Climate change is worsening droughts and is expected to fuel even more extreme swings from dry to deluge. The Newsom administration warns that climate change could deplete state water supplies by up to 10% by 2040. 

Curbing use of fossil fuels globally can blunt some of the severity of future droughts, researchers reported. But even California, which prides itself on its green image, will need to pick up the pace to meet state goals for cutting greenhouse gases. 

“Much larger reductions are needed to reach the ambitious 2030 target — an additional 40 percent reduction below the original 2020 limit,” Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph said in July, 2021. 

California’s clean air regulators are ramping up their efforts in the state’s updated climate roadmap. But parts of the plan, including its reliance on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or capture it from smokestacks, remain contentious.