First Minister Alex Salmond and Californian Governor Jerry Brown have agreed to set up a joint working party to examine co-operation on renewable energy and share expertise between both governments.
The agreement to work together was reached during talks yesterday (Tuesday) at the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. The First Minister and Governor also discussed the importance Scotland attaches to its relationship with the US and California.
The Governor was also invited by the First Minister to attend the 2013 Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference being held in Edinburgh.
First Minister Alex Salmond said:
“In 2009, Scotland and California stood together at the UN Climate Change talks in Copenhagen and urged the rest of the world to follow both our examples and commit wholesale to renewable energy sources.
“Since then our work on solar in the US and wind and wave in Scotland have taken great steps forward and we are both leading the way. This continues to be borne out by Scotland leading the charge on renewables in Europe and California in the US. Therefore it makes sense that we should combine our expertise to push forward innovation.
“Governor Brown is committed to not only reducing the state’s emissions but also to foster an economy where sustainability is profitable – something I very much recognise.
“If his diary permits, we would very much like him to visit Edinburgh for the Scottish Low Carbon investment conference. In the meantime we will continue to build on this growing relationship which will bring forward developments that will benefit both our societies and also the rest of the world.”
The Governor of California Jerry Brown said:
“Scotland and California are jointly committed to a sustainable future and our ambitious renewable energy goals are the way to get us there.
“Reducing carbon emissions is absolutely critical to our well being in California and Scotland and throughout the entire world.”
During his visit to the State Capitol, the First Minister also attended an informal reception with members of both the State Assembly and the Senate and also had talks with the Speaker of the California Assembly John A Perez.
The First Minister is in California on a four-day visit to build economic links with the State. His final day included a visit to Stanford University to see the world-leading work being done by the SU2P programme which links Scotland’s optoelectronics industry and university researchers at the Californian university and the universities of Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde, Glasgow and St Andrews.
Their collaboration recently resulted in the development of a prosthetic retina for people suffering from the condition which causes blindness, macular degeneration.
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