--- title: Al Gore and Jerry Brown On Climate Change and Clean Energy description: TIME speaks with leaders who are sounding alarms about the environment canonical: https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-29T10:00:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:31:41.682Z article:section: Science og:title: Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America’s Renewable Future og:description: TIME speaks with leaders who are sounding alarms about the environment og:url: https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4950d1b40f0fdb4d/6988db99656a3f0d7cbd178f/renewable-energy-wind-turbine-al-gore-jerry-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: renewable-energy-wind-turbine-al-gore-jerry-brown.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America’s Renewable Future twitter:description: TIME speaks with leaders who are sounding alarms about the environment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4950d1b40f0fdb4d/6988db99656a3f0d7cbd178f/renewable-energy-wind-turbine-al-gore-jerry-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America’s Renewable Future > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=53335258-ae66-413a-b8a5-aff1877f1c58&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America's Renewable Future [Watch (HLS stream): Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America's Renewable Future](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4ET5hn04.m3u8) (2:10)  _Published 2017-08-28. Al Gore and Jerry Brown discuss America's renewable energy future_ by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Aug 29, 2017 10:00 AM UTC Al Gore and Jerry Brown discuss America's renewable energy future by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Aug 29, 2017 10:00 AM UTC Cities and states around the U.S. are vowing to fight climate change, using President Trump’s decision to [leave the Paris accords](http://time.com/4802845/how-president-trump-decided-to-exit-the-paris-agreement/) to galvanize their movement. Many climate policy experts say there is promise in a bottom-up approach, with sub-national governments leading charges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and spur innovation in clean energy regardless of what might be materializing on the national stage. Dozens of American cities have pledged to use 100% renewable energy by 2050 or earlier. But the most ambitious goal may be coming from California. Lawmakers in the state, which is home to one in eight Americans, are considering legislation that would require all of the state’s power to come from sources such as wind and solar by 2045\. “It’s about the world,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said at a [recent signing ceremony](http://time.com/4871996/california-cap-trade-bill-signing-brown-schwarzenegger/) for another climate bill, “and California is leading that world in dealing with a principal existential threat humanity faces.” TIME spoke with Brown, as well as environmental crusader Al Gore, about what’s happening in energy now and how it might shape America’s future. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] The famous economist Rudi [00:04] Dornbusch once said, things take longer to happen [00:07] than you think they will. And then they happen much [00:10] faster than you thought they could. I think that's the [00:13] pattern we now see unfolding with electric vehicles, [00:18] with solar and wind electricity, with batteries, which are [00:21] now coming down Rapidly in cost, the retrofit of [00:25] buildings, the improved design of communities [00:30] and cities. We see it with the commitment of an [00:33] increasing number of towns and Cities to switch over to [00:37] a hundred percent renewable energy. Then a growing [00:40] number of regions the electricity from solar and wind is [00:44] now cheaper than electricity from burning fossil fuels, [00:47] even if you don't factor in the cost of all the pollution [00:50] and the damage it's causing. That's exciting, but it's [00:54] my hope that political and policy leaders. Starting [00:57] phasing out the fossil fuels and the other causes of the [01:01] climate crisis and embrace these solutions. We had [01:04] created in alliance of two coalitions. Norway has [01:08] joined, as well as Canada and Mexico and Germany, [01:11] and so many other provinces. Representing over a [01:14] billion people. This is something that we can do. And [01:17] we're making progress. Thank you very much. A lot of [01:18] work to be done. California's a big state. It's [01:22] the sixth largest economy were it separate in the [01:25] world. And it's a state that's growing. It's exciting. [01:29] There's Silicon Valley. There's the movie industry. [01:31] There's a tremendous agricultural industry. It's a place [01:35] of ideas that ferment. We are on our own positive [01:39] program. [ MUSIC ] On DC air pollution, on building [01:43] high- speed rail, I have a very aggressive climate [01:46] action policy. Actions, rules, tax incentives, [01:50] electric car incentives. We're doing everything we can. [01:54] Adopting policies, broadcasting them, joining with [01:58] others to make sure Americans are doing Their part in [02:03] reducing greenhouse gasses, and we'll continue to do [02:07] more. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/"},"headline":"Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America’s Renewable Future","datePublished":"2017-08-29T10:00:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:31:41.682Z","description":"TIME speaks with leaders who are sounding alarms about the environment","url":"https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/","keywords":["energy","Environment","climate change","Jerry Brown","Al Gore"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4950d1b40f0fdb4d/6988db99656a3f0d7cbd178f/renewable-energy-wind-turbine-al-gore-jerry-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4950d1b40f0fdb4d/6988db99656a3f0d7cbd178f/renewable-energy-wind-turbine-al-gore-jerry-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"renewable-energy-wind-turbine-al-gore-jerry-brown.jpg","caption":"This aerial photo shows wind power stations next to a solar fields on Aug. 04, 2017 in Bernsdorf, Germany.","creditText":"Florian Gaertner—Photothe/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/energy/","name":"energy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/","name":"Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America’s Renewable Future"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Al Gore and Jerry Brown on America's Renewable Future","description":"Al Gore and Jerry Brown discuss America's renewable energy future","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4ET5hn04/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-28T21:51:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4ET5hn04.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/","duration":"PT2M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4919529/al-gore-jerry-brown-climate-change/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```