes in how the state’s entire energy infrastructure is planned and built.

The key findings that describe Countdown to 2045’s solution for California include: 90% of light- and medium- duty and over 50% of heavy-duty vehicles are electric, 95% of residential and commercial space and water heating is electric, up to 15% of utility-scale generation is from new and emerging technologies, such as offshore wind and next generation geothermal DERs, and new transmission and distribution grid projects added at up to 4x and 10x their historical rates, respectively.

Aurora Winslade serves as the Director of Sustainability at Edison International, where she is responsible for the company’s sustainability strategy, goals and programs, publication of the annual sustainability report, climate and sustainability disclosures, and serves as a key spokesperson for one of the nation’s largest electric utilities. She previously directed the Stanford University Office of Sustainability where she led the effort to advance operational sustainability across the university, realize the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and zero waste by 2030, and launched the Living Lab Fellowship Program for Sustainability in collaboration with Doerr School of Sustainability and the Bill Lane Center for the American West.

Erica Bowman currently serves as the Managing Director of Regulatory Policy & Strategic Analysis, overseeing Southern California Edison’s (SCE) climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, environmental and electrification policies, pricing and rate design, and long-term planning functions. Previously, Erica was the Director of the Office of the CEO at Edison International and the Director of the Resource and Environmental Planning and Strategy organization at SCE. Before SCE, Erica was the Chief Economist at two trade associations in Washington, DC and worked in competitive power markets in Boston, MA.

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